Septic systems.: $180 to get the thing dug out. $200 for a new sewage pump (the old one gave up the ghost after > 20 years in that filth), $185 for the pump out (and cheap at that), and $180 for the plumber. Total:$ 745.
Lawn tractors: $85 for a maintenance kit (oil and air filters, oil, spark plug) and a new set of blades. After examining the deck, a mounting bracket has to be re-welded and one of the bearing sheaves has to be replaced due to excessive play. Estimated cost: around $200. Total: $285 (estimated), not including two round trips (so far) to the Deere dealer.
New tires. The Odyssey will need new tires by the end of summer. Estimated cost: around $450. P225/60R16’s ain’t cheap.
Running total so far: $1480.
I’m sure there’ll be more, but I don’t even want to think about it.
Oh crap. Sometime this summer, the furnace needs to be serviced.
Had to have the plumbers in twice this past year to fix problems related to well pump cut-off switch and filters. Recovered the roof last year (that was fun…I had to lift and remove all the asphalt shingles myself), had to replace the weed-eater last month…need paint for the exterior trim and doors at $24 a pop.
Property taxes, vehicle insurance and maintenance. Yes, I am on an austerity programme.
Children - I know, this fails the politically correct test, but its the truth. Anyone want to adopt 6 grown children?
Andre, you should have bought a GRAVELY instead. My 15 year old 16G GRAVELY has only cost $127.00 a year to maintain. It pushes snow and cuts grass, and nothing on it has ever needed to be rewelded. My Uncle still has the 1963 Model L walk behind my father bought new, its only been rebuilt once and still cuts his lawn.
Consider Pep Boys house brand tires, they are made in the USA by Cooper Tire and have a great warranty at super prices, likely less than $90 a tire, on the rim and out the door.
#1. Septic system: $1,600 for new tank, new field lines, having the old tank pumped out and disposed of, having the ditches dug, pipe laid, gravel brought in and ditches filled in.
#2. Having roof repaired after Rita came through: $700.
#3 Getting brake booster and master cylinder on car replaced, having transmission replaced.
#4 Getting 30 year old van ready for the road again because it’s in better condition than 16 year old car that’s falling apart faster than I can put it back together.
That’s one thing I don’t have a problem with as I’ve never been married.[(-D]
Andre, you should have bought a GRAVELY instead. My 15 year old 16G GRAVELY has only cost $127.00 a year to maintain. It pushes snow and cuts grass, and nothing on it has ever needed to be rewelded. My Uncle still has the 1963 Model L walk behind my father bought new, its only been rebuilt once and still cuts his lawn.
Well, given that the Deere is in its 7th season, I can’t complain too much. It’s not like I had to do it every year and it’s been pretty reliable otherwise. Had it not needed new blades, I doubt I would have caught the problem with the weld or the bearing. Mowing nearly two acres at a time does cause some wear and tear.
1. Children - I know, this fails the politically correct test, but its the truth. Anyone want to adopt 6 grown children?
If they’re grown, why are they still costing money? My kids don’t cost me much. The grandkids, however, are a whole other story.
As for the tires, I’ll check out Pep Boys. However, the nearest one is nearly 60 miles away. Can’t complain about the Odyssey. It’s got 145,000 + miles on it with only normal maintenance.
[(-D] I just sat down yesterday and figured out the cost of running the John Deere to cut my one acre of lawn. Including purchase, servicing and fuel it work out to $28.00 every time I cut the lawn over the last twelve years.
Other things; New furnace with electronic air cleaner and computer control $8000.00. But boy did natural gas consumption plummet. That was a good investment.
New Samsung front load steam washer and dryer $3500.00. The first time I ever hooked up a water hose to a dryer.
Four new snow tires for the Honda $427.00
The real kicker is a $6000.00 a year increase in tuition for the hoydy toydy school my wife insist on sending the kids to. No shops in the school just science and computer labs. I don’t think there’s a kid in the school who could hammer a nail if their life depended on it. [sigh] [soapbox]I did just fine in public school and so did my wife but can the kids go there???[|(]
Anyway I started my blue collar, union scale, career working for various governments when I was sixteen. I followed my long departed dads advice on investing 10% of everything I earned and as a result at 53 I am retired and have a very comfortable life.
