To not understand how people afford home improvements

[Britishsummertime22]

I have no money left at the end of the month. How do people spend thousands on getting kitchens and bathrooms done etc??

We kept back some money from our sale/purchase but sadly we also got an inheritance that helped fund the improvements too.

In our case it's not home improvements, it's fixing terribly cobbled together, cleverly hidden major defects in our new house, using whatever insurance money we can manage to get, whatever we can spare from our one income, and borrowing from my family.

We absolutely wouldn't be doing anything if it wasn't urgent stuff. Yay for those who can afford not-needed improvements. They're lucky.

We downsized and spent the money on our lovely house. No mortgage,smaller garden ,no off street parking and more money to spend on the children.

When we were younger we afforded it by buying a place with a maxed out mortgage. Living there for a few years while our wages went up but our repayments didn't and putting the "extra" over cost of living rise into savings. Then we used the savings, possibly got a loan and did a lot of the work ourselves on weekends.

It was hard but doable, especially while young. As we got older that was less attractive so we just didn't buy a place at the top of our possible budget. Then we had money spare for maintenance and improvements.

Eh?

No it doesn't. Our kitchen cost less than half that, from IKEA and it's nearly that old and is as good as new.

In fact, I'm a bit frustrated as to how long cheap furniture, kitchens etc do last as if it did ever wear out, start to look tatty or the fittings broke, I could justify replacing it <eyes coming up to 30 YO perfect condition Billy Bookcase that's survived 2 house moves and I'm now fed up with>.

Same with our bathroom which, judging by the style is from the 1980s but seeing as porcelain and cast iron doesn't generally wear out, we feel we don't need to replace it.

But OP, surely you realise that everyone has different disposable income and just because you don't have any spare money doesn't mean that others with different incomes and/or essential outgoings don't too? What is the actual you're trying to make?

Really? You can't imagine that others may have a lot more income than you?

You must realise some people have more money than you, surely? These posts are so baffling.

Savings/gifts/inheritance /loan/re mortgage

There are people in this country who have spare money it just depends how you prioritise it.

We had an insurance payout recently and spent some on re vamping our garden. My sil is extending her mortgage to do a extension

From what I hear most of it is loans/remortgage/inheritance
The rest is just having more money in earnings to save

We have avg income but low outgoings which leaves us with 50% income which goes into savings per month. It's taken us 20 yrs to get to this point.

DH and I are quite handy, so we saved a fortune by fitting our own kitchen and bathrooms and other general DIY stuff. We're also good budgeters (these days...) so we can cut back on things if we need to build up savings. It definitely helps to be a two-income household.

I wonder if the OP is just feeling like I do at times...
that MN seems to be full of people who are struggling by having to decide between the foreign holiday or the new extension (obviously still putting half their wages away for savings and pension plan).
Meanwhile you are staring at the woodchip wallpaper you have had for 20 yrs knowing it could be there for another 20!

Sometimes it's just nice to know you aren't alone!😄

A lot depends on age & lifestyle. Older people generally won’t have as high a mortgage/more equity they can use.
Younger people higher earners & family help.
You can’t really borrow cheaply today so less will be taking out loans or increasing their mortgages.

I agree , there seems to be a lot of post like this recently. There was one asking about new cars and holidays very recently.
I know the col is hitting some people hard but not everyone is on the bread line.

Another thing that helps is being good at DIY. Obviously you have to pay for materials which are often not cheap but you can save a fortune by doing the work yourself.

Paint isn't cheap but you don't have to buy the latest on trend colour from Farrow and Ball.

Check out your local auction house for DIY bargains. Mine often has furniture etc which with a bit of elbow grease can be upcycled and will only cost a few pounds.

We desperately need to do some work on our house but can't afford it, will potentially get some inheritance in the next couple of years which will pay for a new bathroom

I do all mine DIY including fitting kitchen and bathroom. Learnt it from YouTube and online advice forums when I first had my house and had little spare cash. If you are able to do this and buy basic or second hand fittings (lots of second hand kitchens on eBay) it is actually not that expensive to do most renovations.

Now I could afford to pay people and should do as I have no time, but I like doing things myself, it's fun.

I actually had a carpenter round recently who asked to use the bathroom and spent a worrying amount of time in there....
He came out and told me I should just cut my losses and sell the house!😂

Higher incomes and/or different spending choices.

And in some cases, fewer children.

DH and I were in agreement that two was enough. So I suppose I could say that I’m not sure how people afford three or four DC. Or pets. Or frequent visits to soft play etc.

We spend money on holidays but very little on eating out and practically none on drinking. Both our dads had regular pub nights every week. DH doesn’t. PIL ate out every Saturday night. We don’t.

I drive an old fiesta long paid for - I have no interest in upgrading it.

DS24 and his girlfriend have bought a house - they both did part time time jobs in univ holidays and studied higher paying vocational courses. They’re both on £30k plus straight out of univ and bought in a cheaper area from ours. They both have basic but paid-for cars - others their age that they know are paying £300 a month on car loans/leases. They’ve borrowed or bought furniture on Facebook etc, only white goods and TV are new.

Plus some might have had an inheritance or windfall and spent that.

I afforded mine because i do have money left at the end of the month.

You are probably right and I can totally understand why some solidarity can help in a situation you have described but the post probably needs to be worded differently to avoid sounding slightly ridiculous!

We prioritise improvements over maintenance. So we put up with half assed quick DIY fixes for years and then eventually get it all ripped out. For example the radiator in my bedroom doesn’t work properly, I’m not paying for someone to come and fix just that or replace it as that would be relatively expensive for a one off job, I’ll just wait until there is enough to be done to redo the whole room in one go. I know that is also expensive but I like not having to get people in all the time and the maintenance costs do add up.
I saw someone on a thread the other day saying that they save money by not redecorating every 5 years. 5 years! That’s recent!

With our last house we got a second hand kitchen from a family friend but new worktops and wall tiles, a new bathroom and decorated through out the house doing it all ourselves and the total bill over 2years (2017-2018) was £6000

I think this needs to be addressed in all property shows. There should be honest and transparency in explaining how people are able to pull off their extensions and what not.

They save for it or they borrow the money. Some people are very handy and can do a lot themselves.

Sometimes there is an inheritance or other windfall.

I paid for our bathroom refit (£7k) using some redundancy money. I do all the painting and minor repairs myself. I have a major works bill for some external work coming down the line so I am trying to save as much as I can but may have to extend the mortgage a little.

For general repairs like boiler replacement etc..I have a regular saving account that I set up when we bought our property - houses cost money to maintain so you should make that contingnecy as part of your home purchase budget.