We Bought This House and Then Fixed It (Mostly) Ourselves

Finding a good contractor these days is about as easy as finding a polite teenager or an honest cable bill. Between the no-shows, the “I can start in six months” crowd, and the ones who want a second mortgage just to hang drywall, it’s enough to make you reach for your own toolbox.

So that’s exactly what we did.

Mr. Frugalist and I have become our own construction crew — and not just for the easy stuff, either. We’re talking real remodeling. When we bought this house, money was tight and ambition was high. So we learned as we went, and when we couldn’t afford to hire out, we simply didn’t.

We’ve installed kitchen cabinets (and made them level, thank you very much), laid wide pine floors in the living room and bedroom, painted every wall, and tiled the kitchen and dining room. I even finished those walls myself — mudding, sanding, and painting until I couldn’t feel my shoulders.

We did have a contractor knock down a few walls when we expanded the kitchen and bedroom, but once the heavy lifting was done, it was back to Team Frugalist. We insulated, ran electrical, and hung Sheetrock like pros. It was an all out team effort with my two daughters helping, the four of us hung the big pieces on the ceiling. Phew! I spent a whole week of vacation time sanding and finishing those walls — because nothing says “fun getaway” like drywall dust in your hair and a Shop-Vac at your feet.

Between the two of us, we can handle just about anything this old house throws at us. Plumbing? Done it. Electrical? Yup. Flooring, trim, tiling, cabinet installs? We’ve got it covered. We don’t just talk about frugal living — we build it, one project and one paycheck at a time.

And that, as Bob Vila would say, is sweat equity — the kind that seeps into the bones of a house and makes it truly yours. Ours has plenty. The blood, sweat, and tears we’ve poured into this place could probably hold it together even without the nails.

These days, our projects are smaller, but there are some big ones on the horizon — and you can bet I’ll share them when the time comes.

Next up? Replacing the egg-gathering door on the chicken coop. This will be the THIRD time and this time we are going to use a PVC product so it won’t fail! I very emphatically said to Mr. Frugalist “I am not doing this again.”

Because around here, the work never really stops — and honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.