Budgeting Tips for a Debt Free Home Rennovation

Hello everyone and welcome to another post!

This is something I have been putting off writing about because money seems to be one of those things that can make everyone squeamish.

I’m not here to hand out Dave Ramsey budgeting tips, I’m just here to share what has worked for our little family while we have been renovating and updating our home.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that we bought a house that is a little bit of a fixer-upper. It seems like the previous owners started a complete home rennovation and gave up half way through leaving us to pick up where they left off.

Although my husband and I are not Chip and Joanna, one of the reasons why we took on this house is because we can do a lot of the renovations ourselves. And by we I mostly mean him because it’s getting a little hard to help out when I can’t see my feet under my expanding baby belly.

So let’s dive in to how my husband and I are not going into debt while we add some flooring, paint, trim and finish the garage.

Make sure the home you buy is already livable.

If you don’t have a spare back up house to live in, you’ll probably need to live in the one you’re renovating. So even if it has neon green walls and no trim, as long as its mostly finished it’ll probably be ok to live in until you can save up some money to paint it a color you actually like.

Prioritize your renovations and do them one at a time.

This has been hard for me because I honestly would love to drop $10,000 and just do everything in one weekend. But we have to pay our bills and eat dinner so my husband and I have had to prioritize the projects into needs and wants and then by price. Then if we don’t already have enough to do a particular project, we have had to save up for it.

For example, we just put on the trim for our living room and staircase which was around $50. That didn’t bankrupt us because it was pretty cheap and because we have been putting away a portion of each paycheck specifically for the purpose of renovating our house. Our next project is updating the nursery which currently doesn’t have flooring and has chipped paint on the walls. This one will take a little more time and money but we’re working on it. See what I mean?

Save a portion of each paycheck specifically for your next project.

I have found that if I don’t assign my money to specific tasks, I will save it and then spend it on things I don’t need right now or on things that are 100% wants.

If you know your next project is painting and it’s going to cost you $100, save $100 to paint. And when you have achieved your money goal, celebrate by painting not by buying yourself a new coffee maker or something else. It can take a little bit of self discipline because painting isn’t really a blast, but if you paint instead of buying a new purse your house will look great and you’ll feel so much more accomplished.

Shop sales.

Pay attention to what is on sale at your local hardware stores. If flooring is 50% off but your list says your next project is insulating the garage, maybe consider buying the flooring now and insulating the garage later. Both things will need to be done because they are on your to do list, but this way you can save some money on flooring and maybe spend it on something else like a rug or a nice throw for your couch to tie your newly floored room together.

And there you have it guys! These are the things that my husband and I have been doing since we bought our house to help us update our home while still being able to pay our bills and eat dinner.

If you have any budgeting tips for home renovations, please feel free to leave a comment. I always love hearing advice from others who have already done something in life that I’m currently doing.