How do people afford house repairs?

[Swampmonster1988]

My panic about house repairs are mounting. I just can't afford them.

My house needs:
A new carpet
A new fence
Leading on extension roof joints
A new gate
A new washing machine
Whole house needs painting

Longer term (maybe 5 years away):
A new kitchen
A new bathroom
Windows replacing

I live alone on 30k per year. Still have morgage for the next 10 years so I just can't afford this. I know I could get a loan for some of it but I'm really worried I just can't afford it.

I'm in a very similar situation - earn £30k, am single and 57 so another 10 years of work.

My solution was to have lodgers and use that money towards repairs and refurbishments.

I couldn't get a lodger in it's current state. I'd need at least the new washing machine and new carpet before I could which I just can't afford. Plus I only have a tiny spare room so I couldn't charge very much. Also I have my gas/elec bills down to really minimal amounts which would probably go up considerably with a lodger.

You have 3 options - save, borrow or ignore it.

We have, historically, borrowed. But with the current circumstances we can’t. We will need a new roof in 15 years (thatch). I’m ignoring it.

We needed new kitchen and windows so borrowed on the mortgage for those (£40k as it’s an old house and needs specific wooden windows etc), but there’s no room to borrow more now. So anything else will be left until circumstances improve. For us that will come when we no longer pay childcare .

For some things in your list though you can improvise. Washing machine can be 2nd hand, carpets can be cheap. Painting you can do gradually as you can find the cash.

It is false economy to leave maintenance but the reality is, it often has to be.

Carpet, fence, gate (unless you've got animals or something) and painting is not essential so leave those

We do lots of very boring patching and diy “solutions”. So I would clean the present carpet or buy a big end of roll and lay it myself. Fix the fence yourself with skip wood/pallet if you have to. Some of the jobs are easier than you think. Or get an evening job and build up enough to pay someone

Would it help to break it up and prioritise because that is an intimidating list

Washing machine - asap 2nd hand
carpet - cheap

try and get a Monday - Friday lodger?

Paint the house yourself in spring

start a savings account for the roof and the windows. Could the windows be repaired BTW?

Why is the fence and gate a priority - pets? Or could you get an odd job man to prop it up and yoi just paint it?

When you say the kitchen and bathroom need doing, what’s wrong with them? Could they just be painted?

A lot of people do not do as big maintenance jobs as you are proposing. So do you really need a new kitchen and bathroom? We only did the kitchen when units started falling apart. Bathrooms tend to be sturdy and only need repainted or shower replaced if they are very old. But most of the time this is about preference, it is not needed.
Focus on what you actually need to do.

This. Gradually and in order of need.

I need various things done but new washing machine is top of the list (heating element has gone) so going on a credit card this month.

I got a Bosch washing machine for £50 on Facebook after the one I’d had new for 6 years died. Still going strong a year later

we need a new roof...

we are lucky - we knew when we boight that the house will need some things done and started a modest savings accounts (80£ a month) we will use that and the credit card.
but I know tgat's not an option for everyone.

some of the thing you list could be dyi jobs. washing machine - look for second had stores.

OP, my washer/dried is great. It's Bosch is it called? I got it new from Argos at £200

Could you possibly get an Argos card?

The only really urgent thing is the washer and the leading on extension roof joints. Everything else can be put off until you've got the funds. Prioritize!

We bought a fixer-upper and lived for several years with bare floorboards, threadbare carpets and roughly painted walls. The first rooms we renovated were those we then let to lodgers. The kitchen was the last thing we did - about 8 years after we first moved in.

Not everything has to be perfect now. Focus on getting structural work done.

Like a previous poster I save £50 a month into an account , I also put anything extra I earn in the month there from surveys etc.

However the last few years this hasn't been anything like enough and I ve had to top up from other savings.

I am spending 3/4k a year on repairs and could easily spend treble that if I sorted everything that needed doing

I do feel your pain

We make sure we have a savings buffer for maintenance things like the roof, but the rest we ignore and put up with. If the cupboards in the kitchen can physically hold a can of beans then it doesn't need replacing for example. Carpets get changed if they become dangerous (threadbare/trip hazard).

