Hello.
My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yord Order
Kerni Whalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Let's get into it.
She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. My name is Beckside and I'm joined today by Victoria Divine.
Hello, little miss beck. I was just saying that you were looking really extracute today and I feel like it's coming across in your voice as well.
That's so nice.
Thank you, You've got a vibe. That you've got a vibe.
I love it.
Thankes me so happy, Thank you so much. So Vhy.
I know that you are really good at sitting budgets. I am not, so I feel like you thinking in.
The yang that's all.
Yeah, that's so true, that's why we're here. But are you good at keeping them? Because today on the show, we're talking about renovating on a budget.
This is a spicy topic. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I have historically renovated and blown the budget completely even though I had a really big, very sexy spreadsheet. But after the break, we are going to be talking about ways to save on materials and also
the importance of project managing all of the stages. But budget, I think is a really good place to start today, Beck, because I want you to be setting this before you do as anything when it comes to renovating, Beck, because I feel like when we start renovating, it's always more expensive than you think it's going to be. So we need to make sure that not only do we have the funds, but we're happy to spend the amount of funds that we are planning on allocating towards this renovation.
But we also need to make sure that there's a good enough buffer there. Because the only thing that saved us when we went over on our previous renovation was the fact that we had kind of buffered in a fair bit to make sure that everything was going to be hunky dor and it was okay, and things happen, they get thrown off. Course, mistakes are made, materials are going to be more expensive than you thought, so buffet
is going to be incredibly important. I mean, I didn't realize how much it costs to have our gas moved, Like I just assumed it would be easy enough and you'd get a plumber and get it all done. But like we got stung with a few things, so we're going to get into that. I think it's a bit of a spicy episode, but like a really good one because we are renovating now again and I feel like we're doing it so much smarter this time.
Beck, Yeah, I'm really interested. Were there any like surprise costs or like really costly mistakes that you made along the way? This gas thing sounds like it's a vessel that holds no content.
And I feel like people listening to this, if you work in the industry, you're gonna be like Victoria, you are so daft. Of course, that costs a lot of money. It's like financial advice, right, Like I know how much it costs, and then when I tell you, Beck, You're like horrified. You're like, oh my gosh, how could it be thousands of dollars? And then I start breaking it down.
I'm like, Okay, well, you know you've got the research, you've got, the development, you've got, you know, all of the admin support you've got, you know, all of this other stuff that goes into it in the time and the energy and the effort, like it's really expensive. And then you go, oh, that makes sense, but like you didn't know the background because you don't work in the industry.
So I guess this is just my plea please be kind because, like I know, I'm going to sound really dumb on this for some of the decisions that I've made, but I'm sharing them with you and the community, Beck, so that hopefully you don't copy me.
I think it's so lovely for you.
But moving the gas was really expect Yeah what was that?
Like?
It wasn't because it was super complicated. Like we contacted a plumber and he said, yeap, no worries, I can do that. But it was complicated for him to actually do that because he needed to like extend the pipes and move like where things were connecting, and we actually planned when we did our renovation, I like went to somebody who if you guys know and we won't name names, but it didn't work out so well. They ended up
being an absolute not good human being. But what happened was we got these beautiful designs back and I was like, oh my god, I'm in love with them. I can't wait. And then we took them to our plumber and our electrician and said, hey, these are the plans, like, you know,
you okay with them? And they were like, oh, they are you sure you want to move the plumbing and I was like, well yeah, because like it just makes a lot of sense to have the bathroom there connects really nicely, Like, you know, I don't want to walk into my bathroom and just see the toilet right there, so like the move makes sense. And they're like, so that will add about twenty five thousand dollars to your budget. I would love to see the toilet right there, Like
I would actually love that. Actually, now that I look at it again, yeah, I've actually changed my mind. So it was interesting seeing how changes that I didn't think were big were actually really big, and things that I didn't think were in my budget, were actually really obtainable because of the process that we're in. So, like something else that I thought was really bougie that we'd never have, right underfloor heating. Oh that sounds expensively. Yeah, so in
our bathrooms we have underfloor heating. That's glagious. That sounds so lux right, yeah, But because we were retiling anyway, I think it cost us like five hundred dollars to add it. Oh, which is a lot of money. Please don't get me wrong, but renovating is expensive. But five hundred dollars for the bathroom to have underfloor heating. I was like, hold on, I thought this was going to
be thousands and thousands. And our electrician was like, no, v, it's cheap because essentially, you're putting it in before you put the flooring on. If you wanted to go and put it in post, we'd have to rip up the floor, put the underfloor heating in, and then redo the floors. And I was like, oh, so you're saying, if I make this decision now, you just like lay down the underfloor heating and then do the floorboards over at the top. And he was like yes, And I was like this
is genius. So, don't get me wrong, that's a very boogie addition to our house and I love it. Like Beck, I think you and I can both agree that Melbourne it's frigid at the moment. It is so cold, Like I got out the other morning and I had to pour water over my windscreen so that it would defrost my car so I could drive to work. Like, don't get me wrong, not a complaint, but still cold. Oh yeah, but I walked into my bathroom and the tiles were warm. Oh that is so that's luxury to me.
