Is it better to get into debt and get things done now?

I've had the same issue with my house. I bought it as investment property, but after closing I didn't have much money to work with. So rather than doing one thing at a time when I had the money I racked up a credit card bill of a little over $2000. I figured it wouldn't be hard to pay off....how wrong was I! I was so stressed trying to make those payments every month (I would try to pay $100 off a month). But then interest started accumulating...an extra $20 a month! So in the end...I caculated that it was going to take me over twenty months to pay off my credit card bill at the rate I was going. Luckily when I got married my husband offered to pay off my credit cards because he refused to be in debt since his mom had experienced problems with it before. So my suggestion would be to save. If you decide not to save don't use credit cards! There are many places willing to provide 0% interest loans for home improvements. And somtimes your city will even give you money to fix up your house...this is usually only if you live in a lower income area, usually close to downtown. (this is where my house was located) Anyways, good luck!

well by the time you save enough money, somthing new in going need to doing,but all it depends what are you going to do?do you really need them to do?

Short term pain equals long term gain.Right now you know the costs involved and how much you can "afford".What is the long-term plan?Will this be your nest egg for retirement or is this going to be a flip-house to some thing better? I would suggest looking at your 10 year game plan to see where you want to be and work according to those goals.Being short of money is not the same as being broke,so any improvements on the house will increase the value if/when you want to sell.

Well I think it depends on what the jobs are. If they are merely "cosmetic" things like paint and wallpaper, then leave it til you can afford it. But if they are important things, such as replacing a central heating boiler that could be dangerous if left, then go into debt for it!

I think that depends on what kind of jobs you have to do. I myself would rather borrow money than wait for some of the things that we needed to do. Like, our kitchen had the most hideous wallpaper, and old yellow pine furniture. I thought for a while I would be able to live with it temporarily - I was wrong. i actually hated to be in the kitchen, so we had to at least do part of it - get rid of the wallpaper and the yellow pine - before we really could afford to. i would also borrow money to do things that will get worse with time.

Depends on how important the job is. It is always better not to get into debts, if its not so important wait till you earn.

I think you have to consider what you can afford..Most people can't afford to pay things all at once..I hate to be in debt..but my income doesn't permit me to get everything paid all at once..I get things one at a time;)+

I would wait if work is not an emergency. I always wait and spend after saving....it makes you feel much better....

Well Im so far in debt it really wouldnt matter for me. I like to get things done and fixed as soon as I can. But my husband doesnt look at it that way. He would rather wait till we had money but who knows that day may never come.LOL

Depends really on how financially stretched you will be if you take on additional debt. If for example, you have a small mortgage and are comfortably paying it without much hassle and you estimate that you will have to borrow a reasonable amount to pay back by way of remortgage do your jobs around the house - say build a conservatory or extension - then go for it. But if you have a mortgage that you are paying but only just, forget it. Think about the quality of life - if you make your debts unmanageable then it doesn't matter how bit or comfortable your house is (unless you win the lottery of course...), life will have been made worse. But what would the point be of saving money that takes a few years if you can actually afford to get it done now? I am not a believer in spending uneccesarily but you have got to live, in my opinion.

It depends on the urgency of the things that needs to be done. If it's just to improve the looks or easthetics of the house, then I guess it could wait and save. But if it's really something that could really affect the overall well-being of the family such as replacement of heater or improve plumbing then it is really very necessary. Also, if the interest of the loan is really low like what is being offered here in my country which is just about .98%, then I think it would be okay to have things done now.

My Mum had a really good method of doing up her house. She wrote a list of everything she wanted to do, and she would do one thing a month. The first month, she replaced the boiler. The second, she repainted the living room. Because she spread the workload out, she had the feel of accomplishment without accumulating a huge cost. Although it may seem like a good solution to whack it all on a credit card, when it comes to paying it off, you'll wish you'd done it a bit at a time. Just prioritize, do the things that are urgent first and take your time with everything else. x

I think it purely depends on the matter in hand. One can't avoid debt if the matter in hand pertain to security, safety and health or even imperative academic or personal issues for that matter as i myself once, having no income, had to take loan for paying my university fees otherwise i could not be able to continue my education. Now if situation is not as pressing as above then you need to see the present and future cost of the work, known as "present cost of future investment" in economics. for example, if something is costing $1000 at the moment and same will cost $1100 in future, say 2 months, than one may take loan but again one has to see that with interest, the cost remain below $1100. Having said that, i personally won't go for a loan in non pressing situation even if future cost is slightly higher than present, for, the very thinking of being in debt scares me and spoils me emotionally. I would rather wait and save to get the job done. This way i'll not only do my job done but will be relaxed too, without worries and stress. wish you best of luck in life.

I personally hate to be in debt so we fix things around the house one job at a time.When you think about how much you spend in interests its not worth the debt.