overwhelmed by house projects...

We bought a real fixer about 2 months ago , My Dh swore he was handy and was going to work his butt off, etc. and dont get me wrong we have gotten alot done and its totally liveable and comfortable much to the help of my FIl and my siding and window contractors. Well recently we have hit a wall, we have done alot but we have so much more to do. There are so many projects that I want done immediately and we just dont have the time, energy or money to get everything done plus I have discovered that my Dh is not as handy as he said he was. He is still trying to put up simple waiscotting in my son's room for about 2 months now- he got fustrated about a month ago and hasnt gone back since. HE claims he doesnt have the proper tools PLus my FIL just got a full time job( he was laid off) again so he cant help... My question is how do you keep your momentum going with all the house projects and how do you keep your pocketbooks going Im finding that everything is more expensive than I thought....

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

We just had to be realistic.
We bought a serious fixer. We figured out what was necessary in order to live there, happily.
the bathroom is going to be horrendously ugly for another 8 months, until we get a tax return.
The kitchen stays, even though- yuck- someone elses oven...
Washer/dryer are loud and crappy, but they stay until we can afford it.
We will upgrade as we have extra $$$, but for now, "good enough" will have to do.

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

Do what really needs to be done now and then take each task at once. We need a new kitchen & bath, but can't afford it right now, so we are waiting on it.

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

yeah i totally know how you feel.

we are in the house 4 months and we have finally figured out that we have to leave projects for the weekend.. it causes too much stress and arguments between us. we both want so much done, but we have realized it is going to take time,and hey we are in no rush..

my mom said to us- what is the rush, u have 30 years to make it the way youwant..

just remember to finish one project before beginning another or u will never be done!

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

We bought a handy-man special also. We gut our kitchen and bathroom before we even decided to live in the house. Its great now.....but we still have lots to do.

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

ugh, I have a feeling this is going to be us... DH keeps telling me not to worry..

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

This is totally going to be us in a couple of weeks. I say prioritize and concentrate on one thing at a time.

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

Someone suggested this to me and I totally agree with them, try to work one room at a time. Then you have the satisfaction of having something "complete" as opposed to having a bunch of incomplete projects.

Then, you have to get on the same page with DH (easier said than done, I'm not there) as to what projects are a priority.

Good luck!!!

Re: overwhelmed by house projects...

I agree with everyone who said prioritize and do the essentials first. Our house was a real fixer upper too. We moved in 11 months ago. We tackled a few major projects to make the house liveable before we moved in (walls/paint, new bathroom, got rid of carpets and refinished the hardwood floor).

Since moving in, we've done a few projects, but there is still so much we want to do. We haven't even touched the exterior yet. I totally want to do it all now, but it's so

I can sympathize about the half done projects. My DH started putting those stick on tiles on the kitchen floor (the original was so ugly). It took him months, literally, and was so annoying.

You'll get it all done, it'll just take some time.