Wherever you happen to live, your home is always going to be important to you. That’s why you’ll want it to look its best. Yet renovating a home and making it look wonderful can feel like an expensive task and can be somewhat daunting. Don’t worry, though; there are many ways that you can renovate your home on a budget, and here are just some of them to get you started.
The first thing you’ll need to consider when you want to work to a budget is what your budget actually is. Do you have a certain amount of savings that you can use, for example? Or will you speak to someone about a personal loan? Perhaps you intend to work overtime to pay for the changes you want to make. It’s best to know how much money you’re going to have and fit your purchases into that budget rather than adding up everything you want to buy and trying to work out how to pay for it all.
Once you know your budget, you can start planning, but until the sums are worked out, it’s best not to get started; you don’t want to begin something that you just won’t be able to finish.
Shop Around
When you want to buy supplies and materials for your new bathroom, kitchen, living room, or anywhere else in your home, you may have a few brand names come immediately to mind. These are fine, and they may be very good, but don’t just go to these companies because of their great advertising and slick brochures. Once you have their prices and you can gauge the quality of the items they are selling, take some time to shop around for alternatives. You could find that you can save a lot of money when you look around and compare prices.
Reuse Old Materials
When you are changing things in your home, you might be able to save a lot of money and make your budget go much further if you can possibly reuse some of the old material. Often there will be nothing wrong with it, and all it will take is a coat of paint to make it look new and definitely improved.
If there is nothing in your home worth reusing, then take a look at salvage yards because you can find all kinds of great bargains there that will look just right in your renovated home. You can buy them at reasonable prices, although they may need a little work to bring them back to their former glory.
DIY
It’s a nice idea to bring someone in who understands how to paint perfect walls and join shelving so that there is no gap, but it’s not always possible when you don’t have the money to do it. Therefore, whatever you can do yourself, you should. It will take longer if you also have a full-time job, but sometimes that is the sacrifice that will need to be made. You can find out how to do many of the more simple jobs using books you can borrow from the library (so you don’t even need to spend money on buying them) or from watching videos that other people have put up on YouTube. Learning these skills can help you now and in the future, saving you money and giving you a great sense of satisfaction when you look around your home and see what you have done.
For the larger jobs, it might be best to bring experts like roofers and electricians in to help, but if you have done the smaller jobs yourself, your budget should be able to cover hiring someone for the harder things that you don’t want to worry about yourself.
Smaller Changes
Rather than making huge changes and completely redoing entire rooms, making more minor changes can be just as impactful yet much less expensive. That could be simply changing the hardware on your kitchen cabinets, for example, or even painting the cabinet doors rather than replacing them. Just because they no longer look fresh and modern doesn’t mean they are no good – they just need to be changed cosmetically.
Outside you can paint the trim on your home instead of painting the whole house. Of course, painting the trim could show up how much the rest of the house does need to be painted, so bear this in mind, but it’s a good start, and it could motivate you to do more yourself if you feel confident enough to go ahead.
Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels
Your Budget
The first thing you’ll need to consider when you want to work to a budget is what your budget actually is. Do you have a certain amount of savings that you can use, for example? Or will you speak to someone about a personal loan? Perhaps you intend to work overtime to pay for the changes you want to make. It’s best to know how much money you’re going to have and fit your purchases into that budget rather than adding up everything you want to buy and trying to work out how to pay for it all.
Once you know your budget, you can start planning, but until the sums are worked out, it’s best not to get started; you don’t want to begin something that you just won’t be able to finish.
Shop Around
When you want to buy supplies and materials for your new bathroom, kitchen, living room, or anywhere else in your home, you may have a few brand names come immediately to mind. These are fine, and they may be very good, but don’t just go to these companies because of their great advertising and slick brochures. Once you have their prices and you can gauge the quality of the items they are selling, take some time to shop around for alternatives. You could find that you can save a lot of money when you look around and compare prices.
Reuse Old Materials
When you are changing things in your home, you might be able to save a lot of money and make your budget go much further if you can possibly reuse some of the old material. Often there will be nothing wrong with it, and all it will take is a coat of paint to make it look new and definitely improved.
If there is nothing in your home worth reusing, then take a look at salvage yards because you can find all kinds of great bargains there that will look just right in your renovated home. You can buy them at reasonable prices, although they may need a little work to bring them back to their former glory.
DIY
It’s a nice idea to bring someone in who understands how to paint perfect walls and join shelving so that there is no gap, but it’s not always possible when you don’t have the money to do it. Therefore, whatever you can do yourself, you should. It will take longer if you also have a full-time job, but sometimes that is the sacrifice that will need to be made. You can find out how to do many of the more simple jobs using books you can borrow from the library (so you don’t even need to spend money on buying them) or from watching videos that other people have put up on YouTube. Learning these skills can help you now and in the future, saving you money and giving you a great sense of satisfaction when you look around your home and see what you have done.
For the larger jobs, it might be best to bring experts like roofers and electricians in to help, but if you have done the smaller jobs yourself, your budget should be able to cover hiring someone for the harder things that you don’t want to worry about yourself.
Smaller Changes
Rather than making huge changes and completely redoing entire rooms, making more minor changes can be just as impactful yet much less expensive. That could be simply changing the hardware on your kitchen cabinets, for example, or even painting the cabinet doors rather than replacing them. Just because they no longer look fresh and modern doesn’t mean they are no good – they just need to be changed cosmetically.
Outside you can paint the trim on your home instead of painting the whole house. Of course, painting the trim could show up how much the rest of the house does need to be painted, so bear this in mind, but it’s a good start, and it could motivate you to do more yourself if you feel confident enough to go ahead.
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