When we moved to our 2nd home in 1996, it needed some work, not exactly repair work but remodel work. Like painting, some landscaping fixes. Moving dog-bitten plantation shutters out, resealing windows and doors etc. We could have hired professionals or at least, a handyman to do those things, but we decided to do it ourselves. Firstly, to save some money, and secondly, we wanted to do them. You know, being a proud new home owner.
But you may not be as lucky as we were. Your home might need some serious repair and renovations. Unfortunately, not all of us can afford to gut and rebuild our homes to our exact requirements and specifications. This doesn’t mean however, that you have to just learn to live with what you’ve got.
There are plenty of creative and budget-friendly ways to raise the money you need and reduce the cost of the project. Obviously, time is also going to play a major factor in all of this. If you don’t have a lot of time on weekends, you may need to take holidays or resort to paying someone. That decision will be yours to make.
Keep Your Existing Structure
It is possible to remodel your home without renovating your home. You can dramatically reduce the cost of this project by leaving the “bones” of your house where they are and simply re-decorate and move things around. Kitchens especially can blow out the cost if you decide to alter the location of the plumbing.
Consider Financing
Use credit, loans, or lay-by if necessary/available. If you don’t have room on your credit cards you can try using in-store financing or a third-party financier. These financing options typically have lower interest rates than a regular bank loan or credit card.
Go Slowly
Instead of trying to remodel everything all at once, take your home one or two rooms at a time. This will allow you to pay off one purchase before making another. And, if you work with a third-party financier, you might find that as you pay off one item, you qualify for a better rate.
DIY
The more of the project you can do yourself, the cheaper your renovation will be. You might be surprised by how seemingly big projects, like replacing your flooring can turn into pretty simple (though yes… time consuming) projects you can do even if you’re relatively new to being “handy”.
In fact, it’s barely doing it all by yourself with the number of free resources you can find for a project you want to do alone. Using helpful websites and blogs which guide you step by step can make you nearly a pro! Using this along with the knowledgeable staff at stores like Bunnings, who are happy to pass on advice, helps even more.
Shop at Resale Shops
You know how there are stores where you can buy expensive clothing for less because it didn’t sell the first time around at the “real” store (stores like Trade Secret). These types of stores exist for furniture too! You can find great new pieces at dramatically reduced prices in these stores.
Outlet Stores
Sort of like resale shops, outlet stores stock designer items at huge discounts either because the store ordered too many of them or because the item showed up with some sort of flaw. If you’re willing to deal with the flaws, you can get brand new pieces for a fraction of what you’d spend otherwise. Items like tiles, rugs, curtains, furniture, etc. This works really well with your white goods also.
Buy Used
Some of us turn up our noses at the idea of used furniture, but you can get lots of pieces like tables, bookcases, entertainment units, dressers, chairs, etc. through secondhand stores and online portals like eBay and Gumtree. As long as you don’t buy the item blind there is no reason you will get bad quality.
Meet the seller, inspect the items, and make the decision when you want to purchase it, nothing wrong with putting in a little more effort to save a bunch of money! You can even scout local garage sales for treasures. Once we bought a painting which is still being used in our living room and every visitor praises the piece of art.
Buy Nothing
Why not consider doing all the basics now eg: painting, cleaning, renovating the kitchen and bathroom, and leave all the decorating with new furniture and cushions etc until later. That way you can afford the basic shell, pay that off first and then you will be ready to tackle the larger items.
Clean, Clean and Clean
Give your home a thorough scrubbing. Wash the walls, wash the floors, have the carpet professionally cleaned, polish the wood, etc. Put everything you own in its proper place. You might be surprised by how little you find you want to change once everything is clean and properly organised.
We borrowed a pressure cleaner from friends and washed driveways and patios – pressure cleaning these areas makes a huge difference. We are still due to do roof cleaning, though and for that we need to hire licensed and registered roof cleaners.
Clean out
Go through everything you own and clear out your clutter. In this case, clutter is anything you haven’t used in the last 12 months and anything that doesn’t have a huge amount of sentimental value (old photo albums, your kid’s baby blanket, that type of thing).
Donate the items you’re not using or sell them to help offset the cost of your remodel. Or, better yet, encourage your friends to do the same thing and then get together and have a “stuff swap.”
Paint
A new coat of paint makes everything look new again. You can change the entire feeling of a room just by painting it a new colour. You can bring the life back in your property just by changing the wall colours. You can increase your property’s resale value by painting the exterior.
Move Stuff Around
Now that your home is clean and de-cluttered you likely have a bunch of “extra” space. Why not try moving around what’s left in your house around? Try new furniture arrangements, have your kids switch rooms, etc. A new arrangement can feel almost as good as a new remodel.
Aim for Next Year
Worst case scenario: you can’t afford to spruce up your home the way you want to this year. That’s okay! You can use this year to pay down debts and save up so that when next year rolls around you’ll have a pretty great nest egg built up. For example, every month take 10% of your wages and transfer it to a high-interest sub-savings account.
As you can see there are lots of ways to make that renovation more affordable! Enjoy and share your before and after pics with us. Natalie x
Credit Advisor
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