3 Items I'm Splurging on When Remodeling My House

After buying a house in December, I've been working on remodeling it from the ground up. I decided to pay for the remodeling costs out of pocket rather than buying with a rehab loan because I wanted to keep my mortgage bills as low as possible. Mortgage rates were very high when I got my loan, so I'm being pretty careful with what I spend.

There are, however, certain areas where I'm willing to splurge to get exactly what I want -- and there are good reasons for that. Here are three of the big things I'm happy to spend extra money on.

1. New windows

One of my biggest splurges is new windows for my home. The house already has windows. But they are old, energy-inefficient, and not as pretty as I would prefer. I'm replacing many of them with triple-pane windows that have some added architectural details like mullions (those little white lines between the window panes).

While I'm spending a lot of money on new windows, I'm very happy with splurging on this. Not only will they make my home look better, but I'll also benefit from lower energy bills. Since windows have been shown to be responsible for 25%-30% of residential heating and cooling energy use, I'll eventually make back a lot of what I spent in the form of reduced utility costs -- especially since I'll be staying in my home for a long time.

And as I'm enjoying lower energy bills, I'll also enjoy looking out my beautiful new windows.

If you are remodeling, you may want to look for upgrades that are both energy efficient and that will improve the look of your home -- like windows and doors. This can give you a double bang for your buck.

2. Custom cabinets in many rooms

I've discovered that fully custom cabinets can be cheaper than stock cabinets. In fact, it ended up being much less expensive for me to have the custom cabinet company that constructed my kitchen in Pennsylvania travel up to Florida to make the cabinets for my new home, rather than using a non-custom company in the area.

But I'm still considering cabinets a splurge because instead of just putting in a kitchen, I'm putting in custom built-ins in almost every room. For me, this splurge is worth it for a few reasons. I'll be using these cabinets every day, so I want them to be high quality. They can also be designed to fit my space exactly so I can use it most efficiently.

Last, and perhaps most important of all, these gorgeous solid wood cabinets are going to last. I've already had them in my old house for 12 years and they've stood up to my toddlers much better than most of my furniture. Since so much furniture is cheaply made, I'd rather invest more for better quality upfront and know I won't have to buy new things in a few years.

If you're remodeling a kitchen or doing any home improvement projects, you may want to look into finding a custom cabinet maker to add some finishing touches. It could end up being less expensive than going to a big box store or buying furniture from your local shop.

3. Appliances

Finally, I'm also opting to spend a lot of money on high-quality appliances. I'm doing this for a few reasons, including because I think they'll last longer, they'll save me money in other ways, and because I'll be interacting with them daily.

For example, I spent a few thousand dollars to buy a plumbed-in coffee maker with built-in milk frother -- but this should save me money for years to come since I can switch to making my lattes at home all the time. I also sprung for a high-quality dishwasher, which cost about double some cheaper models, because it's pretty well known that the brand I bought has a solid reputation for getting dishes really clean, and we do not pre-rinse in our household.

Ultimately, my choices have been to invest more upfront in exchange for lower bills later. If you have the money to do so, you may also want to focus your splurges on buying the best now, as it may pay off for you, too.