Guest post written by Derick Burks

When our contractor gave me an estimate of $150,000 to update my kitchen and make a few other improvements to our home I almost died. I was nearly in tears. I just could not believe that making some upgrades without doing any structural changes would cost that much money. I had already packed everything up in my kitchen where most of the updating was going to be done. I knew that as soon as my husband got the estimate that he would never agree to make the changes. I told the contractor that it was not going to work out and decided that I was going to learn what and how needed to be done. I did a lot of reading and contracted the project out by myself. By using the internet to price compare, I saved a ton of money. I got our alarm system from homesecurityfamily.com and bought the new appliances for the kitchen from manufacturer certified retailers on ebay. When I did everything that the contractor gave me a bid on, I had only spent just shy of $50,000. I love my updated home and feel a since of pride because of all of my hard work.