How to Pay For Home Improvement Projects?
You hop on Pinterest and watch HGTV almost every day just to get ideas on how to turn the house you live in to become the home of your dreams. On TV, the experts make it all look so simple, right? To transform the walls of a room, all you need is paint, paint brushes, and painting tape, right? To a certain degree, yes. But what about if you live in an old home that has wallpaper on it and once you remove the wallpaper, there’s water damage? That can definitely get quite expensive, right?
The truth of the matter is, home improvement projects aren’t cheap, and the better prepared you are for them financially, the smoother the project will go. With that being said, hopefully, you haven’t fallen prey to the thought that you can tackle these home improvement projects all by yourself.
Just because you’ve seen hundreds of YouTube videos online and have seen just about every episode of Fixer Upper doesn’t mean you can tackle your home improvement projects just as good as or even better than chip Gaines.
There are just certain home improvement projects that just need to be left up to the professionals. Of course, you’ll need to be paying these folks but how do you do it when the budget is tight?
Below we’ll discuss some unique ways of paying for your home improvement project but before doing so, check out some other essential considerations.
Safety Comes First
You may not realize it, but a large percentage of ER visits are the result of home improvement projects. According to improvementcenter.com, one in two hospital visits are due to yard maintenance, and one in four are due to painting incidents. If your home improvement projects consist of the following projects, hire a professional immediately:
- Roof repairs or replacement
- Electrical work
- Cutting down trees
- Cleaning gutters
- Chemical work
- Gas line maintenance
Doing things yourself is certainly a perk of being a homeowner, and it brings a sense of pride when you’re able to do certain things for your home yourself, but with that pride, you also need to have enough satisfaction within yourself to know which projects to tackle and which ones to let the pros handle.
Also, because home improvement projects can be on the pricey side, wouldn’t you rather pay a professional who’s received specialized training and certifications to be able to do the quality work you need?
Even from a property value standpoint you may not be wanting or needing to sell your home right now, but if you do come to a point where you need to move, you’ll definitely be glad you invested in professionals to do your project.
Some home improvement projects increase your property value when it comes down to selling the home, especially if it’s done right!
Hiring a professional will prevent you from possibly needing more work done on the same project… whichever way you choose to do your project, you’re going to need to pay for it anyway, so let’s look at the different ways you can fund your home improvement project, especially when loans or credit cards are not an option for you.
What Are Options For Funding Your Home Improvement Projects
Get a Second Job
A lot of people may not like this idea, but hey, you have to get the money some kind of way. As mentioned earlier, home improvement projects can be very expensive, and having a little extra money will be very beneficial to getting your projects complete.
Maybe you work a Monday through Friday job from 9 to 5 when you get off from there, maybe you can pick up a few evening shifts at a local restaurant or hotel from 6 to 10 to help fund your projects.
Cut Back
It may not seem like much, but every penny counts. Whether you stop eating out and start bringing your own lunch to work or get rid of cable and other luxuries you enjoy but don’t necessarily need, it’s all helpful in the process of saving for your home improvement project.
Some people have gym memberships and don’t even use them. Those people have anywhere from $20 to almost $200 coming out of their account every month for things they’re not even using! Just imagine how much your dream home could use that extra money!
Open Your Own Online Business
Similar to getting a second job, starting your own business allows you to work as little or as much as you like because you’re the boss! The process is so simple too. All you need to do is figure out what you want to sell, hop online, and buy the perfect domain name, put your website together, and start making money! The cool thing about opening your own online business is not only that you’re the boss, but it’s also that you can work from virtually anywhere.
Sell Items You No Longer Use
This is the perfect reason to purge your home and declutter your home to prepare for the improvement projects. A lot of people incorporate the 90/90 Rule when de-cluttering. The way it works is if you have items in your home (clothes, shoes, knick-knacks, kitchenware, etc.) that haven’t been used in the past 90 days and you know you’re not going to use it in the next 90 days, it’s pretty safe to get rid of or sell. But in your case, you’re going to want to sell it.
A lot of people will sell these items in yard sales or garage sales. If you do decide to take this route to get a little extra money, you have to keep in mind that this is a yard sale and people are looking for bargains, so you don’t want to price your items too high, but you also don’t want to price them too low either… the main goal is to get those items out of your home to make room for new items and pieces to go with your new home improvements.
Remember to Be Realistic
The thing to remember with funding your home improvement projects is to keep in mind that it’s not something that usually happens overnight. So you want to plan accordingly. Give yourself at least a year to save money for the things you would like to do.
Other Helpful Real Estate Resources
- Home improvements that help when selling – see four repairs that you can make to your house that will really make a difference, especially when you are planning on selling.
- How to pick a home mortgage loan term – do you know the best way to determine what the length of your mortgage should be? See some of the best tips for choosing a loan term that best fits your financial needs.
Use these additional resources to make the best decisions possible when buying or selling your next home.
About the author: The above article on how to pay for home improvement projects was written by Sarah Saker. Sarah is a business coach and freelance writer that specializes in helping SMB’s setup processes for customer support and predictable growth. When not writing or coaching, Sarah can be found on her (small but growing!) family farm.
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