Yeah, I really thought it was way more. And as you say, like, it makes so much sense that if you do it, pretile ease. You even see this in like rich people houses.
I think it's a rich person housing and that's what makes me feel rich. And don't get me wrong, absolute privileged. Still, but I think that that would shock you when you start to go, well, actually, what are things that we could do while renovating that we might not have thought about? And to be honest, I didn't even look into underfloor heating. And I mean this is a very side note conversation, but I hope it's interesting. But I didn't even look into it because I just in my head, I was
like eight thousand dollars. I don't know why, but I just thought that's going to be so expensive. I didn't even explore the option. And I think that when you're doing your budget, just explore the options and understand them, even if you're like, oh, I'm not really sure, like this is probably going to be completely out of budget, because like if that electrician hadn't said, oh, are you
going to do this? And I go, absolutely not, it's too expensive and he explained it to me, we wouldn't have it, And had we wanted to do it post, it wouldn't have been an option. So I think that these are little things that I had no idea about, but now I know. I'm just grateful to have gone through. If that makes sense. Yeah, definitely. So, yes, there are things in the budget that had surprised me. Both they were too expensive or they were much cheaper than I thought it was going to be.
Cool, like costly mistakes. Was there anything that you did along the way that were like, oh my god, I wish I could go back.
And yeah, there were a couple and I absolutely wasted some money because I didn't do things properly or in the right order, so from maybe just not thinking about it and thinking it would be an easy change. So, for example, I had agreed for everything in the house to be painted, and I was like, Yep, cool, no worries, everything's just going to be painted like this, crispy white.
I really liked it. But I hadn't really thought about the fact that I did want to paint our bedroom and I wanted our bedroom to be a gray, and I just hadn't communicated that. I didn't think it would be this big change later to go back and do it, and ultimately I should have had that conversation. You would think that I would have. I just don't know why I didn't. I think because I wasn't up to the styling part. I just thought it doesn't matter, like, just
make everything white. It'll be fine. And it basically would have been free had I communicated that from the beginning that the bedroom was meant to be great. Because when they were purchasing paint, I mean I still had to purchase it, right, They had allocated white paint for the bedroom, and then they went and purchased the white paint for the bedroom and painted my bedroom and it was all
within budget and scope. And then when my husband and I did a walk through, I was like, oh, hey, actually I was thinking about making this room gray and they're like, I mean we can, but we're going to have to purchase more paint and then you're going to have to pay for the trade to come in and paint just this room.
And I was like, right, did you end up doing it? Yeah?
I did.
I did.
And by did you actually end up doing it, I mean I purchased the paint. My dad helped me paint it. Because the trades, Like, there are some things that you can do yourself, Like, you don't need trades for absolutely everything. I'm the Queen of YouTube sometimes oh yeah, if it's a flat pack, we can do the flat packs. So I think that, yeah, there are things that you can definitely do yourself. And then there are also things that I would never compromise. Beck I'm not going to do
the electrician stuff. I'm also not going to be doing any plumbing. I'm not going to be messing around with things that I have no business messing around with. So like, yeah, you've got to find a happy medium. Yeah, so don't bite off more than you can chew. So like, don't be like, oh, I can absolutely paint the entire house. Don't get me wrong, you totally could, but do you actually want to do? You know how long that was?
