Frugal Babe

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A Family That Paints Together…

June 28, 2008 By Frugal Babe

We’re in the middle of painting our house, but thanks to my family we’re a lot closer to the end of the project than we were two days ago. We’re painting because the HOA told us we had to – as they did with about half the neighborhood, from the looks of the semi-finished painting projects going on all around us this month. My husband and I spent the last two weekends working on it, and it was pretty slow going. I was having to stop every couple hours to feed the baby, and a house just seems to get larger and larger as you paint. (man am I ever glad that we don’t live in a 3000 square foot house!!).

Then a few days ago, my parents called and said that they were rounding up the family and everyone would be coming to our house on Friday to paint. They showed up yesterday morning at about 7:30 – my parents, my sister, both my brothers, and one even brought his girlfriend along for the project. So all of a sudden, things started to get done on a much more grand scale than before. My parents brought ladders, scrapers, a paint sprayer and brushes, so there were plenty of tools, and lots of hands working them. We worked until after 5pm, and what’s left of the project suddenly seems much more doable – we’re no longer facing another month of painting. We have about 90% of the body of the house painted, and a good start on the trim. My little brother did a lot of work on the highest sections of the house, which was a huge help. My mother spent the whole day working on the miles of trim on the front of the house and the porch, so the house is starting to look really nice from the front. My sister got so into her section that we had to drag her off the ladder to come inside for lunch.

As a huge bonus to the day, my dad fixed my muffler. My boxer shorts fix was good enough to get home the day the pipe broke, but probably not much of a permanent solution. But for $25 in supplies from the auto parts store, and a wire coat hanger, my dad got everything ship-shape in about an hour. Feeling very grateful that I have a whole family full of frugal DIYers.

My family is very good at pitching in and helping each other out. My parents move every few years to a new fixer-upper house, and whenever they do, the whole family gathers for the weekend to pack everything up and clean out the old house. When my brother bought a fixer-upper house a couple years ago, he had to do several projects before the closing in order to get his mortgage approved (things like a new roof and wiring – not small projects). My parents and sister spent a whole week at his house, helping him meet the deadline for the closing. They also spent several weekends at our house earlier this year helping us with our kitchen remodel. And on the days when my mother and I have been working on diapers and various sewing projects, my husband has spent the day doing yardwork at my parents’ house. We all work together very well, and everyone comes out ahead. Although admittedly my husband and I have come out a bit further ahead this year, since we’ve been the beneficiaries now of two major group projects – the kitchen and the house painting. Hugely grateful for that. My brother and his girlfriend might be buying a condo soon, so we’ll be able to help them move and fix up the new place. Taking care of each other – with each person bringing unique talents to the table – is one of the best ways to maintain a frugal lifestyle. Maintaining strong family and friend ties, and pitching in with whatever help you can provide, makes DIY projects much more doable and enjoyable.

We’re taking today off from painting, in order to catch up on all the other stuff we need to do. Then we’ll be back at it tomorrow. But now that so much of it is finished, it feels much more manageable. A huge thank you to my family!

Filed Under: family, work 7 Comments

Comments

  1. Mrs. Accountability says

    June 28, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    You are so lucky to have a family like that. I love to paint but I know it becomes a job that grows as you work on it and that’s an inside job; I’ve never attempted to tackle the *outside* of a house! I cannot imagine with a month old baby in tow! Your whole family rocks!

    Reply
  2. FrugalBabe says

    June 28, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Mrs A – it does seem to grow as you work on it :) I painted the interior of our house last year, and that seemed to take forever… the exterior is significantly harder, so having help is a huge bonus.

    Reply
  3. Li says

    June 28, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    you’re welcome!!!

    but you should probably mention the price – cyclists camping on your couches a few times each summer, cooking oatmeal in the wee hours of the morning, and vanishing with a flurry of spandex ;-)

    Reply
  4. FrugalBabe says

    June 28, 2008 at 10:16 pm

    Well, you’re welcome to camp on our couch any time you feel like it – I think we still come out ahead :)

    (I should clarify that last comment so that people aren’t scratching their heads… that’s my sister, painter and remodeler extraordinaire. She and my brother race bikes, and often have races in our city. When they do, they sometimes use our house as base camp, which is fine with us, because otherwise we wouldn’t get to see them as much)

    Reply
  5. Revanche says

    June 29, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    :D I figured that must have been a sibling!

    I agree, your family is totally awesome to be so ready to pitch in on every large-scale project.

    Reply
  6. Jenny says

    June 30, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    Wow, what a wonderful gift to have family so willing to help each other. My parents spent 20 years gradually fixing up the house I grew up in, and now they’re so over completely DIY that wild horses couldn’t drag them into do another project, their own or anyone else’s. :P

    Just out of curiosity, what does everyone do for a living that they all managed to have Friday free to come help you guys? More self-employed folks?

    Reply
  7. FrugalBabe says

    June 30, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Jenny – my brothers are both computer programmers, and work whatever 40 hours/week they want. My sister has regular hours, but not on Fridays. My parents are retired. They all picked Friday as a good day, and any day that people want to come help us paint our house is a good day for us!

    Reply

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