Ariah has recently bought a new home, and he is now experiencing the whole nickel and dime affect of home improvement:

I found myself looking around the house and thinking about what need to be fixed, repaired or ‘improved upon.’ Not that any of these things are bad, but they just fit into different categories. Having a working kitchen sink is one thing. Installing a waterline for your automatic ice maker is different. We’ll probably install the waterline at some point, but how I budget for it will be different since it is not a ‘need.’

Walking around Home Depot, I found my self ’shopping’ more and more. I wasn’t just going in with a list of the things I needed, I was walking the aisles, looking at prices, thinking about how certain ‘improvements’ would look in our home. Again, I’m not saying this is bad, just that you need to be aware and careful about it…

I’ve always said that Target has a $50 cover charge, because I can go in there for a roll of paper towels and come out with at least $50 worth of merchandise. Did I really need the other stuff? Probably not. We live in such a consumer-driven society and, shoot, Target can make everything so attractive and mesmerizing…even paper towels and laundry detergent!

Home Depot gives the appearance that you’re buying in bulk so it must be cheaper…but I really don’t think things are.

Go check out Ariah’s post at Trying to Follow. He gives good advice to new home owners, but it’s advice we could all do well to heed.