Things are gettin’ kinda boring around here so I figured let’s do a contest and mix things up a bit! I have a brand new 18-Volt Craftsman Cordless Drill sitting here on my desk and I want to give it away! I thought of selling it on eBay, but I think this would be a lot more fun. All you have to do is blog about your smartest, dumbest, hardest, or frugalist home improvement project or repair job that you have undertaken. You pick! Why a drill? Well, since a cordless drill has been used in almost every home improvement project I have tackled, it was the obvious choice! The drill has a carrying case, 2 battery packs, a bubble level, a LED worklight, and a bunch of other cool bells and whistles.
Rules are simple:
- Create a post on your blog talking about your smartest, dumbest, hardest, or frugalist (is that even a word?) Home Improvement Project or Repair Job that you have undertaken. Include a link to my homepage, www.rather-be-shopping.com and to this contest page www.rather-be-shopping.com/blog/2008/03/17/drill-contest. Once you have done that, just drop me an email at ratherbeshopping@sbcglobal.net so I can get you entered. This will give you 20 entries.
- Since not everyone has a blog, feel free to leave your story on this page in the ‘Comments’ section. This will give you 1 entry.
- Deadline is tax day, April 15th at 11:59pm EST. Wow, that sounds so professional doesn’t it! I will then draw a winner at random and announce it on my blog. I will also highlight some of the more original, educational, and darn right strange entries. So be creative and have some fun with this. Looking forward to reading your stories and please encourage your readers to join in!
My Home Improvement Project:
To get things started, the hardest home improvement project I ever undertook was also my most frugal. When my wife and I moved into our newly built home over 6 years ago, all the builder did in terms of landscaping, was put in a front yard lawn and a few plants. The backyard was knee high with weeds and poison oak.
I told my wife, “Honey, I can put in the lawn in the backyard.” I will never forget her response, “Really, you can do that?” She was not exactly brimming with confidence in my landscaping abilities.
About a year went by and the poison oak crept closer and closer to our backdoor. Finally, I took the bull by the horns before it invaded the sanctity of our bedroom. Turns out our house was built on a quarry of rocks and clay! The soil is absolutely horrible. I borrowed my father-in-laws rototiller and got to work. But I soon realized I would need new dirt if I ever wanted a root to take hold. So I had a truck and trailer delivery of “loam” brought in. I felt like such a pro using words like loam instead of dirt and aggregate in place of rock! I even started wearing Dickies and t-shirts with several holes in them to feel like a real landscaper. I also got really tan to look the part.
I took that loam, err…dirt, into my fenced backyard by the wheelbarrow load. 827 loads later I had my dirt. Then I had to dig my trenches for the sprinklers. I did this all by hand and 5 years later I still have the callouses to prove it. I then mastered the art of gluing together PVC pipe. Then I planted seed, watered lightly, watered lightly, and watered lightly some more. I saved thousands of dollars by doing it ALL myself! My grass slowly started to grow and it was the coolest feeling to know that I created all of this by myself:
Looking forward to your entries and stories!
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Tags: Contest · Frugal Living16 Comments
16 responses so far ↓
hi! what a great contest..i could really use this with my projects coming up!Me and my grandsons will be making some birdhouses,feeders,etc..this would be wonderful to win!
i will blog about this tomorrow and send an email for my entries,but i just wanted to say thanks for the contest…
Very creative contest. This one is easy for me, I once tried to fix a leaking bathtub faucet while my husband was at work. All was going well until I realized that I had forgotten to turn the main water valve off! The geyser that went all the way to the bathroom ceiling is what tipped me off. By far my dumbest home repair project. I got the mess cleaned up and was able to finish the job, so that has to count for something!
Congrats on the lawn. I totally understand your lawn situation. Our property is 60% rock, 40% something else, but it sure isn’t dirt! All our “dirt” is capable of growing is douglas fir, western hemlock trees, and some bushes.
