Those who know me know that I like to upgrade our house... Well, obviously that's a bit harder to do on one income than it is on two.
My first piece of advice comes from Gail Vaz-Oxlade (I like her advice for the most part) who has said that you should plan to put about 8% - 10% of your home's value into it every year. So, take the value of your house, divide it by 10% (because it's easy), then divide it by 12. (I was watching her show the other day and it's actually 3% - 5%, (OOOPS!) so divide your 10% amount by two. ) There's your monthly budget. I like this advice because my husband is at the stage in his career where we could be moving within the next “however-many” years. So, that 10% will keep our house looking decently updated and therefore if we do have to sell, it should sell for it's appropriate value and if we don't have to sell, well, then we have a nice looking house. Also, that 10% should pay for the regular maintenance on our house.
Just because you have figured out a monthly budget doesn't mean you have to spend it every month... You may spend 3 months budget in one month and nothing the next 2 months... If you want to spend something the next 2 months, it should be absolutely necessary, not an “I want” item.
My second piece of advice is one that I have learned/am learning the hard way.... That is when you decide to do a renovation project, you (and, especially I, as the writer of these steps) should follow these steps:
Step 1. Prioritize if you have more than one project that you want to do. One project at a time here.
Step 2. Figure out the cost of what you want and write it down. This is where you go dreaming to the store with a notepad... Try not to buy anything this trip. It's also a good idea to bring measurements. If you are going to change it, measure it and, preferably draw a sketch to go with the measurements. That way if you are lost you can show it to the sales person and they can figure out the details you didn't know you were supposed to measure/know.
Step 3. Write all the costs you have collected down so you can see how long it will take to save up for this project – Hint – Include taxes and a contigency for the random little supplies. This is also the time to start thinking what can I do without, downgrade/upgrade, etc.
Step 4. Wait for things to go on sale and buy them at that point in time - The first three steps but especially this step is where my husband and I have gone wrong in the past. We decide we want to do a project so we go out and buy all the supplies. BAD IDEA! I have estimated we have spend 10%, maybe more, extra money on a project for not thinking and planning.
Step 5. Start and complete the project. The complete is the big thing.... Don't start it until you know you have time to complete the project.
Now let me tell you how we are putting these steps into process. We have decided that we want to replace our tub in our main bathroom, and, also renovate our downstairs bathroom. So, two projects. First we prioritized. We want to do our main bathroom tub first. But what about the horrible downstairs bathroom and that we have a temporary boarder coming to live with us... Well, we took some upstairs bathroom paint (from a previous renovation project) and painted, changed some lightbulbs, took a spare shower curtain and rug and put it in. Ta da. A facelift for zero dollars... No not permanent, but it will work.
So, back to the main bathroom and following the steps (or not).
Step 2: We decided we wanted a white tub (rather than the beige that is there now). Did you know that tubs come in porcelain and enamel? I didn't before but while doing research I learned that and the price difference between the two. We decided to tile the tub surround, rather than put in a new 5 piece insert. So, what kind of tiles... If you ever look at photos of bathrooms you know the options are many. After looking and comparing prices we decided on big white ones with a small accent border.
Step 3: You know that temporary boarder I mentioned. Well, that is what is paying for the renovation, so now we have a way to afford it outside of the 10% yearly home renovation money I mentioned. Also, we decided not to replace the tub faucet, lever, and shower head. It seems like a lot of money for very little benefit, especially when they seem to work fine. This is also where the contingency could come in if it turns out we do have to replace them(but apparently I don't follow my own advice and we don't have a contingency...).
Step 4: Just recently there was a sale on tubs, so I spoke to my parents who assured us that it was a good price, so we bought the tub. Again, I spoke to my parents about the tile (which I know doesn't really go on sale) and they knew a place that had good priced tile so we went there and got the tile and only 2 expensive accent tiles. This is where the calculations/measurements come in handy, as those two tiles will do one border 3 tiles wide around our tub. We purchased these tiles on the looking trip when we probably would have been wiser to wait a month or two until we had the money in hand. It turned out fine but still not wise.
Step 5: This project is not even started yet as we will not have time, nor do we want to take the time to do it until the fall.
Hopefully, those steps will help make your renovation dreaming come to life.
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