How to Save Thousands of Dollars with Your Home

We're another step closer to buying our house. We had our home, termite, and radon inspections done. I took a morning off to tag along and ask a ton of questions.

Getting a home inspection is one of the smartest moves you can make when buying a place.  Let's start with the finances.

If your home inspector catches certain problems and repairs, you may negotiate with the seller to see if they will fix it or offer some concession with the price.

Seeing Opportunity with DIY Home Projects

When we got our report, it was 54 pages, filled with notes and pictures about everything he observed and was able to inspect. With all that is on the list, it can seem scary.

Being at the inspections, though, meant I was able to ask questions about which ones were urgent or big projects and which ones we could wait on a bit.

Knowing this allows us to come up with a plan to tackle them one by one. We're looking at this a wonderfully detailed report as a guide of house projects we need to tackle.

Our Home Project List

When we were shopping for houses, we knew that buying an older home would entail weekend projects to improve, renovate, and maintain it.

In way, it's a chance to make this house into our home, with some of this work being done by our own hands.

Besides the items listed in the home inspection report we also added some projects that are pretty much vanity projects, a few that will hopefully save on energy and make it a more efficient home. 

Here are some projects we have on our list:

Outside/Exterior

• Clean roof of tree debris
• Clean gutters
• Level the gutter in the front
• Trim the trees
• Install fence on one side
• Make some raised garden beds
• Plant herbs, vegetables, fruits
• Replace damaged screens
• Seal nail heads on roof
• Build a compost bin
• Install some more motion sensor lights

Plumbing

• Replace sump pumps
• Fix small leaks in bathrooms
• Fix drain stop in bathroom sink
• Install a shower

Upgrades

• Replace windows
• Replace range (only 3 burners work)
• Install dishwasher
• Paint the kitchen cabinets
• Replace sliding door with French doors

You better believe we'll be looking at the local Craigslist and home improvement stores for deals on new items or treasure hunt for gently used gems.

We're not looking at breaking the bank with our projects.

Thoughts on Home Projects

We're novices so I have no idea how some of these will turn out, but I'll post the results (good or bad!) as they are completed.

If you want to keep track of how we're doing in real-time, sign up for the weekly newsletter.

I'd love to get your tips and stories about DIY home projects. What have been some of your favorite one? What skills are you most proud of? Any stories you'd like to share?