Budget, budget, BUDGET!

And I completely understand how terribly frustrating it can be to see money you've designated seemingly evaporate. But no matter how frustrated I used to get I ALWAYS stuck to the budget. If there was a project that was particularly important to either the helpmeet or me and the money wasn't "there" we'd have a "board meeting". And we'd bat the advantages/costs back and forthe. I know that sounds really "cold", but sometimes batting the pros and cons back and forthe really helps you decide on the relative importance of "want" and "need".

Keeping on/below budget has actually been very liberating. I've taught myself how to paint properly and efficiently. I've patiently taught myself a variety of faux paint finishes (not just spongeing, lol). I've learned how to PLAN a room... start with fabric, add a paint scheme, rugs, reupholster furniture, etc.. I've learned to be PATIENT and calculated in my choices.

Money makes a wonderful slave, but a terrible master! Remember that... (and hang in there).

Hi funkyart.

I have several advantages over a lot of other members around here when it comes to my place. For one thing, I don't have kids, so I don't have to worry about little hands breaking a priceless Ming vase or leaving sticky handprints on expensive silk upholstery--not that I have either one of those things, but you get the point--and, eveen better, I never have to weigh the morality of purchasing antique silver when the kids need shoes & shots. And food*.

I also don't ever have to worry about pleasing anybody else's boring middle-class taste, or justifying my decorating expenditures when the car needs a new transmission. No, with no kids, no partner, no car, no TV, no microwave, no cell phone and no gambling habit--neither on the ponies nor with the market--I can spend as much money as I want on my place. Not, of course, that I do.

In fact the most I ever spent on anything for my house (OK, my incredibly small apartment) was $850 for an 183Os sofa. After that, the next highest amount was $275. Normally, though, my annual expenditure on decorating comes to less than $100, because, technically, I don't really decorate: I just paint & move stuff around.

That's the great part about taking plenty of time to buy stuff, and even then, never buying anything new, but always antique: since none of it is ever trendy, or in a popular color, I don't ever get tired of it, the way you might if, say, the seafoam-&-peach floral polyester damask sofa that you loved sooooo much the year you saw it new at JC Penney turns up on a rerun of Married with Children. And contentment with the decorating choices you made ten years ago--or thirty years ago, as is the case with a lot of my stuff--means you never need to re-do your place at all. Hence there's no need for a budget in the first place. At my place the decorating process is evolution, not revolution. I couldn't care less what the newest color or theme is. Besides, people who hate shopping as much as I do will do anything to avoid it, budget or no budget.
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* More about that: I can't tell you how many times, back when I was a kid, that my little brothers & I had to go for a solid week on peanut butter sandwiches or macaroni & cheese because my mom had once again hit the dusty second-hand shops of Danville illinois, and come home with a pair of Eastlake chairs or a Victorian marble copy of the Venus de Milo, or a stained glass window for the landing on the stairs.

Some of my friends' mothers thought it was shameful the way our mother went gallivanting around town wasting our prcious food money on dirty old junk that wasn't worth a second look when she had 4 growing boys to feed, and they made sure that everyone down at the church supper or at the Piggly Wiggly or at the Cut'n'Curl heard about our mom's terrible irresponsibility & unfitness as a mother, but I'll say this: she's been dead for 15 years, and it isn't her cooking that I remember most(it was pretty bad, I'll admit)or her nurturing, maternal qualities (because of those, she had almost none: a bruised finger from falling out of the mulberry tree, or a bloody knee from wrecking my bike elicited a calm response of "You'll be all right. Go get a Band-Aid.") but her sense of humor & of adventure, and the fun we used to have when I got old enough to go with her on her foraging trips through those derelect shops, and the way she used to smile & laugh & smooth her wild, wavy hair, charming the ancient geezers who ran those places. I remember sitting with her & my brothers on the big built-in bench on the landing of our stairs, basking in a blaze of multi-colored light--from the stained glass window she bought with our food money--while she read to us from "Winnie the Pooh" (the real one, not that Disney thing) and rocked my youngest brother with a bare foot on the rocker of his carved Victorian crib, another of her quirky finds. You can talk about healthy eating & the importance of good childhood nutrition all you want, butI'm glad our mom spent her money the way she did, and not least because many of those things she 'wasted' her money on are now mine, and full of fun (and funny) memories, whereas if she'd spent all that money on oatmeal & cheese & carrots or whatever it is that good mothers are supposed to feed their kids, we wouldn't have any of that other stuff. Anyway, that's my approach to budgeting, even when it comes to decorating: take the long view & buy not what you may happen to want most at this particular moment, but what will still mean something to you--or somebody--a decade from now.

Regards,
MAGNAVERDE.

Hahaha...

I learned about fabric grain, rulers, and scissors as a little kid. I learned how to look at the goods and make a snip, then TEAR IT. Mum was braiding rugs... . and I learned about Rit dyes, boiling water, salt-water rinses, etc..

The smell of paint stripper evokes fond memories. I can hear Mum now saying, "You mustn't get this on your skin, dear. Be very, very careful! If you DO, I want you to put your hand immediately into this bucket of water and tell me.". MY childhood was fraught with "danger", and a mother who was focussed on her goals and figured including ME (toddler, and little kid) was the quickest was to "free up" her time. I'm pushin' 50, and I'm not only still alive, but I've managed to collect a lot of tricks for my "tool kit", too!

Not the least of which is an ability to follow directions! I can make wreaths from the handsome dried bounty available to ANYone if they care to make the time to look, collect, and arrange. If I want to give a new "craft" a whirl, I know how to follow directions.

"I'm bored!" was inevitably met with this reply: "Are you a STUPID PERSON?", "No", "Hmmm... common knowledge is that only STUPID people can be bored... are you a STUPID PERSON?".

guess not, lol.

(Budgets are a cinch in comparison)

We don't have a set budget per se, but our projects are always done in the winter, so we use the ole Christmas bonus and tax refund. We are "outdoors" types, cabin fever gets the best of us during winter, so we do 1 major DIY project to help us pass the time. Year before last, we painted every room in the house during that time. Our project this winter was to get the new french doors installed and get the new deck built. Once that ole robin starts chirping in the yard, we're outside and don't come back in until Nov, ha!

DH and I used to try and budget a project.

After 30 years in this old house our theory has become whatever we THINK it will cost, it will be double when all said and done!

I think you described my budgeting well with this line:

"but still I blew the budget and without much difficulty. "

Heh heh I actually often do set a budget, and give myself a 20% allowance for overages, and then blow both of those if something needs to be had :oP But I don't go into debt to decorate ever!

I actually pride myself on the deals I get. We can often afford to pay full price for X but I grew up with much less than we have and the thrifty side of me says I have to find a way to get a deal :)

My friends have made comments about how well my son dresses (he's 2) when he's wearing his Ralph Lauren or his Kenneth Cole outfits...but what no one knows :) Is that I probably paid $10 for them on ebay. (I NEVER pay full price for baby cloths!) And I really rarely do on anything for the house either.

I actually enjoy refurbishing things. There's something so satisfying in taking an abused "piece" and loving it again. So much better than walking into a big furniture store and buying a piece of cardboard and plywood made in China :)

But to be completely fair, even with all of that considered, I almost always blow a budget. In fact...they're kind of like target practice for me....I nearly always hit it...and blow the target away so you never knew what it really was heh heh

I work from a budget of "don't spend any money at all." So I always blow it. However, I find waaaay more satisfaction in finding a great bargain of something used, and refurbishing, recovering, or repurposing it myself. I feel great pride in work that I've done myself, plus if you do it yourself you end up with one-of-a-kind. I think the more you do for yourself the more it feels like "home." I also love the green-ness of recycling, repurposing. I just try to do it with taste; I don't paint faces on burned out lightbulbs and try to sell them as art. Sometimes I buy new, depending on what it is... but I look for bargains. It's better to put your money into savings for your old age. It would even be nice to leave some to your kids.

My mother told me that when I was a little girl I always looked at the price tag before I would chose something. If I thought it was too much, I wouldn't want it. She said it drove her bonkers.

So, as an adult, I just CANNOT part with money on stuff for me unless I adore it and can't live without it. This includes in my home. I know what I have for disposable/discretional spending, so that is my budget, and when that is gone, it's gone.

But when we do home improvement, we always set a budget, with a 25% overage in the bank, just in case. We're planning some stuff in the family room and office, so we're out pricing flooring so we can come up with our budget. There's the 'dream' and the what we want to spend, and we end up somewhere in the middle, which is what we are comfortable spending.

Magnaverde...thanks for that story. Awesome!

Our "budget" is the limit that our values and goals place on puchases, not a physical number. I spend what I need to make our life comfortable, but the rest can go to better use.

Do any of you remember the old Disney movie, Escape to Witch Mountain? In one scene, the brother and sister are adopted by their "uncle" and given absolutely everything a kid could wish for: ponies, toys, ice cream parlor, ect. But after the initial thrill, the kids are sad because there is nothing left to wish for.

To me the word "budget" is a reminder of what is truely important and reason to look forward to the future.

Anyway, if I had a perfect house I would lose my excuse to hang out on GW. ; )

We started out with a monthly budget, but eventually developed a work 'pace' that seems to be self-limiting so expenditures never really get out of hand. Except for a new furnace when we moved in, so far we haven't chosen to or had to do anything really major, so that may be a big factor in not really needing to adhere to a strict budget. We do a lot of DIY using ReStore materials, we mostly don't buy new stuff, and when we do buy new we shop a round. We're in a position to be able to do most of the work here ourselves on a nearly full-time basis, and that saves an incredible amount of money. But our present 'budget' really started a couple years ago when we made it a goal to abolish all debt and to save on a regular basis. We paid off the car, my student loans, the credit cards, etc., etc., and have an automatic deposit each month tranferred into savings. That's what put us on the road to being in the position we're in today with the house where the monthly income isn't sucked away by debt. The savings is also there when we want to work on something special.

We never do big projects. Big projects are broken down into smaller ones and we spend only what we can at the time. If we don't have the money, we don't do it. There are times that we REALLY want such and such but can't afford that but the job needs done so we compromise.

I am a fairly practical person. But, if I love something....I'll figure out a way to get it!! I really haven't done big projects - but when we were building I splurged on a big ole copper sink - found nicer appliances on clearance or floor models. Since we are not in a 4/ever house I try to stay within reason of comparable homes/market. I have always had to work around what I have. Never started from scratch - but I like many of the things I have from years and years ago.

I look at the magazines with their slipcovered white sofas and seagrass rugs and think * that looks so fresh* compared to my very traditional home. But, I would go bonkers trying to keep it all clean & the rug is not great for small children playing/lounging on the floor!! I have a sisal rug in the kitchen and the dogs won't even go on it!!

If I were remodeling, I would do all of the messy stuff at one time!! Recover financially. Then let the finishing touches flow as I find them. Rugs and artwork can be added over time. It never fails you go searching for something in your *head*- can't find it - settle for something close - THEN months later - voila - the piece in your head that you imagined is right there in front of you!!

Babble, babble.
Smiles:)

I wing it. Fortunately my taste doesn't run to $20M designer furniture or expensive antiques. :-)))

I've carted our mish mash of stuff from house to house for many years. This is the first (forever) home where I'm buying what I want/love, whatever the cost. That said, I come to a *halt* from time to time (like now) needing to wait for an influx of funds to carry on. LOL!

During the fallow, I plan, dream, window shop and finish details/accessories as/if I'm able. And, like Johnatemp, if I really really want X, I find a way to get it, whatever it takes.

But the basic answer is no to budget as I do not say to myself anything along the lines of "I want to change this room so how can I do it for $2000.00 'cause that's all I can/am gonna spend".

I have experienced what Johnatemp has described: wanting something that is way different from what your room needs.

When I like something that is different from my original thoughts, I find a picture to save as my desktop background, and make it "tile". After a week or two of seeing it so brazenly displayed, I either love it or find that it was a passing faze and am now sick of it.

It sounds crazy (and it can be a bit crazy to look at), but it has kept me from purchasing a few mistakes. I am more able to see things for what they are rather than what my heart wanted them to be.

Lots of great insights, stories and laughs here-- thank you for the responses.

My first mistake was: I started out with an arbitrary budget. I said "I'll dedicate this much money to projects". It wasn't really based on anything other than it was an amount that seemed reasonable for a series of unnamed projects. I knew generally what I wanted to do but I didn't have a solid plan. In the course of shopping, I got a few deals on better quality furniture-- I splurged on a sofa because I was able to find the EXACT style and color that I had had in my mind's eye for years. I knew it was a splurge but I also knew that I had seen nothing like it in many years of shopping. I splurged on a few other pieces--- but they were all things I could pass to a niece or nephew when they no longer work for me.. that's important to me since a lot of my furniture came from relatives.

So now I think I will make a list of what else I need to do and then make a budget for those specific elements. I am also going to commit some time to going to flea markets and second hand stores. I have been so busy the last few years that I haven't been frequenting my old haunts. I need to make time for them.

Johnatemp, I was thinking along the same lines re artwork and rugs. I do need to replace a few rugs but I am going to go the inexpensive route-- I have dogs and there are always kids visiting and while I love beautiful rugs it's not an investment I want to make. I appreciate art but it is something I like to add over time as I happen on the perfect pieces. In the meantime, I will use some of what I am not currently using, make some artwork myself, and scour ebay. I can and will add better pieces as I happen on them. I think too that I will make do with simple window treatments to start.

I think the key for me is to be very purposeful from here on out. I don't believe I've spent money badly.. I just saw that I was on a track where I could easily just keep spending and spending .. and since I'd already blown the original budget, I was feeling full license to continue to do so.

Thanks again for your thoughts and insights

I don't really set a budget but I do have the cost of things in the back of my mind - force of habit growing up in a single parent household and a SAHM with 4 kids. Now that the kids are gone, DH tells me to buy what I want bc he knows I am not frivolous and I think twice (maybe more? think mbr curtains!!) before I buy something. I do not impulse buy. So I guess I would say I am in the middle of the road when it comes to a budget.

Magnaverde...are you homebound?

I wing it. I'm always trying to spend as little as possible to get the look I want, but I don't start out saying "I have x to spend so if I want this sofa, I won't have enough left for those curtains" - more like, "I want a nice sofa in a neutral color with clean lines - what's the least I can spend for one that won't fall apart" - and then when I find one I love, I find a way to come up with the money.

To me there's really no way to budget decorating a room. I have an idea in my head and eventually it gets finished. By eventually I mean I pay cash for what I find that's "perfect" for my vision. I do the projects when the mood strikes me.

As for big jobs we also pay cash for the materials needed to complete as we work on it. Like with our wood work. It's not good to have unfinished wood lying around so we purchase what we have room to work on at one time. Once it's routed, sanded stained poly'd and installed we purchase more and keep going until we are finished. As of yet we are not finished with all the woodwork because things outside the home sometimes get in the way.

I've really gotten into buying vintage/used furniture. Nothing I feel is old enough to be called an antique, but old enough to be made better than what I can go out and pay cash for on a whim. I love redoing it whether upholstering it, refinishing the wood or both.

I really don't follow trends. I like my home to ME and/or my family depending on the room. Not like everyone elses. I can remember people asking me why I liked what I liked since it wasn't like everyone elses stuff. My answer was simple. "I'm not everyone else." As simple as that.

What's a budget? For us, budget's get blown out so easily. My BF is as bad as I am in that regard. We buy what we love but we only buy what we need. I'm not a collector nor am I an impulse buyer (also from a single parent household).

We do not use credit for any of our projects. If funds become low it usually is not for long so we wait to do what we want and buy what we want. I have always been a talented shopper and often find great items at great prices.

I made a budget on Excel, divided by room and "general structural". As I thought of things that I would have to pay for, I added them. I did as much research as I could, for estimates of prices. I added extra "unexpected" labor in several areas.

When I pay for something, I enter the actual number and put it in bold. I have it set so that Excel keeps the balance correct at the bottom of the page. When the budget gets too high, I can take a few minutes to adjust as needed.

It is a HOOT when something comes in less than expected!

We are waiting for the last window (was sent back 4 times) and are about ready for painting. So I made a new column in which pulled over all the expenses I have yet to incur, so I have a "have paid" column and a "yet to pay" column, with a running total.

One thing though - a few items were splurges for me, like floor heat under the tile, and a heated towel rack, and the materials for a custom mosaic backsplash (by me). I bought those first, because I KNEW I would get to this point and decide they cost too much!

For us, budget is always a concern. However, I know what I like and I also know what I don't like. The budget does not always accommodate what I want so I just have to be patient and wait until I can get what I desire. One thing that helps with that is many antique stores have layaway. Dh and I also have a rule that nothing above $250 is purchased without first discussing it with the other person.

As far as how we decide what to do, I try to take into consideration the needs/desires of other family members. Dh is more concerned with the appearance of the living room than the love nest (bedroom). Kids may need a desk to do their school work before I purchase a nightstand for the bedroom, etc. I also have yearly goals for what I would like to accomplish and this year it is nice shades in the public rooms of the house (we have had paper shades for over a year now.