Expense Update for January 2020

Owning a house outright without a mortgage is the best feeling in the world. The moment I paid off my mortgage was one of the most surreal moments in my life.

The following month felt unreal not having to pay rent or a mortgage. It was in one word AWESOME.

I am now at a point in my life where I am getting used to not having a mortgage and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But even without a mortgage, it feels quite expensive to own a house here in Los Angeles county. The property taxes, insurance, and the upkeep that comes with owning a home really add up.

This month I had some unexpected expenses related to housing maintenance that really kicked my expenses higher than anticipated.

Let me show you what I mean.

 

Expenses

Home (Maintenance): $3,275. I did my annual termite inspection and found some signs of termites. Decided to treat all around the whole house which costed me about $1,350. My house being an older home with lots of wood on the exterior, it was about time to paint the whole entire exterior wood trims. That costed me another $1,860. My painter noticed some crack tiles on top of the roof while working. So, I went up there to see how many and boy, was there a lot! Most likely from termite tenting done 6-7 years back. After gathering 4 estimates on the roof repair, I decided to do the repair myself and save about $1,800 to $2,400. Thank you, YouTube. I used the app OfferUp to see if any locals had some extra roof tiles like mines. Found one person selling them for $1 per piece! Purchased 30 tiles and some supplies at the local Home Depot and got to work. Work was completed in about 1 to 2 hours. Luckily, it was easy to get on the roof without the need of a ladder.

Shopping: $877. So, murphy decided to strike again. My father’s computer I built him back 6 years ago had stopped working. Great timing huh? Found out it was the motherboard that had gone bad. So, I decided to give him my computer and upgrade mine.

Insurance (HOI): $772

Groceries: $551

Utilities: $409. Gas bill hit an all time high this month. The weather was quite chilly this month!

Home (Landscaping): $240. Fertilized the lawn. Hoping it will look nice and green next year.

Travel (Transportation): $232. Travel hacking in progress. 😊

Mobile Phone: $123

Travel (Lodging): $200. Travel hacking in progress. 😊

Restaurants: $115. We eat what we crave. We don’t crave much because we eat well at home. But I was craving some Korean soup and found this restaurant we just had to try called Woomiok. We had the beef bone brisket soup and the beef short rib soup. Very good! A must try if you’re in the area!

We then went for some HappyLemon for the first time. A massive line was outside just for some milk tea boba… They are known for their salted cheese tea drinks. Very interesting and surprisingly good.

We also tried the Black Garlic Spicy Ramen and the Katsu Curry at a restaurant called Kimae Ramen. If you love garlic like myself, you will love this! I also recommend their Spicy Seafood Ramen and Signature Ramen.

Auto – Gas: $79

Home (Trash/Sewer): $51

Dues & Subscription: $50. Slightly higher due to a subscription for Lifelock. Currently churning a deal that will make me $62 through Swagbucks. Easy money. Interested? Here are the details.

Personal Care: $17

Postage/Shipping: $4

Total: $7,010

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Started the year with Murphy on my tail. If it wasn’t for the roof repair DIY, my expenses for the month would have neared $10,000!

Learning to make your own repairs around the house can save you thousands over the course of home ownership. I have saved tens of thousands of dollars doing the repairs myself.

If it wasn’t for YouTube, I would have never been able to pull it off. Most repairs seem daunting at first but once you learn and complete one, it’s hard to pay someone knowing how easy some of the work can be.

There is no escaping the maintenance that comes with owning a home. Putting things off can often times lead to larger problems down the line. So, if you find an issue, deal with it right away and put it behind you.

It feels good knowing things have been taken care of even though it was costly. Looking forward to the next month! Thanks for stopping by.