I am paying cash for the labor on these improvements. I am using credit cards to pay for the materials, and hope to pay off the balance on the credit cards very quickly, because I generally don't leave any kind of a balance on my credit cards. (drives them CRAZY too).

It feels like pulling teeth though. I don't want to spend my money all at one time. I know if I decided, I could float a small loan and pay that off, and it would be better than credit card debt.

At the same time, i'm not spending emergency money, so in a way this is a culmination of two goals, to have emergency savings, and to have the ability to make important purchases with a sense of empowerment.