You’ve decided to renovate your home. It’s a big call and sometimes a tough period mentally once the decision to do it has been made. Here are 5 tips to help you stay sane when renovating your home.
Renovating means you can stay in your current home and make changes to give you more space to live in but to do it in Ireland and keep your sanity can be a challenge.
Over-running your budget or unforeseen circumstance in the build that may not have been budgeted for can leave you drained.
If you read no further in this blog than the end of this sentence then make sure you add about 20% on to your budget to cover these unforeseen events.
Not alone will that ensure you have enough money, but it will also ensure you can sleep at night during the project.
The five tips to help you stay sane when renovating your home start with the reason you are renovating your home.
#1 Remember your reason for renovating
Everybody has a different reason for renovating their home. It could be to increase their living space. It may be to increase the value of their home as they are considering selling it.
With the increasing energy prices, the reason for renovating could be just to make the home more energy efficient. Maybe you are renovating your kitchen because you are tired of eating take-outs.
Or, it could be a combination of all the above.
The important thing to remember here is the reason you are renovating. This can keep you motivated and sane when things are not going according to plan.
#2 Understand what are your must-haves
Within any renovation work, there are ‘wants’ and ‘must-haves’
The difference between the pair doesn’t need to be explained but making a list of must-haves is vital.
Remember you will be living with your renovations for several years so it is vital that you have all or nearly all of your must-haves covered.
A good architect and/or builder can explain the impact of each must-have. Just like understanding and remembering your reason for the renovation, understanding what your must-haves are and how they will impact your life could become a sanity saver once the renovation work commences.
#3 Budget for less than you can afford
Always budget at about 20% less than you can afford. That might seem counter-intuitive but if you hit a problem at any stage of the renovation project, at least you have the wriggle room to be able to account for those contingencies.
For example, if you are thinking of taking a loan for €100,000 for your renovation then budget for €80,000 so if you need re-wiring or new appliances that may not have been considered in the original design then you don’t have to worry about not being able to afford the extras.
The best case scenario is that you don’t need to use the extra money and it can take repayments pressure off you or you only have to repay €80k or the worst case is you can cover all contingencies.
#4. Write down your priorities and progress
One of the best ways to stay sane before and during your home renovation is to write down your priorities and their progress. For example, the priority is to find a builder, once you have found a builder tick it down.
This way you can see progress as it happens and there is a certain satisfaction to ticking off the tasks to the end of the project will help keep you sane. It also keeps your focus and what needs to be done next.
You will also be able to determine that tasks get you to the end of the project quickest.
It will also stop you from straying from your plan.
#5. Make one decision at a time
This is easier said than done when many different decisions are vying for your attention. Keep the main thing, the main thing. That should be your mantra during any renovation work. Yes, you have to get through a lot of tasks but you should only tackle one task at a time if you want to stay sane.
Returning to your list in #4 should tell you the next task to be completed.
The chances are that if you have too many decisions to make simultaneously, one or more of them will be wrong.
Renovation work has a way of distracting your mind in many different directions at a time but taking one decision at a time will be far easier on your brain.