Ike you? So I didn't paint the entire house. I just painted the bedroom like a whole day plus okay, and then we had to let it dry and then we had to do another coat the next day. Yes, I see, So I was grateful for the painters. Also, my dad and I with our brushes and rollers the whole day. And then I saw them come in to do the rest of the lound room and they had spray guns and it took them like five minutes. And I was like, I'll just see myself out.
You go and get yourself a spray gun.
Yeah, but that's another course.
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
So I think it's important to not just budget but think about every tiny little thing that you think is maybe little, because it might not be that the brand.
Scheme of things, and even if it is, it really does that up. But v as you know, I've never owned, I've kind of only been in rentals, so it's always been about like making like cosmetic changes to personal space. Is it worth thinking about just making like cosmetic change to a house or do you feel like if you have the money to renovate, you should. I guess if you're like me and you've only ever rented, is it a waste of space to be hanging artwork like chucking some nails?
You're allowed? Yeah, I definitely believe in making a space your own. So even if you don't own, there are lots of things that you can do that don't damage the property to make the space your own. Like, please don't get me wrong. You don't want to be going, oh, I really don't like this kitchen. I'm going to install a brand new kitchen in this rental property because that
doesn't make a lot of sense. But you've got to remember that this is your home, Like you've got to feel comfortable coming into it, and if there's something about your home that you're not comfortable with, I would be looking at ways to change it or ways to make yourself comfortable with it. Right, So, like, whether that is hanging art on the walls, maybe you're not allowed to, you know, nail things into the walls, but could you call the real estate agent and go, hey, Can I
use those command strips and put some artwork up? Can I, you know, maybe get one of those pressure rods and I can put up some beautiful curtains. If that's something that you know, it adds to the vibe of your space. So I think there's lots you can do that are not necessarily permanent changes if you're renting to make your space your own. And don't get me wrong, they're things that you're going to spend money on, but like, to me, that's spending money in order to benefit your mental health.
Like you that's like true. Do you want to feel like super comfy in your own bedroom even if you're in a big sharehouse, like adding a few little things, or maybe you've got dank carpets, Like I remember my first sharehouse back like they'd redone the carpets and there were those ones you could see the edges of the squares. They'd like done those tiles. Oh, I just remember thinking it was so dank because they were like so thin.
Like the carpet was awful. And I went to Ikia and I think I just bought like a fifty dollars rug. It honestly changed the way I felt about my bedroom because before it just felt ick to be on the carpet and also, well I don't afford anything else, like it's not going to happen. But this rug changed my space. So can you do to make yourself feel comfortable in it?
And I mean, we are definitely talking about knockdown, rebuild, actual renovation today, but I think it's also worth acknowledging that to me, that was an investment into my mental health, into me having a safe and cozy space that I just felt at home in.
Yeah, And I think it's also relevant for people who have moved into a house can't afford to renovate exactly the same.
There's so many cheap tips and tricks and stuff that you can.
Do to make the space cozy, even if you're not loving it yet and you feel like you have intention of changing it, just put your coziness your mental health first.
One hundred percent. It's like the time that I went and bought a pantry because like the house that I moved into, the one I'm talking about with the carpet squares, had the worst kitchen storage, like dank kitchen cabinets were falling off like they were also really water damaged, like you know those ones where the male of mine is like real puffed out. So the kitchen was horrendous, Beck and I just went and bought on Facebook marketplace a used pantry and put it in the corner. Changed the
way we used our kitchen. Yeah. Absolutely, So there are things that you can do that you think, oh, I didn't even know you could buy a pantry. They I'm like, yes, you can buy a pantry, Like you can put it all together, like you could go down to Bunnings and buy one of those flat pack pantrees, or you could buy one of the shelving cabinets so everyone has a space for all their cereals and stuff, because otherwise the
cupbods get packed. There are lots of things you can do in a rental that don't damage the property, that add value to your life.
I think, yes, I totally agree. And you don't even realize when things are clotted, it really makes your brain feel clutter. You don't really get work done as well as you exactly if your cereals were on their own shelf.
Oh yeah, and if you're me, you need a container for your cereal and then you feel like your life is like made. That's people who have their dry goods in containers. I just think they've got their life together. It might not be true, but like if you've got a jaffa flower, Oh my gosh, are you saying that, you don't crumple the top of the paper and just shove it in the back of the pantry. Get an old rubber buet.
I really really admire people to do that. This is kind of like going back to what you're saying about DIY. So it's obviously a good way to save but are there any like caveats?