We might grow a patch of grass some day, but for now we’re letting it grow in naturally.
I have to pick just one?!
I’ll see if I can come up with a project I haven’t blogged about yet. Your lawn looks fantastic!
@ Aaron, I feel your pain. Our dirt was so full of clay and rock that I can dig a hole, fill it up with water and it will take days for that water to penetrated the soil.
@ remodelingthislife, from clicking around your blog, I can tell you are a huge do-it-yourselfer! That is fantastic! Looking forward to your entry!
Got ya blogged with my easter story..i’m emailing you…
HAPPY EASTER AARON!!!!
Great contest, Kyle! I’d enter except for 2 things: 1) I already have a drill and 2) If I didn’t, me plus 1 drill would be a very dangerous thing. I am sooo unhandy. Heh.
Good luck with the contest, though!
Wow — where to start? My stupidist is probably the time I wanted to paint the inside of my closet, so I put the big ladder in the closet. Oh yeah — we have sliding doors on the closet and I didn’t want to take them off, so there wasn’t much room. You know what’s coming, right? I started to tip the ladder, the paint started to fall, I tried to catch it, which only made it worse and the ladder, paint and me all went tumbling to the floor of the closet! What a mess that was! I was covered in paint and so was the floor and the ladder. I had to yell to my husband to help and then he couldn’t stop laughing. He reminds of this heartwarming story often!
Great contest…thanks!
Perky, great story! At least you can laugh about it now, or is that your husband STILL laughing that I hear….your entered.
Rachael, got your email, great post as well. It has been my experience that painting can be one of the cheaper home improvement projects but also one of the most frustrating at times. Your entered too! Good luck.
Hello! Our family had lived in a 90 year old home that we renovated over the years. My husband literally scraped every layer of paint on the outside of the house for 2 years. At night, he would use scaffolding with a light to scrape. He finally got down the the bare wood. We ended up earning a
“Historic Preservation Award” from the city. It was very rewarding. Anyway, our two sons were getting tired of living in an “old” house, so we built a new one and they love it here. There was really no place for them to go with their friends here, though! My husband had refinished the other house’s basement, even though it had low ceilings! Well, lo and behold, he took on entirely by himself (yes, he does have a full-time day job), this large basement. Starting with a lot of drywalling and ceiling tile, he did it step by step. It is fabulous! We could actually live down there if we had to. There is a game room, entertainment room. kitchenette, bathroom and game closets. Please enter my husband in your drawing. He love tools. Thank you very much! Cindi
Oh, this is hilarious! Frightening, but hilarious.
Your yard is lovely–that playhouse in the trees!! So excellent. I’m forwarding your post to my son, who will either be inspired to landscape or scared out of the backyard.
Funny recently posted on “My Most Cost-Effective Renovations” (which I guess is frugalist, eh?). But between now and the 15th I’ll post something new & let you know about it.
So many wacky stories, so little time to write them up….
My entry is up @ One Project Closer (scroll to the bottom of the wrap-up). Hopefully some other folks will head your way from my site.
Our dumbest move on home improvement was when we decided to “save” $2K and rip up our old kitchen tile floor so it could be replaced with hardwood. The prior owner didn’t properly prep the subflooring and so the morter cracked and broke with every step. It was a total eyesore and health hazard. We ended up having to pry most pieces up with a crowbar, I got cut with a sharp tile, needed stitches and eventually got an infection from it (fine now!), we rented a sander and still had to put in a new subfloor. What a waste of time and money!
My entry is now up at my site:
Click Here
Hey! I need a drill! My most frugal home improvement project happens every time I try to install any bracket on my walls that uses screws. I actually use a nail and hammer to get the hole started, then I use a screwdriver to drive in the screw. I get huge blisters from doing this, and sometimes I just give up, so then the bracket isn’t installed properly. This works just until someone tries to open curtains or dust shelves… thank goodness I live alone! : )