This isn’t a revolutionary concept, but everything starts to change as you get older.
Then one day you have a kid and you have to start worrying about shit like school districts.
I wish I could shake every 25-year-old right now and tell them to cherish every moment.
Eventually you find a house in a great neighborhood for a great price.
Cracked plaster everywhere, carpet still in from the 70s, place is covered head to toe in wallpaper.
Looks great from the outside, and you’ll continuously hear the phrase “it has good bones”.
It’s a total fixer upper.
For some of you, I’m sure that’s not a problem.
So what do you do?
But it is pretty important to know.
Nobody walks around knowing how much it costs to get brick repointed.
But just be ready for some sticker shock.
Learning New Things Rocks
All I knew about houses heading into this was how to live in them.
I didn’t know a damn thing about how they’re put together.
I also didn’t know dick about how to use any sort of power tool besides maybe a drill.
My tool belt before consisted of duct tape and super glue.
There’s something exciting about learning new things.
I think it’s because one you learn something, you realize how dumb you were before.
And now you’re excited about no longer being such a dumbass.
So you learn how to hang drywall and tape up the joints.
But then you also learn that you 100% need wear a mask.
So if you fuck something up down the road, now you’ll know how to fix it.
You wouldn’t know that if you bought a house that was move-in ready.
Or maybe your job for the day is to bash up some tile in the bathroom.
You’re swinging that sledge all day before you even see a stud.
So however long you think something is going to take you, just double it.
Or maybe even add an extra day to be safe.
It just seems like there’s no way that it could ever resemble a livable area ever again.
But then piece by piece, it starts to come back together again.
Again, it’s all about chasing that high of feeling like an actual man.
Some Things Are Well Beyond Your Capabilities
It’s one thing to hang some drywall.
It’s probably best to just leave that to someone who does it for a living.
Other parts of your house might not be the best to experiment with.
You’re trying to save time and money everywhere.
Basically what this all comes down to is that you might do it.
You’ll probably end up appreciating the house more anyway.
By the way–I’m not done with the house yet.
So I’ll keep writing some of these along the way if you’re all interested.
