My wife and I recently purchased a home last year in a great neighborhood and we absolutely love it. We went a little higher than our original budget simply because the house was in immaculate condition and we felt there wouldn’t be any home improvements that were really needed. Our last house was much older and nothing had really been updated by the previous owners. I had always planned on replacing the windows at some point as they was always a cold draft in the house. The furnace and air conditioning unit were original to the home and caused exorbitant utility bills. Yet the entire time we lived there we didn’t touch a thing, and never had a genuine emergency that forced us to.

Fast forward to our current home and it’s a whole other story. As I said, this house is much newer with higher efficiency appliances and much more updated. Last winter we noticed the air vents were spewing out cool air. Turns out the furnace was caput and needed to be replaced. Then comes this summer and lo and behold the vents are spewing out warm air now. It turns out that some miniscule piece inside the unit had outlived its useful life. It just so happens that very same piece is about the same cost as replacing the entire unit, which we did. Morale of the story, plan for the worst, not for the best. We spent more on our house than we wanted, only to turn around and eat into our savings to repair and replace very costly items that we thought would last us another 10 or 15 years.

So the other day I find my wife peering down at our wood floors with a disappointed look. This was one of the few areas we knew we wanted to update at some point. They are tired looking and hadn’t been polished up by the previous owners in what looks to be several years. We had figured this was one of the few replacements we might do, and probably wouldn’t be that costly. Well, after all the previously mentioned expenses I decided to go a different route. If you want a superior wood finish then buy some hardwax oil. This stuff saves you from having to repair and replace your wood floors entirely, and simply adds an amazing shine to appear like they are brand new. It’s also a very fast drying product that only needs about an hour between applications. We were surprised by the results we received with the wood floor oil. It’s an easy roller application with an odorless scent, so not obtrusive to the family at all. Not to mention it’s dust resistant, so it goes on easy and you don’t have to worry about the elements messing up the finish. Best of all, it was a fraction of the cost of replacing the floors entirely, which is something we were certain we would have to do.