Saving Advice - As a homeowner, ensuring your house is in good shape is often essential. However, if you need to renovate your home and you don’t have any cash to dedicate to the project, you may wonder if handling the project is even possible. Fortunately, there are things you can do even if your low on cash. Here are eight tips to renovate a house with no money.
1. Start with Cleanup
Spending time to deep clean your home’s interior and exterior can make your space feel fresh without costing a bundle. For example, power washing siding, porches, patios, and decks may make the surfaces look brand new. Wiping down cabinet exteriors might give them a nicer look, and shampooing carpets could refresh the fibers and tackle discoloration.
Many cleaning options don’t require significant investments. As a result, you may be able to fit the expense into your monthly budget, allowing you to get the cleaning supplies you need or rent the tools you’ll require without breaking the bank.
2. Tackle Your Landscaping
If your yard is a bit out of control, you may be able to update your landscaping without needing a lot of cash. Trimming hedges and trees, removing weeds, cleaning up mulch, and similar steps don’t come with big price tags, but they can greatly improve your home’s curb appeal.
Additionally, there are many low-cost projects that can make your landscaping look fresh. Decorative touches like new flowers can work wonders, and they typically don’t cost a lot.
3. Refinish the Wood
In some cases, the color of wood features in your home dates your interior. For example, oak cabinets were popular in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, but they fell out of style during the 2000s. Different wood flooring or furniture colors also come in and fall out of style. As a result, by refinishing the wood, you can update the coloring, making them seem more on-trend.
Generally, refinishing wood cabinets or furniture isn’t an expensive project, so you may be able to get what you need a piece at a time without busting your budget. Similarly, by doing the work yourself, you don’t have to cover the cost of labor, saving you a bundle.
Refinishing wood flooring is a larger project, so it will cost more. Still, you may be able to do it for less than $1,000, depending on how much square footage you need to refinish.
4. Search for Free Materials
Another option for renovating a house with no money is to find free materials that you can use for your project. In some cases, when homeowners tackle home improvements, they have spare materials that they don’t need to use. If those items are doing nothing but taking up space, the homeowner may list them online as free materials that anyone can have and use on their own projects.
Situations like this are more common with items like tile or lighting fixtures, but you may get lucky and find other materials, too. Just keep in mind that you won’t have any control over the colors, finishes, or other factors, so you need to remain flexible if you want to capitalize on what’s available.
If you have a little room in your budget to invest in your project, then you can look for low-cost materials instead. For example, Habitat for Humanity stores may have used doors, windows, cabinetry hardware, and a slew of other items available, often at prices far below retail.
5. Trade Labor for Materials
Another option to explore is to trade labor for materials. Essentially, by assisting someone else with a DIY home renovation, you may be able to request any materials they don’t use in lieu of a more traditional payment.
As with free materials you find online, you won’t have any say in the color, finish, or other details about the materials. But if you’re flexible about the final look of your renovation, it can be a way to get what you need without having to spend much money.
6. Reduce Other Expenses
By reducing your other expenses, you could free up money that you can use to renovate your house. Often, the simplest place to begin is scaling back any discretionary spending. For example, restricting your entertainment budget for a period could give you enough funds to purchase some low-cost renovation supplies, such as paint.
Examine your entire budget to find areas where scaling back is an option. Then, take any money you aren’t spending on bills and necessities and set it aside in a savings account. While it may take time to grow your balance sufficiently, it does allow you to secure the funds you need without having to turn to debt.
7. Apply for Assistance Programs
Many local government agencies and nonprofit organizations have programs designed to assist vulnerable parts of the population with critical home repairs. Some may focus on seniors, while others may concentrate on individuals with disabilities. However, a clear financial need is typically part of the equation, as these programs are designed to help low-income individuals in the covered population category.
Home improvement assistance programs do vary by location. As a result, you may need to research what’s available in your area to determine the types of financial support available and whether you qualify. If you do, you may be able to get specific home repairs handled for free or might qualify for a grant that you can use to arrange for the renovations yourself.
8. Look for Funding Sources
If you aren’t having any luck figuring out how to renovate a house with no money, then finding a funding source could be crucial. One option to consider is a rehab, renovation, home modification, or property improvement loan. These function similarly to traditional mortgages but allow you to tap into your equity to fund home renovations. You can either refinance into one of these loan types or get one as a form of a second mortgage, depending on how the specific program works.
Exploring a cash-out mortgage can similarly provide the needed funding. This form of mortgage refinancing also lets you take advantage of existing equity to cover the cost of home repairs, but you can also use the money for other purposes, such as debt consolidation.
Alternatively, you can explore additional sources of income. Whether it’s selling items you no longer need to cover the cost of home renovations, getting a second job, or launching a side hustle, boosting your income could ensure you have the cash for the updates your home requires.