Debt

This is the last of a five-part series about how the writer and her husband, Charlie, tackled a major overhaul of their home and the pitfalls they faced along the way. To read the first installment click here.

The workers are gone, the dumpster was picked up, and we are touching up the stain and paint. Now that things are finished, we are so glad that we put in the quality finishes and the extra touches we wanted. The total cost was around $55,000 -- twice as much as we had originally planned.

The investment is definitely worth it. Now we have new plumbing throughout the house, updated electrical, refinished floors, and a state-of-the-art kitchen -- all upgrades that are bound to boost the value of our home if we ever decide to sell.

Tom's take: Good idea to hold off on demolition until after the holidays. I can't tell you how many panicked calls I've received on my radio show from folks that absolutely had to get a major project done before an event (a holiday, wedding, anniversary party, sweet-sixteen, whatever). It never makes sense to put that kind of pressure on yourself -- or your contractor. Build a fudge factor into the schedule and the stress factor goes way down.

Our house is a beautiful, 3,000-square foot home built in 1918 that sits across the street from South Shore Park and Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. But after living in our home for 25 years, we were faced with a difficult decision: Do we spend a chunk of money to fix up the place or move? We had done some remodeling in the past, but it was looking tired and the bathroom upstairs still had all of the original (read: very old) plumbing.

As much as we loved the place, the thought of undertaking another remodeling project was too overwhelming. I embarked on a house-hunting mission in nearby Madison and Middleton, WI, but soon discovered that to recreate anything close to what we have -- easy access to downtown, shops within walking distance, lake view, bike path and a quick commute to the airport -- was going to cost $1 million or more. So we reversed course and decided to remodel -- again. Our initial budget was $25,000 and our sights were on that horribly outdated bathroom upstairs.

There's a potential disconnect between the Obama administration, the unemployment rate and the deficit, and I hope there's some sort of resolution or else you and I could be looking at high unemployment for some time to come -- not to mention a backslide on the greenshoots and economic growth we're beginning to see.

The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% last month, the first time unemployment has breached 10% since 1983. While monthly job losses are significantly declining since early this year, 10.2% is still a scary threshold.

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