on moving, how did you prioritise your budget for improvements/work needed?

[givemeaclue]

not sure where to start - some things need checking/replacing e.g burglar alarm, we want to turn a bathroom into a utility room and put a shower in upstairs, house has loads of windows = curtain costs, its a bigger house than we currently have = furniture needed. There are bound to be niggly bits and bobs.

we'll have a budget of around £20 000 (fingers crossed) - where to start, how much to allocate to 'unforeseen' etc?

advice?

We moved last year and we've got a lot to do so I'm interested in people's views.

We didn't really have much of a budget. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but we only borrowed what we needed to buy the house (which was a lot)....and we're doing things as we can afford them.

An unexpected cost was rewiring (4.5k). We've since spent £900 on new radiators for some of the rooms, another £900 repairing/renovating sash windows) and about £500 on plastering and £400 on blinds for two big bay windows. Little of the ££ so far has been on stuff that you can see, IYKWIM, but I think you've got to tackle the more structural stuff first, if that applies to you.

We are going to have some insulation put in underneath the cellar next (£1300) and in the study (£200'ish).

We need some decorating next (if only to cheer me up!) and our back door and utility are rotten, so we have to tackle those (again, kind of structural).

Only then will we start saving for a new bathroom

Any roofing should be done first then plumbing and electrical.
Are you sure about the bathroom/utility room changes? Would living in the house for a time clarify these and other changes?
you may have to live with " temporary" curtains in the bedrooms for a while before you have the time, inclination and funds to get your forever curtains!
Charity shops and eBay are good for these as well as relatives.
I would aim to do any building work first and then decorate as your mental health requires!

Decorating walls yourself is pretty cheap so you can get on with that in any rooms that don't need any other work doing to them - agree it does help with the 'nesting' process!

We bought a house needing some updating a year ago. We still haven't done anything major to it as like Honeymum we only borrowed enough to buy the house. We had a new fence and put a new kitchen floor in but that's it. We are just living with the rest until our financial situation improves!

Agree with 7to25 about cheap curtains - we got some ok ones from a charity shop and got given a load of nets from a friend. We are slowly buying decent new blinds (from 247 blinds/curtains online) as all have to be made up as window sizes are so weird!!

Sounds like you have a good budget - would just wait to see what is urgent and go from there

Agree with 7to25, get electrics, plumbing and central heating sorted first. If you need a rewire then tell the electrician what your future plans are/might be so that wiring can take this into account.

For budgeting my simple rule of thumb is take the headline price then double it. eg kitchen cabinets/doors/worktop cost £1000 other stuff you never even thought of will cost another £1000. This is for DIY. Having someone fit the kitchen will then cost on top.

Take all the headline prices then double them for the material costs, add any third party tradesman costs. Total. Add 10%.

That's your budget.

Even if you dont plan to do everything yourselves, do everything you. If you want a new kitchen fitted, strip out the old one yourselves. This will save you both the cost of the stripping out but will also reveal any problems eg awkward mains water tap. This will save you from 'variations' in any quote.

Enjoy!