How I Saved 1000 Dollars

Purchasing a condo or a home is one of the keystones of the American dream. It may not be a white house with a white, picket fence, but it amounts to the same thing. The American dream is the idea of home ownership, someplace to call your own, hang your hat, and settle down in. These are all euphemisms that capture the idea that we like to have someplace that is comfortable, familiar, and has all of our creature comforts–a place that we control. This ability, this privilege, is something that most Americans will strive for at some point during their lives.

Before purchasing my condo, I knew that there were going to be flaws. Some of the flaws were items that were easily remedied: a wobbly counter, fixed with a 20 cent piece of wood; some unstable bathroom shelves, fixed with 1.5 hours of effort and some plywood; a loose tile in the dining room, fixed with some elbow grease, a grinder from home depot, a little help from mom, and some courage.

Each of these home fix ups was something that was done without a professional for a couple of reasons: there was not a lot of extra money at the time and there was no clear person that could take a call to fix something that was somewhat out of the ordinary. So, instead, opting to fix it personally rather than getting charged 50+ dollars an hour by a local handyman ended up being a great option.

The outside steps: a slippery slope

However, one of the major items that was damaged and a major issue from the beginning was the outside steps. I’d like to say that I knew how much they would cost and factored that into the offer, but that would not be true. Instead, I believed (foolishly) that they would be covered by the association for the condo. Instead, what I discovered was that there was very little that our condo association seemed to be willing to pay for. Discouraged, I let the problem go for a few years until it became absolutely unbearable. Then it was time to be done with the waiting.

Push comes to Shove, for this Pushover

After a while, it didn’t make any sense to have friends, family, or even the pizza delivery guy over because I was afraid of a major lawsuit if someone hurt themselves on the unbalanced, slippery stairs. So, I stopped having people over or had people enter through the garage. Both of these were rather difficult and upsetting options because it was clear that these steps were a hazard that I couldn’t afford to not to fix. After some debate and some saving, I finally went to the board to let them know that we had to do it, whether they could help us or not.

1000 Dollars of Found Money

Strangely, they found paperwork at this point that indicated that the association did in fact bear some of the responsibility; therefore they would put up about 1000 dollars on the project. By this time, the money had been saved for the full project, so the extra, in large part, became part of a vacation fund for this upcoming trip that is being planned for March.