Making Home Repairs Yourself Practical Money Saving Tips

Making home repairs yourself is easy with this "Do it Yourself Home Repairs Checklist". Another in our relentless pursuit to provide you with practical money saving tips, this time helping you drive down repair costs in you personal budget planning.

Changes That Increase Value

You might be about to sell your home or you may just want to give it a classier look. Either way, it takes a lot of money to make noticeable changes, right? Not necessarily. There are many smaller and less expensive changes that you can do right now that will increase value for resale or just make it a nicer place to live in.

Before you make any home repairs yourself, though, grab a clipboard, paper, and pen and walk around both the outside and inside of your house. Try to look at it from a prospective buyer's point of view. What do you see that could be fixed?

• Replace shutters if any slats are broken or missing.

• Replace gutters if they're really banged up or parts are missing. Clean out the existing gutters while you're up there.

• Usually the most obvious things that need painting are the trim and shutters. Painting them can make your house look significantly better. Think about painting the front door in a complimentary color that pops.

• For the price of elbow grease - pull weeds, trim bushes and trees, and throw away trash and debris around the outside of the house. Totally remove bushes or trees that have overgrown their space.

• Add flowers along the walk and/or in pots by the door. Do not space them out so there's one flower every 6 inches, but group in bunches close together for maximum color impact. Add a thin layer of new mulch to the beds.

• If the porch light outside your front door is really outdated, consider purchasing a new one. You don't have to go top of the line as there's a good chance any new inexpensive light will look better than what you currently have.

Reducing Interior Home Repair Costs

• When making home repairs yourself, do not forget: Clean, clean, clean. The lights, the cobwebby corners, the doors, the trim work, cabinets, and the windows.

• Throw out the clutter and giveaway everything else you no longer want or use. Your rooms will look bigger and potential buyers will be able to see what the room is intended to be.

• A little paint goes a long way in freshening up your rooms, especially the high traffic hallways.

• Many kitchen cabinets can be painted. If they are in good shape but boring or outdated, you can add contemporary knobs for a new look.

• Rent a steam cleaner at the grocery store and clean the carpets. Purchase rugs to place in the high traffic areas to keep the carpets cleaner for a longer period.

• Consider changing out your chandelier and/or kitchen light. If you can't afford to purchase them new, then frequent some garage sales in nicer neighborhoods where people have remodeled and will sell their fixtures cheap.

• Is it time for new doorknobs? You don't have to do them all at once. Pick a model and brand that are in abundant supply and replace a couple doorknobs each payday.

What Are You Waiting For?

As you can see, taking the time to make home repairs yourself is not that difficult. Just do one thing at a time, do a thorough job, then sit back and enjoy the change. Get started by evaluating and write down what you see that needs fixing or changing. Come up with a plan of action, picking out the inexpensive changes, and doing them as your personal budget planning allows. One change does make a big difference. What are you waiting for?

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I have many more of the easiest ways to save money to help you such as creative ways to save money on utilities.

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