Oh ya, I didn’t get married until nine days before my fortieth birthday. This was a conscious choice. I was to busy having fun or working seven days a week.
The down side. At 53 I have an 8 year old and an 11 year old and sometimes run out of gas before I should. The upside. By having them late in life I have a lot more money to spend on them and can show them the world.[:)]
For > 20 years that doesn’t sound bad at all. I had a pressure tank blow at the “model railroad” property last winter. The well was running full blast, sump pump running full blast and it still flooded the basement. Huge electric bill ($320) is what made me go and check it out. Ruined the boiler and two hot water tanks. $1750 so far working on fixing that mess. I should have anticipated it though. I figured out that this tank had probably been there and in service since the 1970s.
Did that last year $2400 for a new one with a couple extra attachments. I am fighting sand burs and got the sweeper to try to pick them all up.
Yeah with 13 vehicles (1 ATV, 3 trailers, 1 motor scooter, and 8 car/trucks) it seems one always needs tires. Can someone please tell me why a Ford Excursion has to have tires with a speed rating of T? A set of four were $830+, I could find many the right size for cheeper but they were not rated for the required 118 MPH. (And yes there are 6 drivers).
You did not mention car insurance. $650/month.
Yup, Roof. My main house is cedar shake. Need a new roof. Please send hail. The “model railroad” property has a flat roof. It needs repairs but I do those myself. Just hot and messy not necessarily expensive.
That might not be as bad as it sounds. How big is the lawn? Mine is 2 acres. That could be way cheaper than paying someone else to do it.
Forgot about that. Just purchased two sets. One for primary house and one for the “model railroad” property. We got a bit cheaper ones. GE front loaders. I think we got both sets for about that same price. However the dishwasher did go out. We went to get the cheapest one available, but after shopping all day long ended up with a top of the line JenAir <sp?> cause it was on sale for 60% off. That was still 3x the price of the cheapest one available.
Public schools are way different than they were when we were there. I was amazingly distressed at the number of things they aren’t being taught anymore. Even with all these In-service days and early closes for class prep time, the teachers’ do almost nothing compared to what my teachers did. I could never understand how my son could not do the homework without help and yet pass the tests. I finally found out (just a month ago) that the teachers were letting the kids correct answers - on tests! If they didn’t I don’t think any of the kids would be making passing grades. Needless to say we are moving to charter schools next year.
[quote]
The down side. At 53 I have an 8 year old and an 11 year old and sometimes run out of gas bef
I cut about one acre, plus push the snow. This past winter was a workout, we got 60" in about 1 week.
It took a while, but the GRAVELY was able to “bully” it out of the way. I now wish I had bought the 48" snow blower rather than the snow blade!
Actually they have reached that point of self reliance, but there were times when I wondered if they would. The biggest lesson I learned from having three children and three step children, is that I’m not really a “child” person.
The grandchildren are fun, and you can send them home when you get tired.
We are currently shopping for a large basement covered by less house than we have now so that there will be more time and money for trains. The current house is a 4000 sq ft (not counting the train unfriendly basement) 1901 Queen Anne and the trains are in the 800 sq ft bonus room over the detached garage.
Amen. In my case, after a 42% drop in income and the kids finishing college, money available for discretionary purposes rose significantly. Hey, there is a hidden advantage with progresssive income taxes! Working/earning less saves one beaucoup tax bucks.
That’s one worry we don’t have, our roof which is now 109 years old, is slate and we did the major “tune up” of the roof 15 years ago. That made it good for another 50-75 years.
If I build a house, or have to put a roof on where we move to, it will be man made rubber slate, which lasts 50-75 years. Way longer than I’m going to last.
Think how environmentally friendly my house is, it has never put an asphalt shingle in a land fill in its 109 years!
Wow. My discretionary went down with children finishing college because that is when the 4 years of accumulated goverment loans etc started coming due. Fortunately my 2nd eldest joined ROTC and the National Guard, so Uncle Sam has picked up all of her education. My 3rd oldest has been the real problem. Different school every year. Dormatories. Spring break trips. etc. 1st & 4th went to college locally so all we really had was tuition and books.
