I’ve wrote before about what a great feeling it was to do your own projects when I installed my own hardwood floors. But I’ve got to be honest – I really wasn’t feeling it this time. Instead, we decided to contract this job out. Even though it cost a little more money, the job got done fast and it looks great. Plus it’s pretty incredible to just come home from work and the entire project is all done for you! Here are a few pictures of the before and after:
Before with carpet and laminate flooring:
Blog News:
Now that one year has officially passed, it’s time to stop celebrating and get to work! I’ve got a lot of projects I want to do with this blog over the next few months. But for now, this is where I’ll start:
• My goal to write a guest post (possibly one per month) is off to a good start. I’ve already been approached by another website and I just sent them my draft. I’ll mention it again once its live. By the way – this guest post thing works two ways, so if anyone is interested in hitting me up either way – I’m open!
• My Passive Income Ideas page is in need of some overhauling after having no changes for the past 9 months or so. I think I may spend some time rethinking how I want this page to flow and doing some fresh write-up for it.
In terms of upcoming posts, I’ve got my own Emergency Fund strategy to pitch after being inspired by Modest Money, Street Smart Finance, and The Free Financial Advisor’s articles. I’ve also got some good tips to share from the book I’m reading, The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read, which will probably be broken up into multiples posts.
Blogs You Should Check Out:
In case you missed them, here are a few great stories you should check out this weekend:
- Kathleen from Frugal Portland asks What’s the Point? Sometimes it really does help to take a step back and question WHY you want what you want…
- BB from Beating Broke wrote Are You Afraid of Failing? To his point, we’d probably all be a lot better off if we let ourselves fail a little more often because it would mean that we tried!
- Modest Money caps off the keyword lesson with Advanced Keyword Strategy For Your Blog. We’re entering uncharted territories…
- Why even bother with keywords? Matt from Dumb Passive Income shares one of his niche sites in Choosing a Niche and Keyword Research. That’s why! See how someone can take keywords and turn them into a unique niche website.
- Maybe you don’t want a niche site? I Want to Become an Authority from The Financial Blogger may inspire you to take more of an authority route! Becoming an authority has been a goal of mine for a long time. But I think to be more effective, I’ll have to narrow down my range of topics.
- And finally, new blog The Daily Wallet has the cutest one year old in the world on the post Caleb’s First Birthday Party! Everyone go give the new guy some love!
Carnivals:
MyMoneyDesign was featured in the following personal finance carnivals this week:
- Yakezie Carnival – Olympics Closing Ceremony Edition
- Carnival of Retirement – 32nd Edition
- Masses vs Great Design and a Round Up
- CANADIAN PERSONAL FINANCE HAPPY HOUR – 9TH EDITION – DOG DAYS OF SUMMER!
Thanks again to all my new and returning visitors. I really appreciate your support and hope you continue to enjoy my site!
Posts This Week:
1) Blogging Tips from All the Dumb Mistakes I Made My First Year
2) More Blogging Tips and Celebrating My One-Year Anniversary
Photo Credit: Mrs MMD
Thanks for the double mention MMD. The new flooring looks great. New flooring really makes a huge impact on a house. I hope Mrs. MMD is happy with it. I don’t blame you for hiring someone this time around. Sometimes it is just more satisfying to have professionals come handle it. Then you can be assured a quality job without all the work and time.
Don’t mention it Jeremy! Just looking out for my boyz!
Yes, not only was it done quickly, but it was done right! I think this was the right job to pay someone else to do for me.
Thanks for the mention and link! I hope some of what I am doing is helping and motivating you in your re-thinking of your passive income page.
I also went with the “hire a contractor,” route last fall when we got new vinyl flooring in our kitchen. I am usually Mr. DIYer, but like you, just wasn’t feeling it.
Oh, yes. The whole niche thing may greatly influence the Passive income page. We’ll have to see how my little experiment goes.
I was actually interesting in seeing if I could tackle the floors myself, but there just wasn’t really a lot of time. They ran into a lot of trouble, so I’m glad I had professionals doing it.
The floor looks great! We have a lot of things that we need to do around our house, with the #1 thing being replacing our living room floor. Need to get on that.
Thanks Michelle! Oh, we’re no where close to finished. Carpet is going out in two weeks, and then we’re out of money. Even still, Mrs MMD is gunning for new counter-tops. That will have to wait until next year.
The floor looks great! Sometimes it is worth it to contract it out. I’m trying to do most of the projects myself on our first house so we can see what is worth it and what isn’t for the future!
Thanks Lance! I agree – I actually like learning how to do stuff around the house because it just makes it that much easier to do it again, fix it later, and tackle other projects. But time and experience was kind of an issue on this one. So … not this time!
Great job…we recently had our cement floors polished. It was a messy process but the results are amazing. Definitely not a do-it-yourself project!
Chase
Thanks Chase. Ya, some projects are better left to the people who know what they’re doing!
Thanks for the love! Looking forward to reading about your Emergency Fund strategy!
PS…The floors look wonderful– I’m sure Mrs. MMD is thrilled!
Thanks Abby and welcome to the site! You’re welcome for the link. I hope the Emergency Fund post lives up to expectations!
Thanks for the compliment. Mrs MMD was VERY pleased! Happy Birthday to her!
I’d love to read your take on the much debated emergency fund topic, MMD! Thanks for the mention!
Thanks Shilpan. I hope not to disappoint!
Nice choice for your kitchen flooring 🙂
thx for the mention!
Thanks TFB! We’re glad its finally done!
LOVE the floors and thanks for the mention!
Thank you! And don’t mention it!
The floor looks great!! I’d be open to blog swapping after my part time job training winds down next week. Good luck with all your projects!
Thanks! And glad to hear that you’re getting a part time job! I’d be open to a swap with you! I’ll hit you up in September!
The new floors look fantastic.. what a huge improvement! Nice choice..
Also, big time congrats on the 1 year!
Thanks! We’re glad we got them done. And thanks again on the 1 year! Looking forward to number 2.
The new tile floors look gorgeous! I’m a big fan of tile and wood floors. Anyway I can twist your arm to share how much more it costed to have somebody install them oppose to doing it yourself?
Yes you can. As a matter of fact, I have the math right here:
Contractor: $950 for 3 guys to get the job done in 1.5 days.
Me: 7 to 14 days [ wasted on trying to figure out how to pull up the floor, rip up the carpet, take off my molding (and probably break it), figuring out how to put the bathroom back together, etc ] x whatever I’m worth = not worth it …
$950 isn’t that bad, especially with all the time and frustration it saved you. Good call. 🙂
Ha – I was pretty pleased with the deal! About a third of what Home Depot was going to charge. It pays to know people 🙂