Yeah, I think you need to be really really stick about what is achievable for you. So obviously, can you paint your own house as I was saying before, Yeah, you probably could, But is it a good use of your time and your patience and the relationship that you have with your dad? Thankfully, my dad and I are still on good terms. But like, that was such fiddly work that I didn't even think about. And I'm very, very privileged to have a dad that is basically the
DIY king. So he was an accountant, as everybody knows because I've mentioned it before on the pod, but he basically built our entire house. He should have been a bill but he ended up an accountant, so he knows what he's doing when it comes to painting. And I don't like taking direction from other people. Beck That's why I ended up being a business owner, not an employee, because I think that to be thirty two, I probably would have been fired a number of times along the
way had this been you know, my reality. But you know, Dad going all right, so we have to cut in, and I'm like, what's cutting in? He's like, well, you've got to like paint around the edges so that they're like really crispy and nice, and then you paint the middle. And I was like, can't you just paint the whole thing. He's like no, then it would really look like you
did a diy job. And I was like, Okay, no worry. So, like, you've got to do it properly, and that takes time and energy and effort, and I would have a think about is there another job in the list that you can or you want to do? So, for example, we have put a new kitchen in our house, which is really exciting, and we got a quote to demo it, and my husband and I were like absolutely not. So we spent a weekend and we had a little bit of a working be with my family, and his dad
came down and we demoed it ourselves. To be honest, it was so expensive to have it demoed, and I was like, what's the worst that could go wrong? Please, don't get me wrong, Like we didn't want to mess around with the like gas or the electricity or whatever, and we cut the power off first. We did it properly, but like, I can pull out the kitchen, because what's the worst that can happen? I break the kitchen that we're already getting rid of.
So just a silly question.
But demo is demolish, demolishing it. So for me, pulling out the old kitchen made the most sense to us because I was like, I'm not paying somebody else thousands of dollars to do a job that, to be honest, was just a lot of hard work. To me, it wasn't about skill. It was literally about getting it out and having to carry the kitchen downstairs would be kind of fun, like for the first part, Like it wasn't fun when I was doing all the fi lily bits
and like, you know, unscrewing things. I was like, because we did try and save a lot of the kitchen. In fact, that's a side tip. We listed the kitchen on Facebook marketplace because I did like to go to waste. Like at the end of the day. It was a very damaged, old, water damaged kitchen that needed to go because it's been in the cow since what the early eighties, Like she had had her time, but some guy came
and picked it up. We listed it for free on Facebook marketplace and he was like, I'm fitting out my workshop with this, And I was like, Oh, what a good way to use it, because it's not going to be wasted. You're going to fit out your workshop and your tools are going to live in it.
Yeah, and he's probably going to take it apart himself. I assume you have to. I mean we pulled it.
All out because we had deadlines. But yes, you can also tell people that they have to take it out too if you really want. That's so that's a money win, right. Did you sis a kick anything?
What's it called when you like run and then you put your legs up to kick something?
Oh? Is that a siss a kick? I didn't sciss a kick anything. So it was like a whole kitchen. Yeah, it's like I mean, if it was like a plaster board wall, maybe we would have had a crack, but like it was like melamine. I don't trust my skill. Also, I mentioned flat packs before because I've used them a lot historically, but so many of them are made so well. Now, in fact, we went with a flat pack kitchen from Kaboodle.
Like I'll upload some videos to Instagram and show you, but the quality of the Kaboodle kitchen, the quality is honestly on part if not better than. And that's not me even being dramatic because they're sponsoring this episode. This is just me being like this was actually sick beck is better than the kitchen that we had installed in our primary residence. Like I was actually a little bit frustrated,
Like yeah, I was like is this a joke? Like this is so good, Like why didn't we just put this in our other house?
Like we would have saved literally thousands of dollars.
Anyway, I will upload videos because even like the draw runners, like you know, those fancy like soft clothes, we don't have that in our actual house because it was too expensive. And I was like oh, like that upgrade's not worth it, Like, no worries, It's just an automatic feature in my kaboodle kitchen, and it was so much cheaper, you know when you just like, I'm not even trying to brag about them because we're working with them. I'm just really upset.
Yeah, kicking yourself a little bit, I know.
