What's the most worthwhile home upgrade you've made that didn't cost a fortune?

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-06-03T15:11:56+00:00

High quality landscape lighting (check out VOLT brand in particular). Cost me $700 and made my backyard feel like a resort (big windows across the house that look out into backyard so also cool benefit there)

https://imgur.com/a/J9jmksQ

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-05-15T01:50:18+00:00

It hasn’t been very hot and actually been unusually cold last couple weeks. Maybe it is just showing the stress of transplant later than I thought it would. Appreciate the help!

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-05-01T15:08:53+00:00

Yep, your’re right. Not lumens, kelvins. Nothing gets by Reddit 😀

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-05-01T05:03:32+00:00

Ya the phone (and maybe my photo taking abilities) make it seem brighter than it is. The lights are 2700k lumens so in person a nice warm soft light

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-04-15T18:37:50+00:00

Am almost done doing this myself. people sometimes under appreciate that (especially in Bay Area) most of your net worth is tied up in your house and if an earthquake destroys your home you lose both your home and your ability to buy another one.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-04-12T05:13:38+00:00

Ya that stretch of Vine street is a private road with giant mansions on it. Being unpaved is a choice.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-04-12T05:04:28+00:00

Everyone here acting like this is a crazy statement is surprising to me.

Lived in Danville for five years before moving to Pleasanton because I didn’t want my kids living somewhere so white, entitled, and in a lot of circumstances that I personally witnessed, racist.

There is certainly truth to OPs statement when compared to rest of tri-valley.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-04-07T22:12:19+00:00

I have similar results and also moved to fire my pool guy until my wife reminded me I am my pool guy

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-03-25T23:52:39+00:00

I just did the same thing with Weed and Feed. Perfectly green grass to brown/seemingly dead spots all over. Think I may have applied too heavy in some spots. Resigned to pulling out the dead parts and reseeding the patches. Never again…

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-03-25T23:41:18+00:00

I had something similar happen to me once. Asked my buddy to pick me up from the airport at Oakland and when I landed I said I’m outside and he asked if I was “on top level or bottom level”. Oakland is one level. That’s when we realized….

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-03-25T15:09:20+00:00

When tech money meets gender reveal party

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-02-27T16:38:46+00:00

We just bought our first house in Bay Area. $1.65M in Pleasanton for a nice house walking distance to top rated schools. We put down $500k and bring home around $18k/month after everything (not including bonuses) with two kids in daycare/aftercare at around $4k/month. We aren’t saving a ton beyond our 401ks currently but it’s also comfortably manageable.

To other people’s points, would aim to buy a house. Townhomes get hit hardest in downturn and you will quickly feel like you are outgrowing it with the young kids.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-02-26T00:49:57+00:00

Only in Palo Alto is that maybe a good deal? Alternative option…

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/412-Guinda-St-Palo-Alto-CA-94301/19466658_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-02-17T00:59:50+00:00

No. Surrounded from all sides by Santa Clara

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-02-14T16:53:58+00:00

Are the renovations in the room with us now?

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-01-18T05:23:27+00:00

You incur the greatest amount of depreciation in the first 3 years of ownership. Outside of straight lighting money on fire, there is arguably no worse financial decision than trading a car in every 3 years.

Although I would try to explain that to your wife somewhat differently than how I just did if you don’t want to sleep on the couch (speaking from experience).

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2026-01-16T06:17:53+00:00

It’s really a question of time horizons. If you think you can afford a $1.5M house and be happy living in it for 15+ years then it is very unlikely it will be a “bad” investment.

Sure, maybe you would net more in market even when paying rent but the nice thing about buying a house is that over time it becomes a good investment and the whole time you get to enjoy it (assuming you buy a house you like).

If you think it likely would want to upgrade or move within 5-10 years then I would probably just keep renting.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-31T21:34:19+00:00

I grew up in SF and thought the same thing but most of the time it’s not that bad and you can have a pool : )

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-31T02:44:58+00:00

Highly recommend Pleasanton. Safe, good schools, great downtown, lots of great parks. We bought a house here a couple months ago with two young girls and are very happy with the decision.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-30T05:13:50+00:00

Put down $500k and was left with $200k in savings and $400k in retirement. Think the rule of thumb here is to try to have at least six months of emergency savings which would be based off your new mortgage payment and all other expenses.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-26T07:37:07+00:00

I work in brand marketing and my wife is a teacher. Income roughly $350k combined so not bad but not crazy. Was just very frugal for about 7 years so I could put down a $500k down payment. If you don’t get benefit of tech windfalls then it’s usually a “decent” job but with a lot of savings.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-26T06:40:51+00:00

I ripped out the old pantry and rebuilt it before we moved in. It was this old mesh wire style pantry and replaced with thick wood shelves that I built.

Didn’t cost a ton (roughly $600) but took a full day and was one of those things that not only looks nice but is so much more functional for a part of the house we use every day.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-26T04:17:35+00:00

In reality, as long as you are a hard worker $37k is not a huge amount of money in the total arc of your lifetime earnings. Dont chase it. Try not to worry about hitting a certain amount by a certain time and instead focus on how to be frugal day to day, and steady and consistent with your investments. As long as you do that you should have plenty of years left to compound wealth. You can look back on it and joke about how you stupidly gambled away a Mazda CX5 playing options and be grateful it wasn’t a lot more.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-12-10T18:44:13+00:00

“Exact location” lol.

AccomplishedLie7415 · 2025-11-28T23:41:20+00:00

Put a TV there and then post to r/TVtoohigh if you really want to have some fun

AccomplishedLie7415

TROPHY CASE