The Options

My husband and I still have a lot of work to do on our house. New doors, a new deck, updating a bathroom or two -- the list goes on and on. Our next project, we think, will be floor-to-ceiling bookcases in our family room. (We have hundreds of books, stuffed into some three-dozen boxes, hidden away in a closet. They've been there since we moved into our home more than a year ago.)

We don't have enough cash on hand to pay for the work we want without decimating our emergency fund. But we have a few places we could get the money. Aside from praying for a big tax refund, which I'm not expecting -- though I haven't heard from my accountant yet -- our options for paying for the bookcases are to:

• Raid our emergency fund
• Use credit cards
• Borrow from a 401(k) plan
• Take out a home equity loan.

It's also possible to borrow from most whole life-insurance policies, but this isn't an option in my house since we own term-life policies instead.

Here's a look at the trade-offs we'd make if we were to choose one of these options.