This post is brought to you by – me laughing at myself because I’ve been able to watch myself stumble through some homeowner moments. The following is more a jumbled cascade of Keystone Cop moments than any planned lifestyle. And yet, it all fits, and of course, it makes me think.

Fourth of July, check the roof for spent fireworks – and find a patch that needs painting. Two months later, and some inspirational help from a friend and almost every weekend means chores have led to chores and a lot of little things have gotten done. Time and money make a difference – and produce a reminder of how little it takes to improve a place and a life.

Chores. Blah. And yet, we do them. Some we do immediately. Some we do when we can. Sometimes ‘when we can’ means waiting for the time and money to do them. Wait long enough and deferred maintenance accumulates. My house was built in 1964. It is a small beach cottage about a half-mile back from the beach. It was a vacation house, so it wasn’t supposed to be exquisite, but welcome and comfortable. A lot of work can build up in decades. Some trim work was never tried.

My plan was to do all of that and more when I bought it in 2007. It deserves an upgrade! Sigh. Read back over the years of this blog and you can find evidence of when those plans were deferred. Upgrades were deferred, then simple improvements, then many maintenance items. Repairs were done as painfully necessary. It became easy to see how an interrupted life can let little things derail recoveries. Maintenance is cheap. Repairs can cost more. Replacements can be the worst, especially if there is any subsequent damage. Ugh.

Got a job, got paychecks, and got busy.

Septic. Start with the essentials. In my rural county, septic systems are common. They must be inspected regularly – or at least when the house sells, generally. Many owners only get it inspected before a sale, or if something breaks. I get mine inspected more frequently because this is one of the most vital parts of a house. Besides, if it is inspected and approved, I can more readily sell the house – if I need to. My system works! But the one alarm has a busted horn and the other alarm has a busted panel. Cost: >$2,400. $2,400 for a working system to be able to make a noise in case it isn’t a working system. Not exactly a direct benefit to my life, but the government sees it as necessary.

Electrical. Grit teeth. Set a budget because contractors will be involved. Hey, they gotta make a living, too. Finally try to find an electrician who will come fix several small things. Almost a year later, most electricians won’t even answer a call or email. None are available. Evidently, my jobs were too small for them.

They’ll show up if enough money is involved. People talk about being priced out of a place. It isn’t just about the price of the house or the taxes. Chores can start to stack up, and professional work can become too expensive – if it is even available. Am I too poor for them? It is hard to blame them. They are running a business; and building the brand new vacation houses around me is more profitable than helping maintain more affordable full-time resident housing.

So much for doing things the professional way. And here is where things started moving.

Several of my friends are house-builders, both professionally and by experience. One was nice enough to hang out for a day. Within a few hours I was back to being able to turn on several lights and use a few outlets that only needed a bit of tweaking. Years of dimness banished. Thanks!

Paint and Scrape and Grubbies. After the Fourth of July I check the roof for spent fireworks. My neighborhood frequently gets lots of illegal fireworks. I get to clean up after them. This year was much quieter. Maybe it was the fact that vacant lots are now construction sites. My roof was clean and clear. Great.

But there was a black part of the roof where white waterproof paint peeled back from the dark roof under it. OK. Head to the hardware store and buy a small can for a bit of painting. What? Supply chain issues? OK. Buy a gallon (at what price?!). Don’t waste it. Only needed a bit of a pint. Got a gallon; so, find something to paint. And the gutters got painted, too.

And the new paint made the old paint look so old that I conceded and committed to painting the entire roof. From one square foot to ‘OK, I’ll buy 8 gallons for more than $200. Thank you, dry weather. Thank you sunglasses, too. Painting a roof with reflective waterproof paint can be Very Bright.

And here is where the avalanche gained speed.

The roof was waterproofed, but now the soffit and fascia looked dull and weathered. Sea air will do that. More paint. Wobbly time on a ladder. But done! A reflective roof just in time for a hot August. A waterproofed roof in time for the rest of the times by the Salish Sea.

Along the way I used up several gallons of partly-used paint to repaint the deck. But I needed a bit more to finish because it ran dry with a few square feet to go – and could only buy it by the gallon – so the various steps and stairs around the house were painted, too.

After I finished, I walked by one window I noticed a crack in the trim paint. Silly me tested the wood to see if there was any rot. No? Great! I wondered if I could paint that crack. Of course I can – But The Paint Was a Different Color – Duh.

Hello, hardware store. Here’s a paint chip. Can you match it? Why, yes, of course, happy to do so. And they matched the color of the dark wood, not the creamy paint. Try #2 was a success.

Buy a different gallon, and find that it doesn’t take much paint to paint trim. Put that paint aside because…

The caulking got old? OK. Get out the caulking gun and get to filling those cracks.

Caulk? Oh dear. The tub. But first, I unclogged the sink. But first first I started scraping the toilet bowl. (I’ll spare you the details, but will point out that this remains a work in slow progress.)

I’ve probably already bored you, so I’ll save you the boredom of the equally Keystone Cops progression from taming the ornamental grass, the lawn’s grass (which is ornamental, too), the hedges, the shrubbery, the rose bush and the trees that need to meet the HOA’s rules, and the lawn mower with the broken blade that has a supply chain issue.

Why the litany? There is a joy in getting things done, again. Years of staring at tasks can be irritating for someone who tries to live responsibly. It is gratifying to finally find fixes. Years of waiting resolved within several Saturdays. Managing deferred maintenance is not inevitable, but it is possible – with enough time and money.

Many people do not have the time or money. Inflation, supply chain issues, a need for an extra pair of experienced hands mean many things can turn from insignificant to oh, dear, uh oh.

I’m glad I’m getting things done, again. Almost every Saturday for the last few months has been another $100 or more at the hardware store. The work that got done has been worth far more. And there’s more to do.

And the same pressures remain. Understandably, I’ve concentrated on things I can afford.

The most expensive things deferred have been things that require contractors. Their pressures definitely remain. New roof rather than waterproof paint? One quote was for over $20,000. New windows rather than decades-old single panes? $24,000. New appliances rather than the originals from the 60s? I haven’t been bold enough to ask. Fix some masonry in the chimney? Sure, he can do it; but he won’t unless he can make $2,000 – and that price has probably gone up since I asked.

(affordable housing comments deferred to a later post)

I’m glad Hearts & Hammers, and Habitat for Humanity are around to help folks who don’t have as much support and resources as I do, and as the paragraph above points out my house could benefit from thousands more. (Come on, book sales. Come on, photo sales. Come on, stocks! Come on, LOTTO!) It hasn’t taken much to break free progress on so many things in such a short time. Living frugally and living with frugal goals has its benefits. Without those resources, a lot was deferred for years. As financial health returns, improvements are made in both my house and me.

I’m looking forward to it. I might have to buy new bib overalls, though. I wore out one set in such a fine fashion that someone picked them up as ‘distressed fashion’. Hey, that’s the closest I’ve been to being fashionable!