fbpx

How to Save Money when Upgrading Your Home

Every once in a while, your house will need upgrading. However, renovations can set you back, as we all know. If you want to upgrade your home but can’t afford the most expensive of anything, that does not mean you cannot make a perfectly beautiful home. All it takes is a well organised plan with a little extra thought and consideration. By planning and choosing wisely, you will be able to do everything you want without breaking the bank. What’s more, it will look as if you spent a whole load more than you did. 

The Budget

Set an honest budget that you know you can stick to that won’t see you struggling for the foreseeable future. Also, it makes sense you make this budget out of the money you already have saved. Getting into debt for your project is perhaps not the wisest of choices. So, save for a while, see what you have at the end, and create an all-inclusive budget.

Time is Money

And to be honest, we mean it in reverse here. Don’t jump in and make any rash decisions. If you have a strict budget, you will want to be doing a lot of hunting about finding great deals. Think about doing a room at a time rather than gutting the entire house and going mad trying to do it up. This means you will need to set a list of priorities, for example, which aspect of the project is the most intensive. That will need to be done first. Also, taking your time, looking for recommendations as well as thinking about costs will avoid you getting a cowboy builder. Remember things such as electric need things such as an eicr report cost, which would be needed if you wanted to sell your home at some point.

DIY

A lot of smaller projects can be done by yourself. If you are lucky you may have a family member or friend to call on to help you. If you are not exactly up to scratch on all things DIY, then YouTube is an absolute must. You will be able to find almost anything you need to do on there. However, be honest about your skills. Sometimes you may end up wasting more money and time than it would have done to get someone in to do the job in the first place. So, yes DIY is a great way to save money, but don’t over-estimate your abilities.

Reuse and Reupholster

A great money-saving tip is to upcycle some of your existing materials. Everything does not need to be brand new. You can easily make furniture and even kitchen cabinets look new by giving them a makeover. Think sanding down and painting or varnishing. You can actually find a very unique style this way. Also, think about the second-hard market. Sometimes you really can pick up an absolute bargain that looks way better than anything in the brand new catalogues anyway. 

Teaching Your Kids About DIY

We all know that the things that you learn from a young age stay with you for the rest of your life. Not only does teaching your kids about DIY give them some invaluable practical skills, it will also help them to save money in the future as they won’t have to hire expensive contractors every time there is a problem around the home.

Teaching Your Kids About DIY - workbench image

Photo Credit

You may just be doing a couple of simple jobs around the house or you may be involved in a major project that requires a steel building from Armstrong Steel. Either way, it is a good idea to teach your kids the basics while ensuring that any tasks that they do take part in are completely safe. Here are a few ideas about what they can do.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

You will probably be well aware of the old adage measure twice, cut once, but accuracy is one of the most important lessons that you can teach your kids so that they don’t have to go back and do a job all over again, which is not financially sound. Teach your kids how to read a measuring tape and make sure that they know to always double check their results. Once they become more experienced, allow them to do the measuring all by themselves.

Drive Screws

Before letting your kids loose with power tools, you will want to make sure that they are mature enough to handle them and the whole process is completely safe. A good starting point is a powered screwdriver which doesn’t spin at the same rate as a drill and the bits aren’t as sharp so it is less dangerous. Make sure that you supervise them well and you can teach them the valuable skills of patience and coordination.

A Lick of Paint

Teaching Your Kids About DIY - paint pots image

Photo Credit

Painting is a great DIY task to teach your kids as it is one of the safest that you can allow them to get on with. To start off with, you can get them enthusiastic about it by heading down to your local paint store and allowing them to pick out the colours themselves. Afterwards, you can teach them all the basics involved in the process including preparing the paint, using different methods (brush, roller etc) and the cleaning up afterwards.

Organising the Toolbox

Though it may not seem as exciting as some of the other jobs that you can tackle, organising the toolbox with your kids gives you the opportunity to show them each individual tool and explain in detail about what they all do. In the future, this will make it much easier when you decide that it is time to teach them how to use them.

Remove Nails

You may think that hammering in nails is a little too dangerous right now, but you could teach your kids to remove nails instead using the other side of the claw hammer. Make sure that they aren’t buried in too deep as this is when things can become a little tricky. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/dozarplati-srochnye-zaimi-online.html