So obviously I feel like flat packs have come a really long way because these are beautiful. They're also designed to be user friendly, Like I mean, my relationship with my dad's still intact and we put some together. So that's a pretty good deal. That is huge, and they obviously have a really big range of options for whole heaps of different price points. So the question of v did you go with the cheapest option, No, we didn't.
We went with like I would say, the very middle definitely a budget kitchen in comparison to like, you know, everything else we could have done. But we definitely did a few upgrades. So like instead of just having the playing cupboard doors, we went with the ones with the cute like you know, outlines on the edges. Yeah, and made things a little bit cuter, which obviously adds a little bit of price to it. But it was definitely worth it. Like, it's definitely something that I'm like, I'm
really glad with the decisions that we made. And I mean, to my other very important point that I made earlier, one thing that we did do that wasn't DIY is paying professionals to do things that we can't do. So obviously I paid for an electrician and I paid for a plumber because that's not something that you should ever
play with. But it's also something that you don't want to mess up because imagine being like, you know what I can do my own plumbing, You're going to ruin your whole kitchen if it went wrong, that's own electricity. You're probably going to kill yourself. Like that's not a good idea. Endure it exactly. And I just feel like that's where you should be spending money. But if you're going to spend money on trades like that, do what
I did. Shop around. We got a few different quotes before settling on the electricians, and you know, the trades that we wanted to work with, because I really just wanted to make sure that we were working with people who weren't taking advantage. Yes, and I don't think anyone
that we got quotes from was. But I feel like I've heard so many stories recently of trades being absolutely overwhelmed with work that they're overquoting and just being like, well, I'm not doing it unless you pay me triple and stuff like that, and then you think that that's the norm and that's not it. So I feel like, yeah, trades really good if you've got friends who are renovated, like ask them for recommendations. If you don't have recommendations.
Local Facebook groups are really good for being like, hey, can anyone recommend like a sparky in my area? And they usually go, oh, yeah, my husband does it, and then you can like look them up and see what their reviews are like, which is really helpful.
Yes, so true. Even like, just tell everyone you've ever run into in your entire life about what you're doing, because there'll be someone who says, I've got a friend who does this, I've got a friend who does.
That exactly and post on Instagram. On Instagram, don't get me wrong, even if you have like three hundred followers, someone's gonna see and be like, oh, actually I did this, or I've got a mate who does this, Like yeah, ask for recommendations, Like, I feel like that's the best way to get anything totally.
You need someone who's a real person who actually has experience with the same thing to tell you what their experience is. Like, it's the best way to do it, just word of mouth.
So from my perspective, get some rough quotes before you even purchase the kitchen or before you actually do anything, because I think in our heads we go, all right, we want to do this renovation, and I've done some googling, and you know it's going to cost ABC and D Call the electrician, call the sparky, explain what you're doing, and go, hey, can you give me a rough estimate just budgeting it all together? Like really want to use you because one of the things that we got told
and in my head this made sense. Right, So we've demoed the kitchen back. Our floors need resanding and repolishing because they were dank. Oh, upload a photo and I'll show your photo after this of the floors. They're a completely different color now because of how old they were. Like the house that we're renovating is from the late sixties and they're the same floorboards. Quite clearly they'd never been resealed, the celant had worn off, and then they
were completely water damaged, dirt like disgusting. They've gone from basically being a dark dark brown, which I thought, Okay, we'll just reseal them. That brown's not too bad, to like a light beech wood. And I was shook. But in my head, what happens is you remove the kitchen, then you do the floors, and then you put the brand your kitchen on top. Right, Yeah, no, what do
you mean? Well that's what I thought. And when I called the electrician and was like, yeah, I need you to like change the power here and here, and we've got the sanders coming on this day. He's like, why are you doing the floors? I said, well, we've got the kitchen to then install on top. He's like, no, absolutely not. Do not polish your brand new flaws and then have a whole heap of like trade going in
and out. Your floors are going to get dinted, they're going to get damaged, you know, do a light sand install your kitchen and then get them to do the floors around the kitchen. Oh that makes sense, doesn't it. But I didn't know that. So having these conversations before you actually do anything, I think is really helpful.
In my mind, I was like, what is it floating?
No, no, we just didn't put the kickboards in at
No?
the bottom, which was really easy to do because we can install them later. But they're going to come in. They're going to do the floors because we're paying a professional to do that. I do not trust myself to do the floors. We can do the kitchen, we can't do the floors, and then we will install the kickboards after the floors have been properly sealed. But he was like, you know, not going to drag flat pack boxes up and down those stairs and then across your floorboards exactly.
