Want to renovate your home? Have a tight budget to work with? No worries. With these simple tips, you’ll be able to create the home of your dreams without going wildly overbudget or sacrificing the stuff you really want…
Create a Budget and Stick to It
It’s obvious, I know, but if you want to save money on home renovations, you need to work out a realistic budget and stick to it. Having a figure in place will encourage you to get more creative with ideas so you will be able to get what you want.
Take Your Time
Rush decisions are often bad decisions. It can be tempting to dive right in and buy those granite countertops you love right away, but waiting might be more sensible. Why? Not only because it gives you more time to think about whether you really want them, but it also gives you the opportunity to shop around and you just might find what you want at a better price.
Reuse Stuff
Most renovators throw everything that’s broken or unwanted into a huge skip and dispose of it. You can be smarter than that. Look at the stuff you’re ripping out, whether it’s an old cooker or ancient brickwork and think about whether you can reuse it. That old cooker could undergo an appliance repair and be good as new, or that old brickwork could be used to create a feature wall that’s unique to your home. Think outside the box.
Learn Some Skills
DIY should be the mantra of every home renovator. Obviously, there are lots of things that only a licensed contractor can do like wiring in the electrics or adding an extension, but there are lots of things you can do, or learn to do (thank you Youtube) too. Things like laying tiles or securing fixtures and fittings can be learned and if you learn them well you can save a lot of money.
Barter with Friends
Another way you can save money on your renovation project is by swapping skills with talented friends. Know an electrician? Have him take care of your wiring in exchange for painting his den. Friends with a plumber? Swap plumbing in a new toilet for walking his dog while he’s on vacation.
Hack Flat Pack Furniture
We might all want amazing pieces of custom furniture to grace our homes, but those things cost the big bucks. That doesn’t mean you can’t create something unique to you though; more and more people are becoming IKEA hackers. They buy up various pieces of flat pack furniture and modify them to create something new, unique and useful to them. There are lots of tutorials online, but why not see if you can create something just for you?
Pay More Where It’s Needed
Although saving money is the name of the game, you should never skimp on the important stuff like doors and windows or even insulation. This stuff needs to last and it needs to do its job well. If it doesn’t, you’ll end up spending more on your energy bills anyway!
Renovation time?
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