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Archive for February, 2022

Roof Shopping

February 9th, 2022 at 02:04 pm

Our roof is nearly twenty years old and it’s time to replace it. Fortunately, we haven’t had any mishaps other than a few shingles blowing off over the years during tornados & storms. This is an expensive but necessary upgrade that I want to fund while I’m working.

 

I’ve just gotten four estimates that I’m now comparing. It’s tough to compare apples-to-apples since the four quotes include three different brands of shingles, different payment rules, and different workmanship warranties. I’ve been researching shingles online to attempt an informed decision. Does anyone else do this?

 

I have it narrowed down to two. Both are local companies. One uses a basic shingle that’s commonly used and has a 10-year workmanship warranty. From my internet search, it seems like the company has just a few employees because the reviews mention them by name. The other company uses better quality shingles and has a 12-year workmanship warranty. They have many rave reviews (Yelp, etc.) that are recent. The difference between the prices is almost $4k. ($11k vs $15k) So I need to determine how much that quality is worth to me. Hmmm.

 

The two estimates that I am not pursuing: One had only a 1-year workmanship warranty and the shingle brand was the lowest rated. The other used the same shingles as the lowest price but was priced $3k higher.

Financial Happenings & 2022 Goals

February 6th, 2022 at 04:12 pm

We’ve had two home improvements projects happen in the same month after waiting months for both. The first one is a sliding barn door that allows our living room to be a makeshift bedroom. The couch in there is a sleeper sofa and there’s an armoire but before we didn’t have a good way to add privacy. I finally found a person with the availability and skills to do it and I love the door. The second project is the long-awaited cat fence. I signed that contract in May and supply issues related to the pigment required to produce the color I wanted caused the delay. It’s done now and I’m eager to have warm weather to see how it works when the cats really want to be outside.

 

I’ve just started our taxes. It’s going to be ugly and I expected it because I sold stock that vested last year. Once again our income level bumped us out of the Opportunity Credit and for the first time bumped us out of Roth contributions. I had been making the Roth contributions so I backed them out – ugh – to prevent penalties but then I had to pay taxes on their earnings. It’s all messy but I sure don’t want to complain about it – the stock proceeds allowed me to pay house debt and I hope to report that major milestone in about a month.

 

My goals for 2022:

(1) House projects - replace the roof (shingles), downstairs ceilings painted, design kitchen reno & get quotes

(2) Personalfinish the two scrapbooks for the twins by their graduation

(3) Healthget lean by implementing routines for fasting, resistance training, and yoga

(4) Financialpay off house, get EF to 7 months’ expenses

(5) KidsDS1: help w/ rescue cat, DS2: get to know GF, DS3: help set up investments, DS4: open Roth & transfer brokerage from minor account, DS5: support job search for semi-gap year

[so weird that some words couldn't be bolded...]

 

My goals have retirement preparation in mind. 17 months and counting.