He's like you're gonna get gougers, You're gonna get scratches. He's like you're gonna get glue and stuff, like from all the tiling on the floor. Like, just don't do it. And I was like, I wish I had you earlier. Yeah, I mean I did this time. But when you're getting your budget together, it's kind of like a budget slash project plan. So you're not only making a plan for like what you have to pay for sure, but like you're making a plan for when that process goes in,
because it's one thing to go. I can afford it. Okay, but when are the trades available? Is the trade that you want not available for another month? What does that look like? Because for us, we got a couple of quotes, and the quotes were not only like you know, here are the different price points, but they were also like, oh, we booked out for three months so we could do it here. And I was like, oh, you are cheaper, but it's not worth waiting because I need to get
this done sooner rather than later. Yes, that makes sense.
Yeah, totally.
Okay.
I think I need to go to Google kickboards and maybe like practice my sissy kick Yeah, okay, kickboards are not what you're expecting. Okay, given you have just said, Sizzy, keep.
Well explain a kickboard to you in the break, and then when we get back, we're going to have a deeper chat about budgets and materials in all of that fun renovating.
Stuff fun see soon. Welcome back everyone, and we're talking about renovation on a budget with someone who has just been through this. Victoria Devine, Hello, that's me. I want to talk materials now.
How can we save here, all right, So I feel like I've done a really good job this time of like keeping everything within budget. Obviously, I'm going to tell you to always shop around for discounts and like codes or price matching. Often brands won't advertise that they do price matching, so I will like google the brand and then price matching and see what comes up on their website, because often you'll find their terms and conditions and they'll say we do price match And then some brands even
do like price beat, like you know Bunnings. They obviously say we'll beat it by five percent. That's a money win. Yeah, you hold them to that. I see them like, I think it's really important to have a little bit of conviction around keeping to your budget and it can really save you. The one thing I would do is look
around it recycled or leftover materials. So I know that that sounds a bit lame, but we have in our kitchen that we're renovating a very small patch for where we want tiles, right, and I was like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do. I got some quotes for some tiles and it was really expensive. I didn't realize how expensive they were, and I was like, I don't know, this is meant to be a budget renovation,
Like I don't want to go buy bougie tiles. But then obviously, Beck, if you met me, like you show me a cheap option and a bougie option, and somehow I will always go I want the boogie option, even if you haven't told me the price points, Like I'll just immediately look at it and be like, well, that's the one I like, isn't it. It's the first expensive have it I have. Anyway, I found some tiles on
Facebook Marketplace that were left over from a renovation. I had to do some calculations to work out because they had said how many tiles they had, and I found the tiles that I wanted from tile Cloud on Facebook Marketplace.
Oh that's so paff and it was enough and enough.
Yeah, it covers the whole space. And I mean, I'm going to have to go buy the grout and stuff, but that's something that I'm going to do myself because it's such a small spot in our kitchen that I think will work really well. So have a look on Facebook Marketplace because so often people buy more of what they needed because they're like I don't know, obviously rolling in money, and they're like, oh, I'll just get extra tiles that I don't need, but they pop them on
Facebook Marketplace. It's like how I put our kitchen on Facebook Marketplace and got rid of it. Yes, and I mean obviously massive shout out to like Facebook Marketplace and gum Tree in general, because you can save a whole heap of money. The other thing I did beck was I needed new appliances. So the appliances that were in our kitchen were not savable still using the same fridge that we had, but I needed to purchase a new gas cook top because ours was cooked in the punt
and an oven and a gas cook top. I think we ended up spending about twelve hundred dollars on it, which was a lot more than I thought that they were, but like that's how renovation goes. You end up realizing that things are so much more expensive than you'd anticipated. I was like wanting this really nice looking oven to
go under it, and it was like three thousand dollars back. Like, don't get me wrong, you can get cheaper ovens, but I found one online from a company that does refurbished ovens and it cost me six hundred and fifty bucks. Oh my god, that's so good. Yeah, and we just picked it up who was in Frankston, which was close. I mean Frankston. Is that a red flag buying secondhand things there? I don't know. I did it. It's coming
