Shortly after we moved to the neighborhood my son was invited to a birthday party of a child that had lived there for about a year already, so when I took him to that party just about every mother there lived in our community, so I got to meet them all at once!

My other fears were similar to yours, the shift in bills, sure our apartment was expensive with air conditioning, etc. But those bills were somewhat regulated and expected. I knew we’d have a new electricity coop instead of commercial electricity service, which has proven challenging. But overall, having a home to come to at the end of the day has made all the fears and trepidation mere memories. Surprisingly too, having an energy star rated home has saved us a lot on our bill.

Typically in Texas summer electricity bills tip at $300, often a whole lot more and I’m delighted to say mine hasn’t hit $200 yet and it’s July!

Check out estate sales for lawn mowers…if you can recognize quality, wear, etc., you can often get good yard equipment reasonably at estate sales; garage sales less so, since people who are still living tend to hang onto their yard tools until the stuff turns into junk.

My apartment utility bills were the about the same as the costs for my first house…interesting, since the apt was less than half as large and I was involved in a torrid affair that kept me out of the apt and over at the boyfriend’s about 23 hours out of every 24. One inexpensive trick that pays off is to put those insulating gaskets on the switchplates and outlet covers on all exterior walls. You’d be surprised how leaky electric outlets are.

If you have air conditioning, set the temperature just higher than what you think is comfortable and then use fans. Turn off the fan when you leave the room….

Jeff S is right on about carrying sensitive documents and anything else of sentimental or $$ value in your car with you. For my last move (the famous Move from Hell), the mover sent two hopheads who slopped coke (oh, yes, the powdery kind) on the tile floor of one bedroom and then flushed a baggie down a toilet, which overflowed exactly twenty minutes before my Realtor brought the buyers for their final walk-through. Get some friends and have them present, so you or someone you trust is THERE to ride herd on the movers every minute, every place they go in your house.

Also, someone mentioned fertilzer and lawn case. We set aside about $150 for the spring “start up costs”. This includes some flowers, fertilizer, etc. and about $150 for end of fall costs. This includes fall fertilizer treatment and overseeding the lawn (both of these have been well worth the cost) and the cost of maintenance to the lawnmower, as well as salt and any shovel, ice remover, etc. materials for the winter.

When we moved in to our house, the fence was several feet into our neighbor’s yard (but had probably been that way for forever). We didn’t know this and the house was empty then. the people who moved in turned out to be good friends and the property dispute did hurt our friendship. In the end, we moved the fence because as much as it killed us to lose part of the yard (our main reason for buying the house we did) the damage it was doing to the friendship was not worth it. If you have mutual issues, perhaps you could do some kind of swap of property or give each other easements.

Now, though, we have 3/5ths of an acre. Even pushing a power mower takes me at least 90 minutes, and sometimes longer. But, as I’ve told you before, I always get my best blog ideas while I’m mowing the yard. I have no idea why this is the case, but it is. So, I’m willing to do it! :)

I love it, and unless my yards are two acres or more, I don’t ever intent to buy a motorized lawn mower.

This year, we bought a used electric mower for $25 from a small engines repair guy in town(just a little more than one week of the service). It works just fine and is certainly much cheaper. I wouldn’t go with the service unless both my husband and I really, really, really hated to mow the lawn.

I find personal finance is a series of trade-offs. I practice frugality in a number of areas — not eating out much, driving paid-off cars for a long time and buying used, cleaning my own house and cutting own lawn, buying bulk and generics and using coupons, no premium cable, hand-washing and ironing instead of dry cleaners, limited use of cell phones — so I can splurge on “experiences” for the family…. we’ll be going to Jamaica for a week in September. As much as we hate cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, ironing (especially ironing!), I KNOW I won’t regret the extra work when we’re on the beach in Jamaica with my kids. You wouldn’t either if you know the reward was going to be something fun. (Now, I can’t imagine it’d be very motivating to mow your own lawn in the hot summer sun just to put an extra $250 or so in your retirement savings.)

As for savings for home repair – a good rule of thumb is to set aside 10% of the purchase price each year. This is for all repair items AND maintenance costs.

Now my only fear is not being able to find good repair people. My awesome car mechanic retired, but my new one is okay. My awesome plumber has disappeared. I never have found a good appliance repair person or a good electrician. I am too weak to do my own plumbing and too afraid to do my own electricity (except installing GFCIs everywhere).

I’m thinking of getting another house inspection to see where things lie now. The inspector may be able to give me some hints on this sort of thing, too.

I’d heard that one should save 1-2% of the value of the house (which keeps changing!) each year for upkeep. If you want to make any improvements, you’ll need more.

My lawn recommendation is to not change much (unless you absolutely know you want a tree somewhere) until you’ve lived there the entire year and have seen all your current plants through all the seasons. You might find little surprises all year. Of course, some of them might be bad surprises. (Nut grass. Johnson grass. Fruitless mulberry. And my personal favorite, “beggar’s lice.” Those were some of my bad surprises. But I also had crepe myrtle, lantana, fig, redbud, and a thing that breaks out into a billion white blossoms for one week each year.)

Those mowers that don’t require gas don’t work so great on some of the plants in my yard, but I live in a dry area, so maybe I have more tough plants than you do.

For energy issues, see if your utility companies have any programs. I got my (50-year-old) house weatherized when I first moved in and my utility company subsidized it a bit. Before the weatherization, my air conditioner could not cool off the house to a temperature I found acceptable enough for inviting people over into, even though the inspector had said the air conditioner was only two years old and worked great. After the insulation and sealing was improved, I could cool my house, and my bill went down even though it got hotter outside.

I worry about neighbors moving in with obnoxious dogs. My plan is to throw chocolate chips over the fence because I’ve heard chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Okay I would never actually do this plan. I guess my real plan is to fantasize about throwing chocolate chips over the fence when I am trying to fall asleep to the sound of dog barking.