We also do diy with YouTube videos for things. Like we needed a new kitchen sink so dh plumbed it all in to save money.

I am struggling as well OP, and will muddle through until DS leaves home, but feeling like will need to downsize. Don't want to do that because we made huge sacrifices to get this house (moving 70 miles away from friends) and I am attached to the garden in particular. But I just wasn't prepared for the reality of what needs doing - long term would need to have enough saved to replace extension roof for example, external insulation because the house is soooo cold and all the windows have blown panels so saving to have the windows replaced rather than replace individual panels. Nothing cosmetic though for sure.

Do you actually need new carpet, painting, kitchen and bathroom? Are they useable? I’d gone the things you don’t actually need and go crbtrate in saving for the things that you definitely do because they are broken.

Have you reviewed your budget to see if it's a genuine lack of spare money to afford these expenses or if you're overspending in other areas?

Plenty of people pay mortgages on their own, and have spare money, they wouldn't qualify for them otherwise.

Have a look at moneysavingexpert.com in the budgeting section. Also consider changing your bank account for free money, which will go a long way towards the cost of a new washing machine.

If you're not able to get a lodger, you could try offering your spare room as office space, depending if there's demand locally.

Someone who is now WFH but doesn't really have the space might pay £1-200 pm? to use your spare room.

I don't see how you can need a new carpet or repairing, unless a stair carpet is dangerous or external protective paint.

A lot of people just put up with scruffiness until it can be afforded.

I have a whole house that 'needs' doing but nothing is getting done in a hurry.

I just had my boiler repaired he was only here an hour, new seal and electrodes cost £300.
house is in desperate need of pointing but it’s prob £10000 incl the scaffold.
I try to do things like painting myself but this sort of thing needs a specialist.

A lot of people describe 'needing' something because their present version is old/tatty looking. Carpets literally last decades the house won't crumble because the carpet is threadbare, so it's not essential maintenance. Washing machines don't have to be hugely expensive, as a PP has suggested, buy secondhand. Fences, again, not essential - unless you are a farmer penning in livestock fences are aesthetic. If a fence is so damaged it's at risk of falling down or is dangerous, just repair yourself or remove it.
Lots of my friends describing 'needing' lots of stuff when what they really mean is the current one is looking tired so they want to replace it. If your kitchen/bathroom continue to be functional, they don't 'need' replacing. You can manage.

Also, if the carcasses/appliances in your kitchen are fine you can give it a makeover by just replacing the doors, if these have become damaged, drawer fronts falling off etc.

sur you can paint the house yourself?

that is an easy job to do saving you a lot of money.

I know a woman who does that, and makes a substantial repair/upgrade every year with the proceeds.

Being honest we use a lot of credit. We don’t have a mortgage so we consider it part of maintaining the house. Obviously not everyone can do this if they have bad credit (we always get 0% or very low interest deals and shuffle debt around), and we never borrow more than we can afford before borrowing more to do something else. We are a low income family, with disabilities so painting things ourselves etc is not possible - I used to think nothing of painting the whole house myself but now I’d do myself serious injury getting up a ladder!

There is a lot we could really do with doing… our hallway carpet hasn’t been changed for 12 years, the kitchen cupboards are hanging on by a thread and our garden is like something out of Jumanji. But there’s only so much £££ and money in the day.

This week we’ve spent £450 repairing the boiler 😞 and last month had to spend £150 fixing electrical issues. It never ends!

We have about £7k worth of debt accumulated on house repairs (£3k of this is roof related) on 2 zero interest credit cards. We just chip away at it and hope nothing else needs doing before we can bring it down a bit!

This.

I've lived with a dreadful makeshift kitchen for 20 years and I'm theoretically a high earner. But as a solo woman, old-age savings and avoiding debt take priority.

What's under the bad carpet, OP?