Budgeting for Your Next Renovation

Imagine when you first moved in to your new place. You are very excited in planning on how to design your new living space. You decide on the theme. You lay out on paper on how it will look like even if you do not have the rudiments of interior design. You probably have gone thru a number of home design magazines to just have ideas on how to deal with your initial plan. Sometimes you try your best to articulate your ideas to a designer friend. No matter how tiring it is from the planning stage to executing it, you have the adrenaline rush to just imagine your new place.

Now, the best part is to renovate the place and this is where the real work comes in. When considering a home renovation the first step is if you have the budget to work on and how much it would cost. Budget does not mean about renovating the new place, but it also about engaging a self storage facility to place your existing items that you do not want to throw away while your place is currently undergoing renovation. When most of the items are set aside, you will have non-cluttered space for your renovation works, and it will actually be faster to do. It is important to create a carefully prepared budget to avoid costly delays, overspending or an incomplete home. You may not have all the money at hand, but you just make sure that there is constant flow of money that will comprise your budget. Allocation and sticking to budget is the game plan, but you also have to make sure that you have a buffer, in case you need to spend a little bit more on certain things in the renovation process. Moreover, you have to make sure you know what you should be paying and how best to spend it.

There are a number of things to consider, apart from engaging a self storage facility to clear out some items before you do your actual renovation.

Firstly, consider the specific costs of renovating each room in the house. The biggest cost of renovating the kitchen, for instance, is cabinet making. Bathrooms will need the largest amounts of money set aside for tiling and plumbing.

Secondly, try to imagine what your new space will look like, and try to make a list of exactly what you want to do, especially if you are going to be renovating multiple rooms as well as landscaping. Do not forget to even make a computation for small items because sometimes, these small items will bite you especially if these are not budgeted.

Plan your sourcing of materials well. Find good quality materials that do not hurt your pocket that in the end you will sacrifice a lot of the renovation. Don’t buy in haste! Make sure that you talk to your designer about the budget and go thru the materials yourself. Sometimes, it also helps to be hands on in this.

While it is tempting to try the 'do it yourself' option to save money, if you cannot do a renovation job correctly you will end up having to pay someone to repair it later on. Ideally, you should hire a professional tradesperson for plumbing, electrical work, or any work to the foundations of your house. Hiring someone professional would be easier (although it can add a little to the cost) and will save you a lot of time when it comes to design issues. However, do monitor their spending, especially before they buy materials. Keep communication open at all times. It is still best that even if you have hired some who is professional, you are on top of things at all times. After all, this is your home and you will live most of your time here, and not your designer.

Top Ten Tips for Cutting Down Your Moving Costs

Unless you live gypsy-style, acquiring only as many possessions as you can carry with you, moving house can be very expensive. It is one of the main reasons that people don't change houses more often - moving and storage can set you back by months in your savings plan! Fortunately, though there will be some big bills involved, there are plenty of ways to cut down the cost of your move. Today we look at how to arrange a mover, get short term storage and source boxes for packing for less.

Using short term storage;

If you'll need to utilize short term storage in the course of your move, look for facilities that use module storage. This avoids the cost of double-handling goods in and out of storage; a big reduction in work that means a big reduction in price.
Use boxes from the supermarket
New packing supplies can be incredibly expensive - yet most supermarkets have plenty of boxes available for free! Reinforce the joins with stickytape, and ensure you don’t make them too heavy, and you have free boxes for packing that are close to the quality of bought ones.
Save on packaging materials
Even if you aren't able to source free boxes (some supermarkets refuse to give them out, or crush them as soon as they have been emptied), there are plenty of ways to save on packing materials. If you have your reasons for wanting to use new packaging materials, simply look around for quotes. Select boxes for packing that can be re-used - plastic containers are ideal. If you are trying to move cheaply, use newspaper and your own towels and linens as buffering for breakables inside boxes, rather than purchasing bubble wrap.
Use the inside of your furniture to pack things into
The average house has quite a few large items of furniture that go in and out of moving and storage empty. Things like wardrobes, fridges, freezers and filing drawers all add to your moving cost if you empty them out first. Instead, pack some of your lighter belongings into them, keeping the charge for truck space down, without making them too heavy to move.

Utilise long term storage

One thing that surprises many people about moving is how little they miss all of the things that are packed up, once they don’t have access to them. There might be a couple of things you pine for, like your own bed and the rest of your clothes. Yet, the vast majority of our 'stuff' isn't used on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. You could be able to make significant savings on your real estate costs by leaving some of your things in storage. Module storage units are much cheaper per square foot than real estate ... so save your money for something that will actually add to your quality of life!

