I am wrestling with this, but haven't put it in terms of work life cost, just, preserving sanity benefit. I have an old house a gentrifying area. I love the neighborhood, and have a love/hate relationship with the house. Ex and I bought it cheap, and renovated it as minimally as possible to live in it. Now that I work full time, and have the kids most nights, I need the house to be more functional. Specifically the kitchen. It has no dishwasher, no garbage disposal, an awkward layout, lots of nooks and crannies for dust/hard to sweep, and almost no counter space. So I am prepping on the kitchen table, then having to clean the table again before eating, and also feel like I'm in a constant cycle of doing dishes. Kids now have 1 night a week they do dishes, but feel if I had a dishwasher would be more functional.
Iwent to home depot, and said I was on a strict budget, and they said well, if willing to cut and sacrifice, could keep it 20K or less. OK, I basically have no money to do this, but am willing to cash flow maybe 3-4K. Am I asking for impossible? 19 years ago we redid the entire kitchen including buying new appliances and putting new flooring in for 4K, so I guess I am shocked at what they are quoting.