Shinn the Writer

Opportunity Costs

 

The new sidewalk is in. It cost more than I would have guessed, though when compared to the fence replacement, it just appears that construction costs in general are up dramatically. In the end, I’m considering the opportunity cost of the sidewalk. 

 

I used the phrase “opportunity cost” above. It’s a term I learned in business school. The Investopedia.com website defines opportunity cost thusly: “Opportunity cost is the potential benefits that a business, an investor, or an individual consumer misses out on when choosing one alternative over another.” In short, what projects didn’t get done because I chose the sidewalk?

 

A logical first choice would have been to extend the sidewalk project to include the patio. I would have had it cover the stone area that’s such a pain (literally as well as figuratively) to weed. The existing patio is serviceable, however and isn’t in my list of top annoyances.

 

My front yard is pretty much a weed garden. Right now, I’d say it’s about 50% grass, 50% weed, but the surprisingly heavy winter rains have it looking lush and green and it looks kinda decent. But I doubt the drought is over, and I’ll likely let it go dormant over the summer. If artificial turf were better looking, I’d install it in a heartbeat, but the seams always show. Another alternative would be stones or some other manner of covering. I just don’t know what. It was far easier to decide on the sidewalk.

 

My back yard would be a much better candidate for artificial grass. The large bushes in the back are dying out, again because I refuse to water them. Whatever else I decide to do, they have to go. Several years ago, I made the good decision to downsize the deck, and then had a landscaper deal with the added open area. He did a nice job, but it’s no longer working for me. Still, I can ignore the back yard for now.

 

Something I can’t really ignore anymore is that it’s harder and harder for me to get into and out of my bathtub. And I don’t use it as anything more than a shower anyway. The bathroom is tiny to begin with, so it seems that changing the tub to a shower would make lots of sense. But it brings up two questions for me. First, what would this do to resale value? My house has only one bathroom. I’m guessing that a realtor would tell me not to worry about it, but I should probably ask. Open houses provide easy access to realtors, and I like taking advantage of freebies. The other question is whether a complete remodel would make sense. Decades ago I had a major remodeling job done on my house, but I ran out of money and didn’t do the bathroom. The vanity has always looked cheap, the mechanism from which the bathtub curtains hang seems kluged and many of the tiles have cracked over the years. On the plus side, I replaced the mirror over the sink myself. I’m happy with it.