Disassemble your furniture yourself
Tell your movers that you will have any applicable furniture disassembled, ready and waiting, at the time you ask for a quote. No matter what your logistical situation, less work for movers means a cheaper quote for you!

Save money by making money
Moving often brings to light all of those items that are just hanging around the house, not being used but taking up space. Selling those items will help make your move cheaper in two ways: adding to the funds you have available for moving, and reducing the amount of storage space you need in the truck and facility for moving and storage in Sydney.

Insurance
Many home insurers also do moving insurance - ask your regular agent for a quote, they are more likely to want to keep existing customers happy!
Keep working
Many people will advise you to do more of the work yourself to save money on moving costs, i.e., do your own packing, loading and unloading. However, you do need to balance the cost of not being able to work against that of outsourcing the loading work. When you can earn more money than you would save by doing it yourself, having the moving company load you is the smart choice.
Make it easy for your movers
If your movers are on an hourly rate, anything you can do to simplify their task will make your move cheaper. Gather everything that will be moved together in a single location (preferably the front room of the house). If you’re using portable storage units to save money, have the stored things taken away in advance to make moving day less complicated.

Follow the guidelines above and you’ll soon be wondering why it took you so long to make the move! Moving home doesn’t have to be expensive if you know where to save the pennies and how to keep costs down. Storage options, whether short-term or long-term, are a great way to keep your valuables out of harm’s way and reduce those real estate expenses.

Choosing a Self Storage Unit to Safeguard Your Precious Possesions

It comes to a point where you have to expand or downsize your current living or working space. There are so many contributing factors that lead us to do such like change of jobs, future family requirements, going to university, or just simply living on your own. Despite the challenges we expect to face when expanding or downsizing our current living space, we always look forward to it with excitement for change is good. Change is always good, so long as the process of undergoing such change won’t get in the way that in the end we feel cranky, unbecoming or simply becoming defiant towards it that the novelty it is supposed to bring becomes a burden to us. Thus, doing such requires proper planning as much as possible so that the experience of such ‘change’ in our lives should be pleasant and wonderful.

There are so many considerations that you need to take when you are planning this change of space, regardless how big or small it is. Whether you are downsizing your home or just reducing your clutter, there are certain steps that you need to note and take in order to make this change of living or working space pleasant and not a nightmare. One of the most common things that you would usually do is to sort out your clutter, change your billing address in advance to ensure that you receive your bills in time and be able to stick to your financial commitments, and informing your employer and key family members of your move. In between these, you plan your moving date and whatever activity that goes in between – once you have pinned down the date to move, you can work your way backwards from the time you seek a moving company or finding a storage facility near your new area in case you can’t put your belongings at one go and you still need to rearrange items while in the process of moving. If you are new to the place (which is usually the case), a storage unit or other storage solution can help to keep your belongings safe. Storage facilities have the desired security you need and would be able to deliver your items in the same state as they have picked these up from you.

Choosing a storage unit is important there are a few considerations you need to note: 

1. Current belongings - The first step is to look at how much space your belongings take up. For large items and multiple boxes, a large personal storage unit may be the most appropriate. Fewer boxes or smaller items may not require an entire room and most companies offer flexible storage solutions in this instance.

2. Location – This is important, as you will need to know if this is near your new place. Having a storage far away from your currently place might have some impact on the costs, thus, you need to be careful about this. Otherwise, it will be very costly on your part, and it might defeat the purpose of you saving money if you have downsized to a smaller place for lower maintenance.

3. Security and safety – It is important to take a look at the storage company’s credentials and the security and safety of their facility. Even if you are engaging the storage facility for a short period of time, you just want to be sure that your items are safe from break-ins and theft and will still be delivered in the same state that you have entrusted to the facility. If you are unsure, ask to have a quick inspection to see how secure everything is.

4. Cost – Even if you are engaging the storage facility for a short period of time, it is good to know if they have the flexibility that you can extend, and if you do, do not hesitate to ask for a good discount. Also, try not to have a fix contract – what if you need to pre-terminate it? Do you have to pay some pre-termination fees?

It is always good to understand and get to know your storage facility before you actually engage them. Remember to have a list of questions to ask your storage provider so that you can be sure it is the right service for you.

Although the above is not comprehensive, but it is a good start when selecting your storage unit of choice.