s/o How did you pay for your kitchen renovation?

[shaynaatl]

If you've had a kitchen or bath renovation-

Did you pay cash?  Home equity line?  Some other method?

[hocus2]

Cash.

We looked into a home equ. line for another project and we may do it once my kid goes to K.

[itsme]

We are working on our kitchen. We have upgraded all appliances which took a few years. We replaced as they died except for the fridge. I just wanted that. Everything was paid cash except the dishwasher which we had a 0% deal if paid before a certain date. We paid it off pretty quickly. That was before I started paying for items in cash (well, on a credit card for points). We're going to do the counters, backsplash, and cabinets this year. Cabinets will be done by us but we'll have to have the counters installed. We plan on paying cash for that.  Since the appliances are already in place and we're just refinsihing or painting the cabinets ourselves we don't expect the reno to be too expensive. 

[hbomdiggity]

Not a kitchen, but we are doing a 40k master bath reno.

We only had about 20k saved and are cash rolling the rest with the help of a 0% credit card. That's my MM confession for the day.

[Marmee]

Loan for half, cash half

[tealblue]

I was going to say cash but then a PP reminded me that we also did a 0% (for 12 months) credit card for part! It was fine for me.

We've taken out a heloc for some renovations now. We're responsible about it. We pay it down quickly. I don't think I'm a horrible person.

[audette]

My folks are redoing their kitchen (and other stuff). They're paying cash.

[fortnightlily]

Cash.

[peachdragon]

Credit card, then paid it off immediately. So, really, cash.

[magdala]

Windfall tax refund plus a refi of the mortgage to a lower interest rate that freed up funds previously used to pay the mortgage. The initial payment for the kitchen was on a credit card during the introductory period when the rate was 0%.

[dancingirl21]

Apr 27, 2015 10:45:16 GMT -5 hbomdiggity said:

Not a kitchen, but we are doing a 40k master bath reno.

We only had about 20k saved and are cash rolling the rest with the help of a 0% credit card. That's my MM confession for the day.

Wow! That's going to be one amazing bathroom. Make sure to share pics!

[lishie]

Cash. We put DH's bonuses aside to pay for our renovations.

[MrsE]

Credit card (for the points) and then paid it off immediately with a cash transfer from our bank account.

[humpforfree]

Whole home renovation/addition. Cash with heloc available as backup (untouched).

[aspentosh]

Apr 27, 2015 14:00:10 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Whole home renovation/addition. Cash with heloc available as backup (untouched).

Knowing and seeing what you've done makes this statement even more impressive. 

When we redo our kitchen we'll do cash. We just replaced our windows and did cash. I hadn't even though of a HELOC but I hate more monthly payments since I SAH now.

[humpforfree]

Apr 27, 2015 14:29:21 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

Apr 27, 2015 14:00:10 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Whole home renovation/addition. Cash with heloc available as backup (untouched).

Knowing and seeing what you've done makes this statement even more impressive. 

When we redo our kitchen we'll do cash. We just replaced our windows and did cash. I hadn't even though of a HELOC but I hate more monthly payments since I SAH now.

We bought the house knowing we would end up doing this and made sure it was a mortgage we could afford to still save (a lot) on (and eventually only on H's income since we knew I would SAH one day). We saved for 5ish years and then last year even though I was SAH, I started working part time remotely for my old office for a few extra dollars to toss toward projects.
We were hoping to not need the HELOC but opened it to have available in case something crazy happened. So far, so good, though we are about to run out of construction cash and are now prioritizing It helps (a LOT) that H and his dad did a bulk of the work themselves. Oh and it also helps (?) that our contractors ditched us and the projects before finishing, or collecting a bunch of pay. Lol.

[aspentosh]

Apr 27, 2015 14:33:50 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Apr 27, 2015 14:29:21 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

Knowing and seeing what you've done makes this statement even more impressive. 

When we redo our kitchen we'll do cash. We just replaced our windows and did cash. I hadn't even though of a HELOC but I hate more monthly payments since I SAH now.

We bought the house knowing we would end up doing this and made sure it was a mortgage we could afford to still save (a lot) on (and eventually only on H's income since we knew I would SAH one day). We saved for 5ish years and then last year even though I was SAH, I started working part time remotely for my old office for a few extra dollars to toss toward projects.
We were hoping to not need the HELOC but opened it to have available in case something crazy happened. So far, so good, though we are about to run out of construction cash and are now prioritizing It helps (a LOT) that H and his dad did a bulk of the work themselves. Oh and it also helps (?) that our contractors ditched us and the projects before finishing, or collecting a bunch of pay. Lol.

Super smart. I was drooling over your deck. We want to redo ours this year (we need a cheaper project after the windows, lol) and I think seeing yours really pushed me to do it ASAP.

[monsterz]

We have paid cash for every major remodel kitchen and 2 bathrooms.

[crashgizmo]

We are doing a partial kitchen remodel (appliances, a bar, and a pantry) and are paying cash. Well, we're putting it on our CC for the points, but then paying it off. We have saved for it, but so far we haven't actually used the savings account to pay for anything, just cash flowing it every month (thank you DH for getting bigger than expected bonuses!)

[Susie]

Cash for all reno's to date. That includes a half bath that we took down to the studs, a cosmetic kitchen update, and a number of other big projects.  We tend to DIY which keeps the cost in check.  The cash usually comes from my quarterly bonuses.

[bittybomb]

We bought the cabinets and countertops through Lowe's with 18 months interest free financing, and then paid cash for everything else.  Paid Lowe's probably within 9 months.

[gummybear]

ETA: Sorry I thought this was the other thread  
We paid cash

Pic deleted

[IrishBelle]

The un-MM way - we paid for ours with some cash but mostly with our HELOC. The HELOC was paid off within 6 months though.

[ellipses84]

My recommendation is not MM, if you think it will improve your daily life a lot. We were trying to be MM and pay for our kitchen in cash but life kept getting in the way. I wish we had taken out a loan to do it when we first bought the house. So many hours would have been saved by having a dishwasher and we would have sold our house a lot easier, for enough more money to make up for the cost. I know we would have had more focus on paying off the loan than we did for saving.

[kitty63]

Can I ask why it seems no one wants to use a HELOC for renovations? Is it just because cash is preferable if it's possible or is there something else? We're about to start our bathroom remodel. :/

[fortnightlily]

For me, ignoring the aspect of paying interest when I don't have to, we already have high monthly expenses because of daycare costs, and I'd rather not add to it with additional debt. The cash for the renovations was always earmarked in savings explicitly for that, so it's an 'out of sight out of mind' thing.

[tealblue]

HELOCs are essentially a credit card backed by your home equity. If you default on your heloc payment, they can repo your house. Part of the housing bubble bursting/foreclosures were that house prices were rising and people would take heloc's and buy cars, vacations, etc and then the housing collapse and everyone was underwater on their homes.

Like credit cards can be used responsibly, I believe heloc's can too. It's a not MM thought to use credit to pay for (nonessential) renovations. But there are clearly several of us in the thread that use them as leverage or responsibly.

[drloretta]

I refinanced my house and took some $ out for the kitchen.

[kitty63]

Ok gotcha, the usual not spending money you don't have. My dad, who is MM to the extreme, encouraged us to do it. He has taken one out himself rather than cash out money in retirement accts (they're already retired.)

[dr.girlfriend]

Cash, except for stuff like appliances which were charged to credit but then paid off with the monthly bill.