Whaddaya Mean, Spending? I'm Making an Investment!

While a shaky stock market restrains consumer spending in other areas, it’s pushing up outlays on home improvement. Conducted by Harris Interactive, the Lowe’s Home Improvement Trendex Survey finds homeowners planning to spend nearly $400 per month on average to upgrade their houses. One in 10 expect to spend $10,000 or more on such projects in the next 12 months. Even as they get jittery about other big-ticket spending, 21 percent said they’d “consider taking out a loan or using a credit card to finance a home-improvement project.”