I am very much a "while you're at it" kind of girl. If I'm doing one thing, why not tag something else on? It's a way to be economical with my time and resources. This weekend when my sister-in-law came to stay, it struck me as a perfect WYAI opportunity. First, we had already picked up the house, secondly, we were already going to have to make a nice meal. Why not invite an extra guest or two since we were already going to the trouble. Turns out my bestie and her hubby were due a dinner at our house, so they were our value-add. We also know that our guest would enjoy their company. So we killed two birds with that stone.
We have wanted to get our driveway replaced ever since we moved in, but it's an expensive job. It's also hard to find someone trustworthy. Our neighbor needed to do the same. We'd discussed this a lot. Finally, he was ready to do it and had a guy. We asked if we could piggy-back on the effort. So now we are both having ours done. It helps because the company is already here for the one job, so we saved a bit to have them do ours at the same time. Best of all, our neighbor wanted to get the bushes on the side of our house pulled out. We hated them -- some folks love Rose of Sharon, but they make a huge mess! Dave tried to pull the bushes out, with our blessings, but they were too deep.
So, once he was set to do his driveway, he asked if he could pave the area next to our house and we agreed. He's paid for it too! It will now be easier for us to work on that side of the house. They also paved around our AC unit -- stabilizing it and protecting it from weeds. We love it. The guy is nice too -- he has refused any compensation to pay for it.
Our drive way has three good slabs, the rest are cracked. Those have been torn out and will be paved this weekend. It will cost a pretty penny, but we saved some on it using the "While You're Here" method. It can save you time -- and sometimes it can save you money!
ps. I've been trying to reply to comments bug blogger is not loading the reply window, so I apologize if I seem non-responsive!
I have the same problem trying to reply on blogger. Look at the tray at the bottom of the page/computer. There will be an orange page. Open it and see the reply page.
ReplyDeleteI hope that impermeable area between your homes does not do damage if water runs from it to your house. I would have at least made a channel for the water to run to the center and down toward yard. This impermeable ground is one of the problems that caused flooding in Houston.
You have to hit reply first, maybe repeatedly to get the orange page/icon to show up.
DeleteWe discussed that with the concrete company. It is graded to encourage run-off so I think we'll be fine. The neighbor's drive was is graded to slope down to the street.
Delete..and dinner was great. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteEven though I forgot the cucumbers and sprouts!
DeleteWe did that when we built our fence, our neighbors had just moved in and it was a fence both families required for the dogs. We each paid half. We stained it the same color so it looks unified too
ReplyDeleteHe was very happy when we put up our fence and we even cut a "Hello Teddy" door so she can peek through to say "Hi." There is a bunny escape hole and a small dog that was staying with him would slip through to say "Hi" too. It's nice when you share plans like that with your neighbor!
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