Let's play "Can I afford it?"

[francis]

poof - thank you for the advice!

[auberge]

My mm gut says no because renovations are a dark money pit. Pretty much expect to spend 15%-20% more.

Also, the kitchen is more practical and likely to give you a nice return on your money.

Yes to kitchen, No to garage for now. Sorry H

[francis]

Apr 17, 2015 20:37:59 GMT -5 auberge said:

poof

[Deleted]

Yes to kitchen, no to garage. There's no guarantee your kitchen reno won't go over budget and that's something you will at least see an ROI on. A bigger garage is nice but it sounds like you have a garage in the first place so I don't see a real need to change your financial priorities and take it all on at once. I feel for your husband because it sucks when only one person gets their thing but I would set a timeline on the garage project in the future. I also say this as someone who bought a house and ran out of money for decoration and furniture and it sucks.

[cleosprite]

Kitchen first, garage second. If you manage to stay under budget on the kitchen (yeah right, I know), then you're that much closer to getting the garage done.

It's the hierarchy of needs. Kitchens are for food, essential for living. Garages are for storing things and hobbies. Saving for the garage should definitely, definitely be top of the priority list once the kitchen is done, but it has to come second.

[h]

So when you say you could sell some of the company stock to fund the renovations, does that mean you would have additional company stock left? What do you have in the way of non-retirement investments other than your e-fund? If 1.5x your HHI in retirement accounts, plus an e-fund is all you would have left after the renos, I would not do the garage now. If you have significant non-retirement investments, I would feel differently.

[kadams767]

Is the interior renovation just the kitchen or is there more to it?

I'm in general agreement with the others that kitchen first, save for garage later, but I'd probably try to see if there was a way to do both somehow (ie. if that $85-$90k is just a kitchen, in might try and scale that back a little).

[krystee]

Am I understanding right that the kitchen alone is $95K? I think you could easily scale back and still get an amazing kitchen for $50K-$60K and use the other $35-$45K on the garage.

[vanillacourage]

No offense but it seems like you guys have $$$$ tastes that outstrip what you really should be spending in your given MM situation. Your finances are healthy, but you're not balling to the point that spending $140k (before inevitable overages) on reno'ing a kitchen and garage makes sense.

ETA - wait, your dream kitchen is $90k? Yeah, if your retirement is only 1.5x income you are dreaming way too big, at least for what would make me financially comfortable.

[LoveTrains]

Also isn't 1.5 the benchmark for retirement for 35? It should be more for 40.

[francis]

poofity