How To Budget For Home Projects This Spring

Springtime is often synonymous with renewal, fresh starts, new beginnings, and, of course, spring cleaning. It’s a popular time for many homeowners to tackle projects, pursue DIY dreams, and plan major renovations. But when you have a bunch of ideas for your house, you can easily overspend if you don’t budget.

Create a master list of all the projects you’d love to accomplish in your house this spring. Research a rough idea of what each one would cost, and then pick your top priorities. Get more detailed cost and timeline information for your chosen projects to decide how much you need to save each week or month.

Running out of money before you finish a project is no fun. Save yourself from frustration and disappointment by budgeting wisely for your home projects this spring.

Make A List of Potential Projects

Where many homeowners get in trouble is jumping into projects before looking at the big picture. They have things they want to fix, change, upgrade, and paint, so they start tackling several tasks at once. Ultimately, this approach either leads to a bunch of half-done projects or a big pile of debt. Even if you have unlimited funds, nobody has unlimited time. If you’re trying to finish projects in the spring, that means you have several months to get things done, so it’s important to pace yourself.

No matter your timeline or budget, start with a list of all the projects you would love to do in your home. Dream big, you’re just making a list, not signing a contract. If you share the home with someone, make this a joint activity, include the fam, and think about the pets. Don’t worry about putting anything in a particular order; just list it all. Get all the ideas out of your head and onto paper (or a spreadsheet). If you have a never-ending list of home projects, you could always limit it to a certain number, like 10 or 20, depending on the scope. But, again, this is the dream phase, so why not get it all out in the open?

Research Costs

Now it’s time for the fun part (actually, not really, especially if you’re pinching pennies). However, knowing what things cost is necessary for home repairs and renovations, and it’s getting you one step closer to your goals. You don’t have to get too detailed on your first round of research. This step is more about narrowing down your giant list. A Google search, asking friends or family who had similar work done, or looking up articles about the average cost of certain projects is sufficient.

If a certain task requires new purchases, for example, patio furniture or replacing outdoor cushions, look up some potential picks to see what they cost. Write the average amount next to each item on your list. The goal is to get a rough, ballpark idea of what things cost, so you can narrow down your list and make informed decisions. Once you've chosen your final projects, at that point you’ll get more specific quotes, look for professionals, and so on.

Choose Your Priorities

After creating your master list and estimating the cost for each item, it’s time to prioritize. This is where you need to be brutally honest about your finances and expectations. What are the most important things on your list? Although they may not be the most exciting, anything that poses a safety risk or could lead to more costly repairs down the road should come first. For example, a leaky roof takes precedence over an outdoor kitchen.

Even though you haven’t gone through your numbers with a fine-toothed comb yet, you should have an overall idea of your financial picture. Use this knowledge, coupled with the most pressing tasks, to select your top priorities.

Narrow Down The Project List

You’ll make a few cuts during this stage. Aim to chop the list in half, then again if it's fairly long. In other words, a list of 20 items goes to 10, then 5. If you started with only 6 items, you may cut it down to three. Also, consider the scope of each project. If they’re all very involved and expensive, like replacing the roof, getting new doors in the whole house, and upgrading the kitchen, you’re better off choosing one.

If it’s a big project with multiple steps, you can break it down and approach it as you would multiple projects. However, perhaps most of the projects are relatively small, such as installing new hardware on the kitchen cabinets, painting the bedrooms, and planting a vegetable garden. In that case, you could realistically conquer them all.

Do A Deeper Dive

Now you have your official goals for your springtime home projects. It’s time to research them more fully and do more extensive digging into how much things will cost, how long they’ll take, and what they entail. Be honest and realistic during this phase, so you make the best decisions. What can you do yourself, and what do you need to hire pros to do? Research potential contractors, service professionals, artists, and other applicable businesses. Get quotes. Ask for timelines. Be specific.

Designate A Solid Timeline

Use the information you’ve gathered to develop a timeline for all of the projects. Take into account your schedule and the schedules of any professionals you’re working with. For example, if you plan to redo your primary bathroom, is the contractor you’re using telling you they can’t start until April and will need three weeks? That gives you a solid timeline for that project, and you can use it as a reference point for planning more flexible tasks on your list.

