Travel is awesome! It’s the best way to immerse yourself in exotic locales and different cultures. It frees your mind as it edifies. It broadens your horizons while also making you appreciate where you came from that little bit more. But while travel is a tonic for the soul, in some ways the best part of a great vacation is coming home.
After all, your home is your castle. After a time of exploration and self-discovery, it’s great to come home, kick off your shoes and know that this is the one place in the world where you can truly be yourself.
But as happy as we are to come home, we also acknowledge that the home is always a work in progress. As the years go by we may see more and more opportunities to build value into our homes, both in monetary terms and in the value we get from enjoying our time spent at home, through renovation. But making improvements to the home certainly doesn’t come cheap. Here are just a few ways in which you can scythe down your home improvement costs and keep them manageable…
Use gift cards
It may be slightly circuitous, but for a big project, using gift cards rather than hard currency could result in some real savings with a minimum of effort. Gift cards like the kinds seen on https://www.cards2cash.com/product-category/by-store/menards-gift-card/ are discounted and there’s no limit to how many you can use in a transaction. What’s more, if you have any credited cards left over afterward that you don’t need you can exchange them for cash elsewhere.
Reuse and repurpose
Who’s to say that everything has to be new. Very often a lick of paint or a new facade on something familiar brings the same sense of renewal as buying new but at a fraction of the cost. For example, replacing kitchen cabinet doors rather than the entire unit can usually generate some real savings.
Moreover, DIY stores and hardware stores may not be your best port of call for the most affordable hardware. Be sure to check out some salvage yards and building supplies auctions first as these can bring you awesome pieces at bargain prices.
Prioritize your spending
If your home improvement will be cosmetic in nature, where will you actually see the money that’s spent. Is there any way to reduce the spending on the more invisible elements of the project that might save you money? One common DIY hack is to use low cost but decent quality IKEA items as a base which is then built upon with more expensive, higher quality veneers.
Look for cost-saving opportunities
Even a renovation that requires a significant upfront investment could save you money in the longer term. Investing in energy-saving appliances and better-insulated windows and doors may represent greater overheads today but if you intend to remain in your home for years to come, they will certainly represent long-term savings.
Finally, if you must borrow to fund your project borrow smart! Use a credit card with a low (or 0%) introductory interest rate and keep moving the debt to different cards.
