Homeowners on a Budget: How to save thousands with simple household items
HACKS FOR HOMEOWNERS ON A BUDGET
If you have watched ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ you would know windex can be used to fix everything 😄. The four items I am about to describe are to me like Windex was to Michael Constantine in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ I have been a homeowner for a few years now and with each new place or repair, I find that I learn something new. I guess that is the fun of it. I have tried a lot of things from YouTube, from sales reps at Lowes or Home Depot and from family. Some of the things work, some of them don’t. However, I found myself returning to these four items over and over for hacks. For indoor cleaning I have two go to chemical products: Baking Soda and Soft Scrub; and 1 appliance (PurSteam) and for tree cleaning I use Sunjoe pole saw.
With the first two products (Baking soda and Soft Scrub), I was able to restore an old barn style sink to its previous glory, a stained bathtub and last but not the least a very greasy Frigidaire stove. For the sink and bathtub it was sufficient to prepare equal parts baking soda and vinegar and use to scrub the surfaces. After the initial scrub, I then used the sponge to cover as much of the bathtub and sink with wet (water is fine too) baking soda as possible. I let it sit for a few hours, coming by every so often to make sure it was not dry. After about 3 hours, I then came back with a sponge and scrubbed off and rinsed the baking soda.
For the sink, this was enough to restore it and I just periodically give it a similar but shorter treatment to keep it sparkly. For the tub, after the baking soda soak, I then used Soft Scrub to get the rest of the stains off. After that my bathtub was ready for repaint (or use).
For my stove, I found the grease initially too much to handle. Brought in a cleaner who after about 4 hours told me he was able to get rid of a lot of the other grime just not the grease. Frustrated, I called my mom to complain and she asked if I had tried baking soda. I had, but I had not let it sit. So this time, I lathered the stove-top with wet baking soda, taking care not to clog the ignition areas. I let it sit for about 2 hours and checked parts of it. Some of the grease was just peeling off. However, areas where there had been little baking soda or that had dried off, had to be redone.
It was a bit of work, but in the end, I had saved myself from having to purchase a new appliance, install a new sink and bathtub because of some baking soda, a bit of elbow grease and some patience.
A few months after purchasing my place I noticed that two of the branches from a tree in my yard, were almost leaning on my neighbor’s garage. After checking with a few companies in the area, the cheapest quote I got was about $150 a branch and it was going to take them a while to come out. I thought that this could get pricey really quickly since I had a number of small — medium trees I wanted cut in addition to the two branches. After a bit of googling I decided to try the pole saw. I figured worst-case scenario, I would be out $65 dollars and would have satisfied my curiosity. Best-case scenario, I would have saved myself roughly a thousand bucks. I ordered the pole saw, it was actually easier to assemble than expected. My neighbor and I had a lot of fun testing it out on all the unwanted shrub trees in the yard and against the wire fence. Once we got the hang of it, we then used it to trim all the branches that were leaning over structures. It helped having two of us out there as one person could direct the branch using a rope we slung over it, and the other operate the saw. That way we could control the direction in which the branches fall.
The saw has been very helpful every summer to remove shrubs and to shape them. As with every sharp tool, a lot of caution is required when using such a power tool. My most recent success with the power tool was using it to get a branch thicker than in the guidebook. Honestly, I did not expect it to work but I got impatient waiting for the contractor to get to me and also wanted to close out the open items on my insurance. This time, I had just moved and there was a rather large branch leaning over the garage. I had reached out to a contractor but after 3 weeks of waiting I decided to try cutting it down with my pole saw. It ended up taking me more time to set up the workspace, put up my ladder and support, and then cut down all the other branches in my way, than it took to actually cut down the big branch. I would not suggest that you do what I did, however it is a good tool to have around. It definitely saves time, effort and money when used to cut and bundle up branches for the city to pick up.
The last tool or hack was again one of necessity…I actually started using it by accident. Before moving one of the things I like to do is a thorough clean. Having just purchased the house, I was on a strict budget and decided to take care of some of the cleaning myself. I asked the cleaner to focus on the the kitchen and bathrooms. This meant I had to clean the floors and walls on my own. What I could not figure out was how I was going to get the walls clean. I was not ready (money-wise) to get the walls repainted but also did not want to live in a house with the walls looking like they were. Any ways, I decided I could think about that as I cleaned the floors. I have beautiful wood floors and a bit of carpet that I wanted squeaky clean and disinfected. I bought a steam mop — great for cleaning and disinfecting at once.
While mopping the floors, a thought came to me. What if I tried using the steam mop to clean my walls? After all, the mop was light enough and came with microfiber like cleaning clothes. I ran the idea by my sister and we decided to try it on a section of the wall I had tried to hand wash to no avail.
We were pleasantly surprised. For harsh stains, I smeared the area with the Soft Scrub and then gently passed the mop over it. Quite a few times, I had to wash the cleaning clothes to get the walls as clean as I wanted. Another thing that I noticed was that if I left the steam mop against the wall too long, or was too rough it could actually take off the paint. To me this was a great find, as I plan to use it when I am prepping the house for a repaint. Also it is a steam mop so be careful of the steam if you decide to use it on vertical walls. I found I had to hold the base of the mop to the wall at times to reach some places in my attic. Any ways, with a bit of patience and care, I have much cleaner walls than before. This means I can wait a bit longer to repaint and don’t have to cringe every time someone shows up at the door.
Are these products perfect? No but with a bit of care they go a long way. I have had to re-align the teeth of the saw a few times this year but given that I have had it for 3 years and use it quite a bit every summer, it is not a big deal. Also the teeth displacement, only seems to happen when doing ‘big’ tree stems. Similarly, my steam mop no longer stands upright but stands at an angle. This is most likely because I have used it more for my walls that for its designed purpose.
Also to put it in perspective let us think about the comparative costs. The two appliances in this article each costed me about 60-65 dollars at time of purchase. The baking soda was about $8 and Soft Scrub was about $4 dollars. The actual effort involved in each of these tasks was about 10–15 mins of scrubbing and a few hours waiting for the baking soda treatments. A few hours of passing the pursteam mop over the walls and washing the mop clothes (~4). About 30 mins for cutting down, cutting and tieing up each branch for pick up. To be very conservative let us say about 2 days worth of work. A quick google search suggests the following for my state:
- The average cost of cutting down a single tree in my state is about ~1200,
- and for repainting a two story house any where from $3,700 to $7,500,
- cost of replacing a bathtub ranges from $4,100 to $10,500,
- cost of replacing a sink ranges from $300 to $1000
- cost of similar stove ranges from $749 (on sale) to $1049 at Lowes
To be very conservative let us use the lower end of the ranges. Without the hacks I would have had to spend at least $10,049 ( that is, $1200 +$3700 + $4100 +$300 +$749). Instead, I spent ~$137 and less than two 8-hour days worth of effort.
Feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think or if you have any hacks to share.