It’s important to know how long a project will take and when you want to start, so you know how long you have to save. Then you can figure out the most critical part of building your budget — how much to save.

Figure Out How Much To Save

Determining what you need to save isn’t just pulling some random figure out of the air. You take all of the information you’ve learned up to this point and use it to get an accurate figure. For example, imagine the quote to redo the bathroom is $9,000, and you want to start the process in three months. You’re looking at needing to save at least $3,000 a month. If that’s not doable, you may need to push back your timeline or make some concessions in your design. (This is assuming you’re trying to avoid debt, of course.) For smaller projects, your budget might be a bit more focused. Here’s an example:

Sample Budgeting For Spring Projects

You decide on three projects for the spring. You want to paint all the bedrooms, replace the broken patio furniture, and pressure-wash the driveway. You decide to paint the rooms yourself, so you only need paint and supplies, which will cost approximately $150. The new patio furniture you want costs $1,800 (unless you can get lucky with some secondhand furniture on Facebook Marketplace or similar sites). Finally, you find out you can rent a pressure washer for the day for about $135, so you’ll DIY the driveway.

Build In A Contingency

Any smart contractor will tell you to plan for the unexpected, because things never seem to go quite as planned. A contingency gives you a buffer to handle surprises without derailing your plans. Typically, it’s 10% to 15% of the project's expected costs. A straightforward project, like painting, may be fine with a smaller contingency. But if you’re doing anything that involves opening walls, stick to the 15%. Create your plan:

Assuming you start the plan in early March, add up the total you need for everything, then divide it by your timeline (in this example, 12 weeks) to determine your savings rate. Your budget might look something like this:

Now you can see that to make all of your springtime home dreams come true, you’ll need to save about $192 a week, or $768 a month. A budget gives you a clear picture of where to put your money and helps you stay on track. You’ll also get a better idea of how doable your overall plan is or if you need to make tweaks. For example, splitting the cost of a pressure washer rental with a neighbor or finding gently used patio furniture.

Automate Savings For Your Home Projects

Don’t rely on discipline alone to get you to your goals. Once you know your saving number for your project budget, automate it. Set up recurring drafts from your checking account to your savings account each week for the appropriate amount. When you put money directly into your savings, you’re less likely to spend it on nonessential items that can derail your home plans.

What If You Still Come Up Short On Funds?

If you can’t save enough by the designated time, you have a couple of options. You can either push back your timeline by a few extra weeks to save more, or you can reduce the scope or expenses of your project. Ways to shave off costs are doing some of the work yourself, shopping secondhand, and checking out discount and sale aisles.

Many paint stores have deep discounts on “Oops paint.” These paints are the ones customers refused because they were the wrong color or sheen, or because they just changed their minds. What one person couldn’t use might end up being the perfect choice for you, especially if you’re somewhat flexible on things like color and style.

For larger projects, it’s best to start planning months in advance to give yourself more time to save. Think about that $9,000 bathroom. If you started planning a year in advance instead of three months, you would only need to save $862 a month (includes a 15% contingency). Is it a lot? Sure, but it’s much better than trying to come up with more than $3,000 a month.

Check Off Those Spring Projects Without Ending Up In Debt

Thinking about all of the things you want to do in your home can be exciting. You want to do it all as soon as possible. It’s tempting to swipe the credit card or take out a hefty bank loan so you can accomplish everything at once. But how much are you really going to enjoy that outdoor kitchen if you’re still paying for it 12 months later?

A budget sets you up for success, telling you exactly how to save what you need for when you need it. Budgets aren’t meant to restrict or confine. They’re simply a way for you to tell your money where to go. Plan and save for your home projects so you can pay for them stress-free. Keep this in mind — a budget isn’t a roadblock, it’s a map that helps you reach your destination.

Related Guides:

• Refurbish Vs. Renovate Home Projects: What Are The Major Differences?
• Look Out For These 12 Renovation Red Flags
• Refresh Your Home For Spring Without A Major Makeover