Is this possible or am I just dreaming?

[Spuddddd]

I am a single mum and I have just bought a house. It is the only house I could afford and it needs work doing on it, about £30-40k.

I really want to get this work done asap as it would mean we would have a much nicer living space and my kids would have separate bedrooms. But I am trying to figure out how I would pay for it.

I maxed myself out on the mortgage in terms of what I could borrow vs my income so there is no option to borrow more via the mortgage, however the mortgage isn't that much a month (under £500pm) so I can continue to save about £500 a month which I was doing to get a deposit together (if we live frugally) but this would take quite a while to get to £40k. Alternatively I could save up a bit to get the work started and then take out a home loan for the rest.

I have a lot of stuff I need to sell too which I think cumulatively would add up to a few k also so I am in the process of selling it all and putting the money away in savings and at a push could sell some of my own art online to bring in some extra cash- it doesn't fetch mega bucks, £50 here, £100 there. But I guess it would add to the pot of money.

Does this sound feasible? I have some friends in trades who have said there are things they will help out with for free/mates rates ie electrics and plastering and I am happy to do any decorating required myself so those factors should help reduce the cost a tiny bit. I can also do the tiling and lay the flooring myself as I have done this a few times before and was happy with the standard of my own work.
Family members keep telling me a I am crazy and its not going to happen. That its a lot of money and I am living in cuckoo land. But I figure if I don't try then it will never happen.

Am I mad to think I could achieve this? I don't earn amazing money but I am very good with budgeting and have got my bills down to a fraction of what most people pay, I am good at saving and my kids are up for it too as they want to live in a nice house.

We are doing the same, we stretched ourselves initially but managed to save £500 pm for two years, our mortgage has now gone down, and I have had a payrise, so in two years will have saved enough for our extension and kitchen. We hoped we would do it in two, it will actually be 4 years. With no holidays etc. But it will be worth it, we bought the worst (awful) house in the best street. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply @2ndAugust

I am really lucky with the house I have bought. It's in a very desirable area and I have got it at a bargain price- but due to buying it on my own my budget doesn't stretch as far.

I guess my first move needs to be to get someone in to draw up plans and get it costed properly.
I think I would be able to borrow around 25k and could afford the repayments so I need to save £15k to make up the rest....or try and win the lottery
I feel petrified of doing this on my own but I don't really have any other choice and it would be so perfect here once the work was done :)

Yes good idea to have an actual cost to aim for it may increase but at least you have a guide
Some works maybe worth doing together...and there maybe sense in doing things on a structural order...eg stairs / Hall last as cojld geg trashed by other works.. get a builder to give you phases so you maybe able to chunk work rather than paying all at once.

Think of some small wins if you can.. eg I painted my front door a different colour and refreshed the surround..and changed the ironworks really cheers me up...yes I need to replace the door really but its quite far down the list...and £100 has had big boost