Spending LESS $$ - Home Repairs, Maintenance, Upgrades & Improvements

 

I’ve lived in my house since 1995 and I’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears (literally and figuratively) into creating and maintaining the home that I currently have.  It hasn’t always been easy, in fact it has been a lot of hard work, and it always seems to take much longer to accomplish what you have in mind.  As they say,” it takes twice as long and costs twice as much”, however, I challenged that last part quite a bit.

 

It took more time for me to get to this point because I was adamant that I would not incur debt so it was definitely a “pay as you go” situation.  I always took care of the needed items first like a new roof, plumbing and electrical repairs, painting the exterior and adding some much needed gutters, replacing windows and adding caulk and insulation when and where it was needed.  The fun and pretty stuff often had to wait until funds were available and the necessities were taken care of, but at least I wasn’t wasting money on high interest rates which would have heavily cut into my available funds.

 

What has helped me the most was that I did nearly all of the work to my home myself.  Sometimes it was scary to take on some of these projects, but I put on my Big Girl tool belt and took the leap.  If I wasn’t sure of something I researched it, sought advice or help from more experienced people, checked out books at the library and in more recent years watched a lot of YouTube videos.  Hurray for YouTube University!  Also, I’ve often traded services and made thank you meals for my talented friends.

 

I did whatever I could to make my hard earned dollars stretch as far as possible without sacrificing quality or safety.  I always ask for gift cards as gifts for Mother’s Day, Christmas and my birthday as well as redeemed my credit card rewards points for them too.  I used gift cards at Home Depot or Lowes to pick up my supplies as often as possible.

 

I’ve scrounged up wood and trim from the FREE WOOD bin at a business near where I used to work.  I check closeout and clearance areas to see if there is anything usable.  I shop around online for best prices or wait for sales before I make a purchase.  Often I’ve been able to pick up what I need for a project off of Facebook Marketplace for a fraction of the cost of buying it new and more often than not I get it for FREE because someone has it and they just want it gone.  I’ve even found things at thrift stores.

 

The most important way I’ve saved money and taken care of the things around my house is with a lot of patience.  Patience to wait for the funds to be available to pay cash.  Patience to wait for sales or find what I need at the best price or free.  Patience to wait for someone to have a moment of time to give me advice or a helping hand.  And another important way is having an emergency fund in place to take care of anything that needs urgent attention because sometimes things happen unexpectedly.  How are some ways you save money and get things done around your house?