Can I afford landscaping?

[tb001]

We’re in a similar boat. A few extra windfalls have us over 100% and there are a bunch of ‘nice to have’ things that we’ve been talking about. We moved into our new to us long-term home about two years ago and now that we have a better handle on expenses are looking at improvements we’d like to do.

I made a list when we bought of all the things we needed to do and a wish list of what we would like to do and we’ve added to both over the last two years. We could theoretically do all of the wish list items, as well as some addition recreational purchases we’ve been considering. and still be at 100%. But I worry that when we’re done with the list it will keep growing and we’ll be too used to spending.

The upside is that even in retirement, time is a limiting factor. It takes a lot of time to plan a major project and iron out the details, bids, etc. So it’s somewhat naturally self limiting. And we’ve been funding the extras out of some part time contract work DH has been doing.

So I get it. Spending the money is stressful when it’s above budget and you’re looking at many years of future spend with sorr hanging out there. Maybe set aside a portion of the extra you weren’t expecting from your retirement package to fund 2-3 special projects, just like you’d treat a bonus if you were still working?

 

[corn18]

The landscaping has been added to the expenses for 2021. Also added a fence. VPW says annual discretionary spending went from $50,000 to $47,400. That'll do donkey. That'll do.

 

[Athermos4u]

Last day of work was 4 days ago and I am already struggling with spending in retirement. My plan was always pretty simple: 100% Probability of Success (Ps) with $25k / year of discretionary spending. We far exceeded that and we now have $400k more than we need for 100% Ps. Ok, great. Let's just keep that as an insurance policy for unknown unknowns. Let's get through year 1 hunkered down and prepared for battle.

Well, DW is getting estimates for putting in landscaping, including a kick butt fire pit area. Estimates are coming in @ $35k. We'll see what the final tally is because she is getting all the bells and whistles in the estimates.

My difficulty comes in deciding whether we can afford it. And I cannot for the life of me come up with an answer. We have exceeded our goal of 100% Ps. Current VPW calculation puts us @ $50k year for discretionary spending. We are ok with sticking to $25k / year, but BAM!, here we are on day 4 looking at spending $35k on landscaping.

Please help!

Have the hardscape done and do the plantings yourself, or have planting done as well with younger specimens. Either will save you money.

 

[5Miler]

I have just committed to a similar project for the home. I am the original owner of my home of 29 years with essentially the same skimpy landscaping the builder installed in 1991. The few pitiful attempts I have made to improve things have usually been underfunded and unenthusiastically executed by me. Oh yeah, I hate yard work in excess of mowing the lawn on occasion.

The landscaping is a mess and my backyard is slowly washing away from poor decisions we have made in the past. Just this past week a small sinkhole (3x3 ft) opened up in the front yard on the line between my neighbors house and mine. We have stared at it with stupid looks on our faces for hours but it remains in place. The sinkhole is apparently the catalyst I have been waiting for all my life and I have scheduled a handful of landscape companies to give me some estimates to turn our he** hole into a garden paradise. I also converted $45K of retirement savings to money market to finance this pending conversion.

DGF and I have determined that we have no desire to relocate so we might as well make our home more enjoyable for us. The estimates are already coming in for new gutters and gutter guards and are actually much less than expected. I'm not sure what $45K will buy me in Atlanta but I'll soon find out.

In all seriousness, we will probably never spend all of our money in our lifetime anyhow so we might as well enjoy it. Just watching it accumulate in retirement accounts isn't exactly fulfilling on it's own. I'm ready to turn 68 in two months so maybe I'll start Social Security early and pay for most of it that way.

 

[gwix98]

They are doing quite a bit including lighting, gas fire pit and hardscaping. I think it's way cool and we would use it a lot.

I’m in the do it camp. I’m in a similar situation plus I have an old patio that needs to be removed. Basic bid came in at $35K. Looking at your drawing it looks reasonable. Many of us will be spending more time in our homes anyway. IMO it will take YEARS before many people get confidence to get to the point where they feel comfortable traveling and doing typical retirement activities. And that’s with vaccines.

 

[PoorOldCountryBoy]

I knew she wanted to do some landscaping, but not $35k of it. I guess I am just trying to adjust to spending rather than saving. My severance was a lot larger than I planned and covers this expense easily (as pointed out by DW). There will be more unplanned spending, I'm sure.

