Brand new house, ready next summer, need to seriously save to decorate tips please!

[indiana7]

Hi, dh & I have just put a deposit on our dream home, we have just enough (with mortgage savings) to cover house cost & legal fees. We have 0 left for decorating, as it's a new build we need to buy flooring paint etc etc... We would prefer to save as frugally as possible between now & then so please give me your very best money saving tips re food shoppin, utililities etc, every penny helps!!

Is it new new build. Is so dong buy paint .... you'll not be able to paint it for 12 months give or take.

So that's one less thing to save for

It comes painted magnolia, we asked the builders if we provided our own paint would they paint it for us using our colour choice but they refused, I was very disappointed hate magnolia:(

I remember your thread. They wouldn't budge and using the ceiling paint for the walls?

Dragon no they wouldn't:( we suggested that & they said if they had to do it for one they would have to do it for all.. & they have a very specific budget to work with... All houses to be sold in the same condition:(

Have a painting/decorating party. Before you move in, invite all your friends, provide food, plenty of drink, music etc. They decorate and you do everything else. We've been to one or two of these - they also work for gardening. But make sure that the alcohol is served later in the day - otherwise the painted lines get increasingly wobbly! :)

You might have to live with it. You'll need to cover it with white breathable paint ....and standard stuff will have vinyl innit to make it hard wearing so if you paint to quickly than you'll seal the moisture into the walls and get mould trapped under the paint

We punted everything on our new build and only eighteen months later it is starting to look furnished and I'll paint in the summer. Save up. There are great tips on cost cutting to save in money matters on Mumsnet do read it. But equally, your house will be functional and low maintainence so you can live in it a while and do it piecemeal ...it's worth it

Buy stuff when you see it on offer if you have room to store it. Adding it to your monthly budget means you don't miss it too much.

A good tip I had was give myself a weekly budget anything left at the end of the week went across to savings and then start again the following week.
Also Empty purses of change into a jar and for Christmas and birthdays ask for money / vouchers for b and q etc

Honey is right, you can't paint the walls for 12 months. Plus the house will move about & it will crack here and there.

My cousin has a line of white silicone on his floor from where the wall moved away from the floor.

The light affects what colours you'll use too, white looks awful in this house but dark colours look great.

I will find my frugal living tips & post them.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/2270347-Frugal-January-everyone-welcome?reverse=1 They're all in the op to this thread.

You can get a £100 switching to tsb bank & closing your old account. I do this whenever a new offer comes up.

Then when you've had the £100 you can switch to Halifax for £100. Then first direct for £100, then the co op for £150.

If you both did this seperately that's £900 for decorating. £1200 if Yorkshire do the £150 offer again.

Paint nothing for at least 6 months! The house will 'settle' and cracks will appear (plaster cracks, nothing of concern). Plus, you want to see the light in all seasons.

My only tip for flooring, which we have only managed once, is that budget options end up costing you twice. So cheap carpets laid initially come up sooner than your first choice would. We did manage wood flooring this time, it will be down for life...

Switch to co/ok and you get £150 plus go through quidco for an extra £70. You can't paint or wallpaper till the plaster settles in 12-18 months. The builder will fax any cracks but will only paint it with the nadnolia so if you paint it'all be a mess.

I'm moving into my 2nd new build in 3 weeks and totally aware that i can't decorate for a while. I learned to live with the magnolia.

We moved into a new build and got it carpeted. They did the whole house and it got added to the sale price. Could that be an option? They are boring carpets and 11 years on some need replacing but most are still good. Also this means you can move in much easier.