I am having a big chucking out session in my study, and when I come upon papers I have saved I am taking action by writing them up or binning them.
Here are words of wisdom by Tim Lott:
"What are you doing with your home right now: Some fresh carpets, a lick of paint, double glazing: A new kitchen, perhaps? A loft conversion? Got to be worth the investment.
...
"Is any other country so obsessed with home improvements? Much of Europe simply rents, so there isn't a great need or potential to knock down walls, or even freshen the paintwork. ...
"If I totted up the amount we have spent on our place and converted it instead into experiences - say spending time in five-star hotels in the tropics - we could have lived a life of opulent leisure.
"House improvement are like any other consumer durable - they are only briefly satisfying. The designer kitchen is very quickly just a place to cook and eat, the taps that you agonised over choosing are just devices for the delivery of water. Eventually, you begin to realise that all the money you have invested in "self-expression" and "individuality" leaves you with a house that looks pretty much like everybody else's house in the area. It is a race to see who can conform best, most quickly.
"Perhaps we spend all this money because the house stands in for meaning. If you are working on your house, you don't have to work on your relationship, and you don't have to think about the purpose of getting up in the morning to go to work, because the purpose is clear - to buy an Eames chair for the lounge.
"Of course, the logic is impeccable - you end up with a beautiful home you can be at ease in, which you have increased the value of by your "investment". The only trouble is, I don't remember being any happier than when I first moved into our house......
"In the meantime, I have spent many sleepless nights wondering how I am going to pay for it all...
"Home improvement is really a branch of shopping with the added bonus that, though it costs money, it also (theoretically) produces money. But if I had my time all over again, I would doubt that it was worth it. A wise man would be free of worry, and work on their relationship instead. If only I were that man."
There, I just thought that was interesting. It is not a problem we have had as there are many things we are not allowed to do with our house because of the residents' committee. We are not allowed to extend at the front or change the appearance of the front of the house in any way, which means we can't make the improvements we would like to make. In the meantime, one of us does a lot of sport and the other does less strenuous hobbies: I am sorry to say that working on our relationship is something that happens only when we are decorating or gardening ... in short: doing home improvements!
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