What some of the posters are trying to say is if this is a surprise to you now, there is a good chance that there will be annual "surprise" expenses that of course aren't surprises. And that could endanger your long term financial well being. I've seen this movie with many friends and it does not end well.



So the discussion isn't at all about the landscaping, it is about getting your financial act together for the long term. You and DW will need to determine what is right for you as far as expenditures go, then just adjust accordingly.



You both could benefit from a financial planner, a fee only planner might be able to set you up for $1500 or so. If your spouse is unable to have any self discipline about these things, then you'll really need a third party to counsel you both. Good luck!

 

[corn18]

If anyone is interested in an update, here's where we are. We got 4 estimates and designs and picked one. Total cost for everything (we added a fence) is $52k. We added a lot of plants and made the patio a little bigger and a fence and redo the irrigation and new patio furniture and, and, and...

What is great is that after all my spazzing about finances, we have the exact same total savings today as we did the day I retired. That's after accounting for all the landscaping and about $10k of other stuff we put in the budget (so an additional $60k of spend). Life is good.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I don't think we have ever spent more than 3k on landscaping. So it sounds expensive here in the Midwest. But it should only be a one time deal is the good news.

 

[gwix98]

I remember the op comments and his posted plan. My wife and I were in the middle of
re doing our backyard at the same time. I was interested as a total re do for our entire house was very close to $52K. Needless to say we had to pare back and split the job over two years. We just finished with part 1 and we came in at $32K. We now have a beautiful 520 sq ft flagstone patio. It came out beautiful. This was something I could not have done myself with compromised knees, back,etc. Planting design also was great.
We are in the PacificNorthwest so costs may/may not be as high as the op’s location.
The good news is that we could work this out of our budget and it won’t be a problem.
GLTA who trying to manage spending in retirement.

 

[W2R]

When I first moved into this house in 2015, I spent quite a bit on landscaping, too, similar to what corn18 is going through. My landscaping included removal of three gargantuan water oaks, removal of a jungle of tall bushes, re-grading the yard to fix the drainage issues, new topsoil, resodding all the grass, all new concrete work, and so on.

For me, it was SO worth it! I now have a yard that is entirely maintenance free if I pay my lawn guy to mow and edge the lawn. It is all lawn now, no trees or bushes. Lawns (especially this variety of St. Augustine) thrive here even without fertilizer and also they don't ever need watering. Easy care - - just in time for my old age which seems to be sneaking up on me rapidly the past few years. Also it is just what I wanted and has added tremendously to my quality of life. Every time I look at my yard I get a big, contented smile on my face.

It was probably easier for me to accept paying that much because I had already been retired for 6 years. Also I knew when I bought the house that I was going to have to do this, so I considered it as being almost part of the purchase price, in a sense.

Corn18, so glad that your yard turned out that well, and that the stock market boom lasted long enough to pay for it! What terrific luck.

 

[kbst]

If anyone is interested in an update, here's where we are. We got 4 estimates and designs and picked one. Total cost for everything (we added a fence) is $52k. We added a lot of plants and made the patio a little bigger and a fence and redo the irrigation and new patio furniture and, and, and...

What is great is that after all my spazzing about finances, we have the exact same total savings today as we did the day I retired. That's after accounting for all the landscaping and about $10k of other stuff we put in the budget (so an additional $60k of spend). Life is good.

If you’re still married next year this time of the year I’d be amazed.
Good luck with going back to work.

 

[RobbieB]

We've got more in landscaping than both our cars. And the cars cost 80 grand.

 

[corn18]

If you’re still married next year this time of the year I’d be amazed.
Good luck with going back to work.

What the hell kind of comment is that?

 

[RobbieB]

Get off my lawn?

 

[Vacation4us]

What the hell kind of comment is that?

Not a nice one.

Enjoy your yard and happy retirement!

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah Baby!

Blow that dough and BBQ in your new lovely yard. I'm enjoying mine everyday -

 

[athena53]

And lastly, I'll add, "new landscaping" often mean "new landscaping maintenance"... beware.

I was going to mention this but it sounds like a lot of what you're doing, e.g. the fire pit, won't add maintenance other than replacing components. If you'd put in a lot of frou-frou plants that needed watering, weeding, fertilizer, professional trimming, replacement of annuals, etc. that could be a problem later on.

