Years ago my wife and I decided to hold off on any major home projects until we paid the mortgage off. We didn’t want to refinance to borrow money for projects. All too often our closest friends and family defaulted on their mortgages and lost their homes using that approach. So we persevered.
Last month we made our last mortgage payment, paying off our mortgage 13 years early. It felt great. We could finally spend money on fixing up our home the way we always wanted to.
Queue new kitchen floor.
My wife hated the cheap ceramic tiles in our kitchen since the day we moved into our house. Over time we discovered the previous owner did a shoddy job installing the tiles and slowly we had more and more cracked tiles. They were hideous and embarrassing. Not to mention dangerous to walk on.
We wanted laminate flooring rather than new tile so we went to a local flooring company with a great reputation. Hell, they’ve been in business since 1946 and my father relied on them for every flooring project at my folk’s house.
After a little research and help from a salesman, we chose a waterproof vinyl flooring that snaps together like laminate flooring but is much higher quality. We knew it would cost anywhere between $2000 to $5000, depending on how much work was needed to prep the floor and which flooring we opted for.
Of course, we decided on one of the most expensive, which is just our luck, but hey – no biggie. Fortunately, we can afford it now.
An original quote of $3800 ended up costing us $4500 due to extra work to prep the subfloor, but we were fine with that. The floor came out amazing.
After a few hours, we realized the kitchen table had to go. The next domino fell…
We found a gorgeous mid-century modern dining set that matches the new floor and general aesthetic of our living room. My wife loves mid-century modern style and we’re slowly redesigning each room to that style. No more outdated country kitchen for us!
We ended up spending about $2000 on the new dining set. Oof. Fortunately, we qualified for 0% financing for 12 months, so why not, am I right?
Then the dominoes continued to fall…
Our cheap dishwasher no longer closes properly. We purchased it in 2018 when we wanted to sell our house but that all fell through (fortunately). Since we were moving and we had old white appliances, we bought the least expensive stainless steel appliances. Shame on us, I know.
We learned our lesson, though. Since then, we bought a new refrigerator and oven/stove. And now a dishwasher. Luckily I found a deal on a good quality dishwasher at Lowes and ordered it online last night. It’s getting delivered tomorrow. Cost? $650.
UPDATE: I fixed the dishwasher so I was able to cancel the new order and save $650!
The dominoes don’t stop there, either. We’re looking to have the cabinets painted. Plus we’re thinking about getting a new countertop. The current one is granite but it won’t match the cabinets after they’re painted blue. Oh, and that will include a new style sink, too. That’s a few dominoes. Don’t forget to throw in a new faucet (at least an extra $200 plus installation).
You know what though? I’m honestly not even slightly upset about the expense and work. I love it all. It feels so damn good to have our mortgage paid off and pay cash to get this work done. We only use loans/credit when it comes with a huge discount and we can pay it off straight away or it comes with 0% finance for 6+ months. Our original $3300 expense will likely end up closer to $12,000 when everything is done, but that’s OK.
PS: Back in the day (pre-2016) it made sense to not pay off your mortgage so you can itemize your tax expenses and get more back in return. However, the new tax laws bumped the standard deduction up so much that it makes itemizing pointless for most people. Keep that in mind if you’re considering paying off your mortgage early. I highly recommend it, but I’m no financial expert. Use that advice at your own risk.