It’s nice to be able to give your home a makeover every now and then, but we don’t all have the funds to do this. Renovating your home on a budget doesn’t have to be difficult – you just need to be smart about it. You can save money in all kinds of places that you would never have thought about, and there are ways of getting more for less too. If you’re on a budget and trying to renovate your house, have a look at these 10 tips which will help you along.
1.DIY! You can save so much money by doing things yourself rather than hiring other people to do it for you. Yes, of course it means more work for you, but it also means saving a lot more money. Make a list of all the things that can be done by the members of the household, and you’ll probably find that your list is quite long. This could include gardening, painting the rooms, cleaning the kitchen thoroughly and cleaning out the gutters.
2.Ask friends and family to help you This normally goes down best if you’re renovating your house in the summer, since a lot of people are off work with little to do. People are also happier to be out of the house socialising and doing other things in the summer time. If you’ve done your friends and family members some good turns in the past, don’t be afraid of getting in touch and asking them to help you out with your home renovation plan. The more skills you can get together, the more jobs you’ll be able to get done without paying a penny.
3.Use plants instead of a fireplace Fireplaces need replacing at some point, but they’re very expensive to buy. You also have the installation costs to think about too, since it can be quite a dangerous job that most homeowners don’t like to attempt. Rather than leaving the fireplace as an empty open space, find a nice plant and put it there instead. This will be much cheaper and it will provide oxygen to the room!
4.Reorganize your kitchen Rather than getting planning permission to extend your kitchen and gain more space, see how you can reorganize the appliances and tables in the kitchen in order to create more space. You may discover that there is a lot of wasted space in your kitchen, and by moving some things around and swapping appliances; you could create much more space than you even knew you had in the kitchen.
5.Buy new curtains The curtains in a room can really make it look either boring, bright, lively or plain. For example, changing a pair of long and dark curtains to a shorter, light pair of curtains will suddenly change the room considerably. You will discover that with a few simple changes, you don’t have to carry out big jobs in order to renovate your home and update the style. 
6.Look for second-hand appliances When renovating your home, if you’re planning to buy new appliances, this can take up a huge part of your budget. Instead of going to the store and splashing out on a brand new dishwasher, look on Craigslist, eBay and even in your local newspapers to find out if anybody is advertising appliances in good condition. You may even like to look at the websites of traders who refurbish appliances, since these will undoubtedly be cheaper than buying them brand new. Don’t bother paying the full price for a new when you can get something almost or equally as good for a much lower price.
7.Get rid of your unwanted items Don’t hoard anything any longer – get rid of all your old and unwanted items before you start. Trash anything in the garage that you know deep down you’re just never going to use again. Not only will this clear a lot of space out in your home, but you’ll also feel like you’ve truly renovated your home when you’re finished, since you won’t have to deal with all the clutter. If you have any old mobile phones and other electrical goods, these can often be donated to charities or traded in for some extra cash.
8.Avoid big plumbing jobs If you don’t need to replace the sinks in your kitchen and bathroom or you can keep the toilet you have, don’t bother getting new ones. These are some of the biggest jobs that people encounter when renovating their homes, since they take a lot of time, a lot of parts and a lot of labour from a qualified plumber. If you feel like your toilet could do with a makeover, get a new toilet seat and give it a good clean. This will make it seem new, even though it will still be the same toilet. If it’s working, why mess with it?
9.Plan early Don’t make decisions as you go along, since you can end up underestimated how much you need to spend on certain things and then spending more money on other things. You should plan everything out very carefully and very early. By doing this, you’ll avoid any disappointment and will be completely prepared for any mishaps which might occur. Even before the renovation process actually starts, spend a little time researching prices of materials that you will need in the process, such as paints, brushes and cleaning products.
10.Don’t rush the jobs In any to save yourself any additional costs which come from rushing certain jobs, take your time with everything. It’s better to finish well behind your schedule than to finish on time or before schedule but with many problems still needing to be fixed. For example, if you’re rushing to put doors on quickly and paint the walls, you could end up with broken fixtures, poor paint jobs and an awful lot more money to pay out.
Article Submitted by Community writer.
