Monday 23 June 2014

Week 17 - The Living Well in Retirement Weekly Challenge



The weekly Retirement Challenge is back!

After a few weeks - when life 'got in the way' - I'm back on the blog. Valued readers, thank you so much for your patience!

Currently we are living away from home - in Coffin Bay - in rented accomodation, as we work on renovating our beach house. We are converting what has been two units into one house - with four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Long we have dreamed of undertaking this project - so why now you might ask?

The short answer - finally we have the time, we are able to do all the project management ourselves, and we can afford the changes by doing a good deal of the work ourselves - with 'a little bit' of help and encouragement from family members.

Having never personally undertaken this type of project before there have been numerous new skills to develop! John is now a 'Mudder Extraordinaire', while I can stand on a ladder and grind, with a minigrinder, a mean spot - or two thousand - on a cement wall.

We have chiselled tough tiles off the walls of two bathrooms and two kitchens, and John has been able to work assisting the builder with tasks including demolishing a cement block wall, carrying and stashing bricks, pulling out skirtings and cornices, and gyprocking walls. Later we will tackle the painting ourselves.

The days we spend doing these things are days we don't need to pay others to these necessary, but rather tedious, tasks. This is meant to help us to stay close to our budget target! I'll let you know how that goes in another post!

This week's challenge then is ... to tackle one of those little jobs around the house that you've been putting off for ages. Fix that dripping tap, do a spot of painting, replace that loose tile, repair the squeaky door or stuck window.

Don't know how to go about it? Did you know that there's a Youtube video for that! Don't believe me - do a Youtube search - you will be truly amazed!

Do also utilise the friendly people at your local hardware store - we can attest to the fact that their advice regarding the best tools and products to use is invaluable.

My best tip - purchase the best pair of work gloves you can afford. They are a great investment and make the work so much easier.

What will you be tackling? I'd love to hear how you go! Meanwhile you can follow our progress via the weekly 'Retirement Lifestyle ... this week' posts.

Cheers!

Marian

PS: I have a little confession! Where once I was completely mesmerised by the glorious range of stationery spilling out of the shelves at Officeworks, recently I've been finding Bunnings a most thrilling and exciting place to be! Who would have thought!










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