up to me. The price was worth it. I had sent it to my sparky first and said do you have any concerns and he'd actually said NAHVI, like they're actually really good. They just refurbished things that have been pulled out of display homes. And I was like, okay, so you're telling me that this hasn't been used at all, like great. So it ended up costing me six hundred and fifty dollars for our oven instead of like close
to three thousand. So like shop around and like I think that people often assume I'm buying a secondhand oven. Well you might think that that means it's like one that someone's used a million times and it's not that good, so you don't even explore the option. This oven does not even look like it's been used right, like brand new basically, And I mean disclaimer, I don't get the
warranty that would have gone with it. Sure, given I'm saving so much money and it costs me six hundred and fifty dollars, I was really happy to, you know, take that risk. Absolutely, And it's being installed professionally, so we're getting all of these things. He's installing it, like, I'm not doing that on my own, but I did source something that was much cheaper. The other thing I wanted to say was look at revamping the materials that you already have in your home. So like flooring is
a really good example. Do you hate the carpet, rip it up? See what's underneath there? Like, don't get me wrong, don't rip it up if you can't afford to replace the carpet, But are there floorboards under there that could be polished up? If you looked at my floors beck before we had resanded them, you would have been like, well, via you getting new floorboards put down, because those are awful. And we genuinely had to consider that as an option because I wasn't sure how they would come up. But
we got a good flooring guy in. Again, we got a couple of quotes before settling on one flooring guy, and he came in and said, yeah, you're right, there is a fair bit of damage here. But I can just replace those boards and then we can sand everything and it'll look great. I was like, a great idea, but I think it's really important to not just jump to get Oh that's absolutely cooked. We're going to have
to replace it. And now once we've sanded it, we're actually able to get a color that I like even more than what I thought we were working within. So that's a money win, I think. Because to replace the floorboards in our house, I did get a quote for that too, because I wanted to be able to share it. It was going to be about eleven and a half thousand dollars. Oh my godness, going to be so much. Yeah, So to get the upstairs of our house re floorboarded,
the quote was eleven grand. That was including installation, just to be really clear, but to have them standed back and re polished, it's going to cost us two thousand dollars and that includes the floorboards that he's fixing, and he's charging me two hundred dollars per floorboard, which is obviously a lot for a piece of wood, but it's like him sourcing wood that matches and then like installing it.
So I think that that's a pretty good deal. But like two grand versus eleven and a half, like, be for real, that's a really good saving. Be for real. I think it's also important as well, because my husband and I were so certain that we were going to have to put different floorboards over the top, but we said, you know what, we should just get the flooring guy that does the standing and stuff out to look at them first and do a bit of a test before
we pulled the trigger on that. And we're really glad that we did.
That's so good. Did you have any lino in there?
There was lino. It had been pulled out before we moved in, but the adhesive from the liner was still on our floors. So like when I say it was bad, beck like that's how bad it was, Like the adhesive lines and all the glue marks were still there, like no one had cleaned it up. They'd just like ripped out the lino and been like, oh it's good now. It was not good bad and it's not good. And I think the other thing that really annoyed me about
it is the flaws just consistently felt dirty. Yeah, because like you're just looking at glue and adhesive, and like all of the little bits of stuff that had stuck to the adhesive over the years made it look black. It was horrendous.
Yeah yeah, yeah, Lino is no good for anyone.
No rip out. You lie. I know there's probably floorboards under there, because that's what the Boomers did. They put the lino down. Why they do that? I don't know why they did that. You ask them, not me. But anyway, I think that having a think about every option and actually exploring it a bit, even if you don't think it's the one for you, could end up saving you a whole heap of money. So you're not spending money to get opinions. You're spending money when you really have
an outcome that makes sense for you. Do you know how upset I would have been if we had installed the floorboards, because, like Beck, you and I both know if I had gone and gotten a quote from a dude who installs floorboards and he came to my house and he's like, yeah, cool, like I'll give you this quote, which he did. He didn't mention that we could re
polish them all then they'd come up nicely. Sure, Like he's not going to mention that and be like, oh, Beck, did you know you could save heaps of money if you'd actually just not employed me or paid me. Yeah, but don't pay me, go play this other guy. So do the research yourself. And I know that that sounds overwhelming because it can feel like a lot, but it's saving us thousands of dollars.
