How do you keep a track/budget for home improvements?

[Honey1975]

We moved a few months back and are starting to re-decorate and tidy up the house. It doesn't need any structural work doing and a new kitchen & bathroom will not be happening anytime soon so it is really painting, diy and some furniture that we need.

We have some money from when we moved that we can use but we want to keep some saved for emergencies so don't want to use it all on home improvements.
Looking at our statement for this
month there are many trips the the diy stores at £25 a time and it really mounts up. Also needed some new light fittings and radiator.

Me & dh are not the best at managing money but I don't want to waste the small amount we have. I want to get as much done with it as possible to at least freshen the house up throughout.

Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping a better track of spending on home improvements?

Well I have a spreadsheet, two actually. I had one for the kitchen Reno with estimated costs and actual costs so I could see where we spent less than expected and where we spent more to try and keep things in hand, although I know there was some stuff that didn't end up on the spreadsheet like the cable for the kitchen wiring (dh did the electrics).
What are the things from the DIY store that you are getting? Is it stuff you really need? Stuff you forgot about kn the previous trip? Im a big list maker for what we need and research how much stuff costs at each store.

Yes you need a spreadsheet! Columns for the jobs that need doing, estimated cost, actual cost.

Another one for spreadsheets. It's how I do all my budgeting including stuff for our new house. I have a budget, and every day when I get home I add any money I've spent. Once the allocated money is gone it's gone.
I've heard of people who take the amount budgeted out of their account and put it in envelopes marked for different things. It wouldn't work for me as cash falls through my hands, but it's another strategy you could try if you think it might work

Doing a whole house I have a excel spreadsheet with separate pages for each room and the figures feed to a master cost sheet. It's really helped, we religiously enter every receipt and invoice etc and then they go in a large brown envelope with a post it not clipped to it saying any major purchases, This also helps if you need to return something as you can find the correct receipt

Thanks for the ideas, looks like a spreadsheet is needed. I don't have a computer only an ipad - will I be able to create one on there anyone know?

I use Google sheets on my phone. I'm sure Apple have some kind of app for it, otherwise you can use Google sheets through your browser

Can you link Google sheets so that you can view the same sheet on both your phone & ipad?

Yes. You link it with a Gmail account so can open it anywhere