We have been in this house for nearly 9 years.  In that time, we have mostly been doing routine maintenance on this house, but we have always had ideas for what we wanted to do to improve it.  In the last week, we have finally been able to get some of that work done.

Flash-back to about 6 months ago.  Around the time we were getting the HVAC system replaced, we talked to our plumber about the sump pump in the basement, and learned that the pump was out-dated and it was in a hole that was half the size it needed to be.  He told us that it would cost about $400 to bring the pump and bucket up to code.

Also, over the last 9 years, we’ve had to replace the locks on the garage door twice, at a cost of around $150 USD each time.  Our garage has 2 doors, one of which is controlled by a button inside the garage. the other by a keyed handle.  We decided that we needed to replace the keyed handle door with a standard exterior door in a wall, and after talking to a contractor we learned that it could be done for $$850 USD.

We got both projects done in the last week, without going into debt, because we’d been saving up to do them over several years.  We’re both very happy with the results.