I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this weekend. The past six weekends or so have been spent working on home renovation projects. My husband and I bought a “fixer-upper” back in August and have been putting all of our energy into getting it in shape. Like most people, we are on a budget and have been looking for ways to save money through this entire process. I thought I’d share a few of the methods we have used:
Our kitchen before the renovation
1. DIY: this is kind of a no-brainer, but honestly we have surprised ourselves with how much we really can do on our own. Simple wiring, painting and even installing molding have turned out to be pretty simple projects. And I’m sure we saved a lot of money doing it ourselves.
2. Affordable Labor: For the projects that were over our heads we have used a handyman. He’s a certified electrician, plumber and can pretty much do anything. He has been extremely affordable and reliable which can be a huge battle in home renovation projects. My suggestion is to ask around at church, in your circle of friends, or at work for recommendations for affordable handymen. Don’t just rely on the phone book and chance to find someone good.
3. Get Quotes: For a couple of projects we got quotes from different sources. One of those was to install glass tile on our kitchen back splash. There was a $500 difference in price! That’s not a small amount of money. But we may have missed that opportunity to save if we hadn’t gotten quotes.
Our kitchen after the renovation.
4. Pay Attention: When we ordered the tile for our back splash we had the tile company come out and measure– it’s a free service. They told us we needed 25 square feet. Just to make sure that was accurate my husband decided to measure it as well. According to his calculations, we only needed 19 feet of tile. Curious about the difference, he called up the tile company and told them he felt there had been a mistake. They argued that no, we would only have one extra tile just in case something were to break. But when the job was complete we were left with six whole tiles and $20 a piece that adds up to $120 of extra tiles! Thankfully we were able to get that money back because my husband had paid attention and doubled checked.
5. Use Coupons: I am ALWAYS on the lookout for Home Depot and Lowe’s coupons. I have several 10% off coupons that I have stocked up. We try not to run to Home Depot or Lowe’s for just one or two items. We try to buy several things at once so that 10% off coupon has more value.
While we may be almost finished with the main floor, we still have an attic to convert into a master suite. I’m sure by the time that project is complete we will have many more ideas for saving money.