Whenever I go to Bunnings, I'd spend around $50-100 bucks and I go to Bunnings every couple months. The home improvement projects are endless… Seems like you have finished one project and suddenly you want to do something else. So, how much do you spend per year, and on what projects?
How Much Do You Spend on Home Improvements Per Year?
TimApple on 28/01/2021 - 11:36
Poll Options
- 25< $1,000 per year
- 7$1,000 to $3,000 per year
- 6$3,000 to $5,000 per year
- 17> $5,000 per year
Comments
Theory: the ATO lets you depreciate 2.5% for the building cost of a house (investment property), but this doesn't mean it is flat every year - it might be close to 0 for many years and then you might want to knock down and rebuild. My spend is very small and pretty much only on maintenance.
When something breaks and I can't live without it, I fix it.
I bunch things up; I don't go into Bunnings for an odd thing, even though there is a smaller much easy to access Bunnings nearby and a huge Bunnings nearby, but takes much longer to get in and out.
I wait for great deals to incentivise me into action.
I kind of planned ahead when I bought my place - would it need a lot of work or not much.
We've been very lucky and/or the previous owner invested in great products.
My dentist couple front neighbours are the opposite - they are forever doing things like getting someone to paint the fence, add a pool, etc. But then they hire people to mow their lawn and their house is newly renovated so there is more of an incentive to keep as many things new as possible.
That's a great strategy you got there.
I guess for me I don't really plan ahead, but I do like to browse nice house photos on Reddit or Instagram and then an idea pop into my head of how I can do a similar thing on a budget. Most of the time I ended up doing nothing, but sometimes I do take action and it would cost me some money.
One thing that I try not to do is hire professionals, because I like the fun of the DIY. The downside is of course when I screw up I pay up to ask someone to clean my mess for me.
I like DIY as much as you do but it depends on the project. If it gets too big it's better to hire, after all I only have a pair of hands. By the time I'm done with sanding the deck, the front bits where I started last year is already starting to rot… Some easy things are definitely DIY but big job best left to the pro.
In terms of spending, I spend alot on paint, and a lot of time scraping and sanding back with various tools. Lots of wood around the house.
I go Bunnings quite often so I dont really get too impressed, I get all the consumables for eg fertilisers, insecticides, maybe a poly pipe or two if I am extending the irrigation, big stuff that postal fees negates the cost saving. Bunnings is not always the go to place. I also frequent local paint shops where I buy just enough paint to finish a certain project. I find that left overs whites are usually left to yellow in the shed. They expires when I am ready to use them again unless I transfer them to a smaller container to prevent drying and oxidisation.
I used to buy tools from Chadstoolbox and Monotaro, I don't mind paying for good tools but as long as they are not for cutting it will last generations. I don't like buying cheap tools. I have enough spare tools so I have stop for now.
For small bits and pieces o-rings, bolts, nuts, screws, ss 304 clamps, brass hose fittings I often get it from Aliexpress. I stock up on the things I need so I dont get caught up two months postal delay. You don't always need every sizes, for machine screws you can always buy the longer ones and cut them down to custom length and clean up the thread with a chamfer tool.
I go to Bunnings every couple months
Only every couple of months?
I got to Bunnings every couple of hours on the weekend
Exactly … Not even trying ;)
Christmas holiday break I averaged once per day due to work being done around the house
You only spend $50-$100 per Bunnings visit? How do you manage that?
this is how its done right: go into bunnings for one thing, come out with a trolley full
I have a great restraint. How do you think I manage to be on Ozbargain every hour and not buying a thing the whole day?
It's an interesting comparison. I am pretty good in OzB myself. But somehow end up picking the randomest of things when I am at Bunnings.
I went to Bunnings 3 times yesterday. seems like I can't stay away.
"Hi-di-ho, neighbor!"
And yes, that is US spelling
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I try not to over do it because you don't want to over capitalise your house. It is like car accessories you won't ever get full price back. Only thing people are willing to pay up for is new houses and even they are not built all that great.
It's not about capitalisation I guess, it's about your own enjoyment. If you like a certain colour paint or some certain plants you would still buy them even if it doesn't give you a return.
You could say the same about most consumer products.
Don't enjoy your house too much, get too attached to it because you ploughed too much money into it. How many beloved houses end up disposed off by fighting heirs.
Not going to let it run down too much but not going to over do it.
Ever think that people want to do it to improve the comfort or feeling of their home?
(Welcome to the country of flippers and speculators I guess…)
comfort or feeling of their home?
I like your argument pity it is subjective. In some countries they would save a month to get a fan, we can buy an air conditioner using a week's salary (cheap one) but you could also buy one for a month's salary but it will still blow out cold air.
It isn't even about speculation. Although people would hope it is for that reason to win an argument.
Just because it is your own home people are happy to take a $1m loan of which they would be paying $422k of interest (at 2.5%) over 30 years vs repaying $1m of principle. Sure that is a lot of comfort: you used to slave for the bank, now you just slave for equity.
At the tail end of a period of Reno at the place. Must have dropped at least $30k over the last few years just on bits and pieces. Most major building stuff I shopped around and got elsewhere.
Doing bits and pieces in maintenance would add up to over $1k per year.
Now starting to travel a bit more. Have dropped amazing money at camping/4wd places. And still buying crap from the Green Shed. 🤷♂️
When something breaks, I fix it.