[Julie]

My husband and I are closing on a house next week! Our financial situation will be changing significantly as we have some repairs and updating to do. We’ve also been staying with family for a while so will need to get used to monthly living expenses.

Any tips to be a frugal homeowner? Any advice on things to be careful of?

[Renee]

Rule of thumb is to set aside 1% of housing value every year for maintenance/repairs. Things will break.

[Lisa]

Don’t worry about fully furnishing your house right away. Live in it for a while and use buy nothing local groups for temporary furnishings.

It takes me a year or two to fully get a handle on the most efficient placement of items and how I want to furnish a place. Do try to get as many necessary repairs and updates done as soon as you can afford to so they don’t snowball on you.

If you need to replace appliances or heating and cooling systems strongly consider upgrading to the highest efficiency ones you can afford as the monthly savings in utilities will be a blessing for managing your monthly budget.

You can check also: Any tips on how to keep the house cool?

[Marguerite]

Do projects a little at a time.

Build a nest egg for any emergency that will arise ex.

Appliances, water heater, etc. You can always look at estate e sales, etc for furnishings.

[Ramona]

Prioritize and don’t get in a hurry to get everything done you’d like to do.

Live there with no changes for at least two months before starting anything.

Updating us over rated!!

[Molly]

Use your local groups on Facebook (buy/sell/trade) to find tools or materials for fixes.

Buying used tools is way cheaper or leftover carpet/flooring from someone else’s project or a project they never got to.

Suggested: One of the biggest frugal tips I have right now is..

[Kendra]

Eat at home, don’t buy fast food.

[Lynn]

Keep your central heat/air filter replaced and your outside unit clean. Turn it off when mowing so it doesn’t collect debris.

[Kimberly]

If you don’t have an emergency fund, start one now. Also, chances are that your mortgage is going to go up every year.

It goes up when your taxes or insurance go up or if you have an escrow shortage.

[Brian]

Learn to do things yourself(you tube and read a lot). Lots of contractors are not as good as you are hoping they will be.

Also, learn when you need to hire a professional, and don’t hire the cheapest. Hire one that will show you their work and give you references.

Related: Tips to host a birthday party on a tight budget?

[Kelly]

My advice from experience from 2 homes that ee bought that had repairs and updating. Save the “updating” for later.

Do the repairs and then live there awhile and see what you really want/need for you to make it yours.

Find out the “feel and flow” of your new home. Congratulations..

[Elaine]

If replacing heating and cooling systems, check with your energy supplier for rebates, which are usually a few hundred dollars. Also check there for a programmable thermostat – we got ours free because there was also a rebate.

We’ve lived in our place for almost two years and it’s not fully furnished yet and I’m okay with that – I buy used furniture 99.9% of the time (exception is mattresses). It takes a while to decide what is really needed/functional and then for it to show up in the used furniture sources.

Useful: What are the tips in managing the family income wisely?

[Maureen]

Fix anything water related immediately and correctly. By water related I mean plumbing, water seeping into the basement, leaky roof, poor outdoor drainage, etc. Nothing can ruin a house faster than water.

Neglected little fixes can turn into huge expensive repairs.

[Desiree]

Buy things that will stand the test of time even if more expensive.

For example I have all stainless steel pots, pans, utensils, gadgets for my kitchen because they last forever.

[Author]

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