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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 793 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Renovation and Remodeling on a Limited Budget - Ask Gramps - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week, wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 793 of our Trek time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old you are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.  We will address areas such as finances, relationships, health/fitness, business/work, home repairs/renovations, seasons of life, spiritual/Biblical questions, and any others areas that come our way.  As your fellow sojourner and mentor on this trek that we call life, it is my goal to provide you with practical wisdom and advice about any area of life. It is crucial that I receive a constant flow of questions so please submit your questions to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com, and I will answer your questions on our Friday podcast.

We are broadcasting from our studio at ‘The Big House’ in Marietta, Ohio.  Our trip to assist Aunt Pauline has been delayed again since she still remains in rehab and does not have a discharge date yet.  On the home front, we do hope to get started on the renovation of our bedroom this winter, but so far this year, we have either been traveling or have had family in every weekend.  Our bedroom is the last room in the main part of the house which we have not renovated yet.  We do still have the third floor, which is a large open gathering room to renovate, and also the basement, but those will be farther down our list.  We are starting to come to the point where some of the rooms that we renovated early on are now in need for additional TLC, but nothing close to the initial work we completed.  Living in the homestead that my great-grandparents built in 1903 is a blessing, but it also requires a lot of time and resources to maintain The Big House is in good shape.  So the question for today is:

Hey Gramps, “What is the best way to approach renovation or remolding of our house, considering that we are on a limited budget?”
Renovation & Remolding on a Limited Budget


When considering major renovation or remolding of your home, the first thing you need is a lot of patience, especially if you are on a limited budget.  Here are some tangible suggestions that may make the process more enjoyable.

First, if you can do the renovations and remolding without borrowing any funds, that is always the first thing to consider.  You may have to delay some of the work as you save and sacrifice, but in the long term, it is a much better approach.

If the scope of the project is large, and it would be nearly impossible to save the money before beginning, then a general rule of thumb is, will the value of your home increase more than the cost of the renovation/remolding?   If so, or if the repairs are needed to keep your home safe, then you may consider using an equity line of credit based on the current value of your home.

The next step is to determine both the long-term and then the short term plans for your renovation/remodel.  What is the scope of the overall project, and how can that be broken down into segments that you can complete on a timely basis and that fits within your current short-term budget. Make sure you are able to complete the entire segment,