As I guy renovating and our 91 year old home in the evenings and on the weekends, I don’t always utilize my time wisely.

Case in point, our current bathroom renovation.  Half way through laying tile, my tile saw decided to die on me.  Well, there goes 2 hours of my day as I (or really, my dad) has to make the 30 minute round trip to Home Depot to buy a new saw, spend 30 minutes setting it up and then another 15 talking about how much better it is.  It really is awesome, actually.  I could have talked about it for like an hour with him.  To me, a new tool is like a new pair of shoes for my wife.

Painting isn’t much better.  Pick a color and paint, right? Nope.  I’ll be on my fourth trip of the week to Sherwin Williams tomorrow.  And we’ve yet to pick a color! In the course of a few days I forgot to buy brushes, mixing sticks, drop cloths, blue tape; oh damn I forgot the rollers!  So while painting two coats shouldn’t take me more than 45 minutes, it’s going to end up taking me 4-5 days.  On the bright side, painting the walls and ceilings is the last step of the renovation, so my wife will soon have that bath she’s always wanted (and deserved)!

In deciding if you want to do undertake a large project yourself or pay somebody you need to ask yourself, “Do I want this done in three days, or three weeks?”  I’m on a week three, but I couldn’t be happier.

Here’s how I typically spend my time: