Having renovated three homes so far on a tight budget, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert but I have definitely learnt some tricks along the way. So in this post, I wanted to share with you three of my top tips, that I think could really help save you money. All images in this post, are from my own home renovations. We’ve lived here for around 10 years and renovating it has been a labour of love that has taken lots of time and effort, but I think that’s what has made it really worth while.
Do you research and make a budget.
hether you are a spreadsheet kind of person or paper and pen, the one thing that has saved us is to make a budget for the project. Look at each room, or major part of renovation ie the electrics or main bathroom and do some reasearch on costs, set your budget and stick to it. This of course can be harder than it sounds, and you can go over budget. If this does happen consider ways in which you can fund increases, to find out more – click here. You may also find that one room goes under budget, so then consider using that saving on other rooms or areas of the renovation.
Don’t Rush & Disasters Will Happen
You may think that this isn’t a way to save money, but I definitely have wasted money with rash and rushed decisions. The time I went for a chocolate-brown en suite, it was tiny and dark and felt so claustrophobic, just because I found some designer tiles on sale at a bargain price, and then built my whole design around it. Big mistake! It wasn’t until we changed it a few years later that I actually ever used it to shower!
You know yourself how you work, so if you like to complete a job all the way through and be methodical then that’s the way to tackle renovating too. You honestly can’t plan enough, take your time making small and large decisions. There are always going to be things that happen along the way though, but try not to panic. I really enjoyed this series of posts from Karen – The day our kitchen flooded, and after around 4 renovations floods in our home, I can totally relate!
We went for our biggest room first, the one that needed the most work and that was the kitchen. Even though now it is dated (it was nearly 12 years ago) all the decisions we made were good ones, that we haven’t regretted.
Do It Yourself
Yup, DIY. Renovating should be tackled like an adventure I believe, and that includes learning how to complete jobs yourself. If you have the time, you will definitely save money by doing it yourself. I mean what is Pinterest and YouTube all about but inspiration and learning new skills? Recommend following The Carpenters Daughter on YouTube, recently I’ve found her blog too to follow her DIY adventures.
I do hope you enjoyed this post, please do let me know if you have any money-saving tips too.
Here’s another post you may like that I’ve written : MONEY SAVING TIPS FOR YOUR HOLIDAY THIS YEAR
Hi, Amanda! This is such a nice blog post. I love DIYs and I make sure that I always get the right kind of material for my home project. I also plan and study everything first before executing my plans. I hope that this article will inspire many people too. Xoxo.
I saved money from my recent kitchen renovation project by repainting old cabinets and giving walls a new paint. I let my sister do some mural painting and I think it gave a new life to my home. The money I saved from hiring somebody else to do the job for me will be used for bills (i guess).
Fantastic! How did you find painting the cabinets?