Okay, that's really cheeky, but also is cheeky, but also like, if you do a job and then you've asked me for a quote, I'm not going to try and talk you out of it. Via the Sunder's episode, you talked about the importance of project managing. Let's finish with that.
Yeah. I love project management. It's one of my I guess strong points you could say, because I like to do a budget, but I also like to have like the stages at which that budget is going to be and on what and where and how, And I think it's important that while you can do things bit by bit, and I definitely would recommend that if you're renovating, like you know, do it room by room or level by level,
starting with the floors and doing the whole house. For example, had I just decided to do the kitchen, right, it would have cost me more money to do the kitchen now and then you know, wait and then do the laundroom and then do the floors in the loundroom. So we're doing the flaws for the entire house at the same time, right after the kitchen has been installed. But
we're not doing the bathrooms yet. But we're going to get to the bathrooms at some stage, and we're going to get to the laundroom and you know, change up stuff in there, but we're definitely not doing it at the same time as the kitchen. But because the flaws are such a big task, we're just like one and done. I don't want to pay someone to come out and just do the kitchen and then come out again and have more service fees and more charges, just like quote
me for the whole thing and get it done. So I think that project management is really important because it's going to tell you like when you can do things and what your budget for things looks like. So we are budgeting at the moment to do our bathrooms, but we're not doing our bathrooms yet because I'm kind of like, I don't want to do the kitchens and the bathrooms all at once. That's going to be really expensive. So we're doing the kitchen now, and as you guys know,
I've posted a lot about it on social media. We've been doing planning for that for the last what eight months or so, right, Like, I've been in and out of Bunnings a million times because I couldn't decide which white cabinets I wanted, and like, they have the samples there,
so I kept going in. Like back when Gabby worked for us, I was like dragging her in and being like, but is this white tu cream And She's like, no, that's really nice, and I'd be like okay, and then I'd settle on it, and then I'd go home and be like, I just need to see it in person one more time with the sample of the bench tops, right, So it was really nice to have a long lead up period so that now the kitchen's in and it is in, I'm really excited about it, and I go, yeah, no,
I know these were the right color selections for me. But I think that being able to do things and having a plan has helped a lot. And like, even if you're not a spreadsheet wizard, like there are so many templates out there that you could use that really help you. And I mean we'll drop something that I have used so that you guys can use it as well.
I mean, it's not the best thing in the entire world, because I'm not a super professional, but I think it does you know the job, and really helps you think about things and get on the right page. Because we have made sure that we've like dotted all our eyes and crossed our our t's because beck I did it the wrong way the first time and the second time. We are not doing that again. It's not my first rodeo, you know, like we're just not going to fall off the ball again.
We hope, not exactly. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's a pretty good place to leave it.
I think it's a good place to leave it. But also I think it's important if you're going to renovate budget budget, budget, and the best way to budget is to be really clear about what it's going to cost. We're not guestimating, Like if it means that you pop on down to Reese Plumbing and spend an hour or two looking at taps and going, oh, I thought that the tap would cost me, you know, fifty bucks and going, oh, actually, I've realized I like a more expensive option, or I
like something else. Like you're getting a good idea for what your taste is as well as what budget is because it's so easy to google, like what's the average cost for renovating a kitchen and that will come up, but like you don't know what you're actually going to choose or what that's actually going to look like go down to Bunnings and have a look at the kitchens there, Like they have a full kerboodle installation in most Bunnings that you can go down to and see what the
quality is. Like you might go far out, this is actually great, I do want to put this in my house. But you can have a look at what the different cabnet options are going to be, and you know, you might be renovating on a budget, but also on a really short timeframe, like maybe you're like, oh my gosh, I've got to lease this property out, but the kitchen's
got to change. Like have a chat to them there, because they have off the shelf options, so like what can you use or what's going to take a little bit longer to order in the cabinet draws. I pitched we had to order. They weren't off the shelf, but the cabinet frames were off the shelf. So I think it's really important to just understand not only your budget, but what that timeframe looks like. Yeah, let's leave it there, because I feel like I've spoken about flaws a lot,
and i'd like to talk about coffee with you. Is that okay? I'd love that. We don't have any more time today, but I have loved chatting to you Beck. We'll see you next week, guys, Bye, guys. The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be
relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorized representatives of Money sheper Pty Ltd ABN three to two one six four nine, two seven seven zero eight a f s L four five one two eight nine