As for it not being on your radar- every year I do stuff not on my radar. I know I can withdraw $X every year and there's a lot of slack in there. If it doesn't go for replacement of a car (last year) dental implants (this year) or other non-discretionary purposes, I have no problem with spending it on home upgrades. I retired 6 years ago and my net worth has increased by over 4%/year after withdrawals so it's sustainable.

As long as the amount you're withdrawing is sustainable and your bills are paid, what you do with it is up to the two of you.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Landscaping is nice to have but it can be quite expensive and take up A LOT of your time. We lost 30+ trees due to ice storm last year and we have spent close to $20K in removal of the old dead stuff and trying to replant new stuff. That doesn't include the annual costs of fertilizer, weeding, the HOURS of mowing, weeding, pruning, etc. We thought we were smart in "just" having a little over an acre of our 6'ish acres landscaped.

Now? I would love to have a Tuscon Arizona yard...rocks and sand.

 

[Dtail]

If you’re still married next year this time of the year I’d be amazed.
Good luck with going back to work.

What does this mean?

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Landscaping is nice to have but it can be quite expensive and take up A LOT of your time. We lost 30+ trees due to ice storm last year and we have spent close to $20K in removal of the old dead stuff and trying to replant new stuff. That doesn't include the annual costs of fertilizer, weeding, the HOURS of mowing, weeding, pruning, etc. We thought we were smart in "just" having a little over an acre of our 6'ish acres landscaped.

Now? I would love to have a Tuscon Arizona yard...rocks and sand.

YOU CAN!

Just have to pay for clearing the other 5 acres, then pay for trucking in the rocks and sand!

 

[Nick12]

Landscaping is nice to have but it can be quite expensive and take up A LOT of your time. We lost 30+ trees due to ice storm last year and we have spent close to $20K in removal of the old dead stuff and trying to replant new stuff. That doesn't include the annual costs of fertilizer, weeding, the HOURS of mowing, weeding, pruning, etc. We thought we were smart in "just" having a little over an acre of our 6'ish acres landscaped.

Now? I would love to have a Tuscon Arizona yard...rocks and sand.

In AZ, one can buy fake astro turf grass for that green feeling..

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

YOU CAN!

Just have to pay for clearing the other 5 acres, then pay for trucking in the rocks and sand!

Ha! That other 5 acres is nothing but woods, so it would cost a small fortune just to clear the land.

In AZ, one can buy fake astro turf grass for that green feeling..

We have a friend that owns a company in Dallas that installs fake grass. It looks really awesome and it is REALLY FREAKING expensive. I don't recall the exact price, but in a short discussion about our yard I recall it would be in the neighborhood of half a million bucks to have it installed. Yeah...that ain't happening!

 

[Teacher Terry]

We live in Nevada and had Astro turf at the house. It’s very expensive and after 9 years still looked new when we divorced and sold the house. Definitely not for large acreage.

 

[RobbieB]

The gardeners were over today to re-mulch the yard. Four yards of mulch applied along with the usual clean up and they off loaded our fountain base so I can install the pump and the second tier and get the patio complete.

Nine hundred for the mulch and now I can hook up the 12 hundred dollar fountain -

Yeah, landscaping gets expensive. But hey, that fountain is cast concrete and should last longer than we do.

 

[teetee]

We did agree on $25k / year for pure discretionary a long while ago. But she knows that we are in much better shape than that because I tell her. We can spend $50k / year.

> she knows that we are in much better shape than that because I tell her.

Stop volunteering information that can result in a situation that drives you into a corner. Not all people share the same financial goal or restraint like you.

Retirement is not a long vacation. Losing your grip or sharpness can result in negative impact in unexpected way (in this case, it is money worries and relationship).

I wonder how many that responded in this thread will actually spend that 35k as they say if it is their money on the line and in the same situation. The risk factor doesn't exist when they are not the one doing the spending.

Some may have millions for their emergency fund, some may have separate budget categories for any appliance/house repair and dedicated fund for replacing their vehicles so they are sheltered from those unknowns and absolutely ok with spending all of the money in the discretionary bin. Everyone is different.

If choosing saving over spending gives you better sleep, try harder to bring your wife on the same page. Or give her more financial responsibilities so you are not the only one suffering and she is the only one enjoying the spending.