Q: You really should consider posting about how you two budget and save for your purchases and DIY. I’m constantly amazed at how you seem to never charge anything and how you consistently mention saving up for things. Now just tell us how you do it!! What about making the decision to replace something that still works? Is that a hard call for you guys? I never know when to live with something, replace it with something semi-cheap for the interim or save up for the big thing I actually want and go right to buying that instead of putting money towards a placeholder while I save. I’d love to know more about how you know when to save and when to splurge and how you live such a debt free life full of projects and home makeovers! -Barbara
A: Barbara, your questions resonate with so many people striving for financial freedom and a beautiful home without accumulating debt. It’s a journey we’ve embraced, and we’re thrilled to pull back the curtain on our budgeting and saving strategies for home projects and everyday living. Navigating the world of home makeovers, DIY endeavors, and major purchases while remaining debt-free isn’t always easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. We’ll delve into how we make those tough decisions about upgrading functional items, our secrets to disciplined saving, and how our approach allows us to live a project-filled life without the burden of credit card bills.
Our journey towards a debt-free lifestyle, especially when it comes to home improvements and purchases, has deep roots. John and I were both incredibly fortunate to grow up in families led by famously frugal fathers. This early exposure to smart money management instilled in us fundamental principles: always save for what you want, pay off your credit card balance in full every month, and never purchase something you can’t afford outright on the day you buy it. While this approach demands significant discipline and means occasionally walking away from seemingly “great deals” or coveted items, we firmly believe that if you can’t genuinely afford it, it’s not a good deal at all. In homage to our dads, who taught us these invaluable lessons, we thought we’d share some classic, albeit a little embarrassing, old photos of them. Notice John’s dad’s tie in the picture below—it was a Father’s Day gift John made using puffy paint, a charming piece of proof that paint doesn’t always instantly improve everything!
A significant portion of our home furnishings and decor falls into the “simple and affordable” category, which is a cornerstone of our ability to keep our bank account healthy. For instance, our dining table, a sturdy piece we’ve had for over three years without a single complaint, cost us around $150 from Target. Our den features a fantastic $25 thrift store chair, and our living room is anchored by a charming $30 consignment shop coffee table. We absolutely believe in investing in quality, but we also advocate for smart, value-driven purchasing. We avoid buying flimsy, low-quality items just to save a quick buck. However, if we find a chunky wood dining table on Target.com with excellent reviews for a third of the price of a similar item on PotteryBarn.com, you can bet we’re opting for the thrifty “Tar-jay” version. It’s about finding that sweet spot where affordability meets durability and style, ensuring our money stretches further without compromising on our desired aesthetic or functionality.
While our default mode is to shop around diligently for the best deals, meticulously reading reviews to avoid buyer’s remorse, there are occasions when we genuinely fall in love with a more substantial, pricier item. For these investments, like our plush organic mattress or the new 2009 Altima we purchased a few years ago, our strategy is simple: we save for it like crazy until we can pay for it in full. This commitment to saving means we never drive a new car off the lot with a loan or bring home a new mattress on credit. Our overarching financial philosophy boils down to a few key practices: consistently hunting for sales, leveraging coupons, comparing prices across various retailers, and prioritizing affordable items to furnish the majority of our home. Then, we allocate a carefully considered sliver of our savings for those occasional, spendy items. This balanced approach ensures we don’t feel entirely deprived of luxuries but also prevents us from draining our hard-earned savings overnight, maintaining our financial equilibrium.
Another significant factor contributing to our ability to save and undertake numerous projects is our location. Living in Richmond, Virginia, offers a considerably lower cost of living compared to our previous life in Manhattan. The stark contrast between those insanely inflated New York City expenses and the more reasonable costs here makes it far easier to cut costs and accumulate savings. Our current mortgage, for example, is half of what we used to pay to rent two tiny apartments in NYC. Furthermore, our house itself was an incredibly affordable purchase because it was a complete fixer-upper. Buying a home that required substantial work meant a lower upfront cost (it was less than $200K, and if you’ve seen the “befores,” you know it was a true project!). This allowed us to channel funds towards renovations rather than spending a premium on an already renovated casa. Our monthly mortgage payment remains significantly lower than it would have been for a newly gorgeous home in the area, freeing up capital for our beloved DIY projects and home makeovers.
Beyond major purchases and housing, we integrate frugality into various aspects of our daily lives. We are a one-car household, minimizing transportation costs. We utilize our local library extensively for books and entertainment, avoiding unnecessary spending on new releases. Packing our own lunches for work saves us a substantial amount compared to eating out. And, of course, our dedication to DIY extends beyond major home projects to everyday tasks—from tiling our own bathrooms to giving each other haircuts, we tackle whatever we can ourselves rather than paying for professional services. While it might not always be glamorous, the old adage “a penny saved is a penny earned” deeply resonates with us. Instead of focusing solely on maximizing income and spending it just as quickly, we choose to pursue what we love—like blogging—and live comfortably on less. Simple “switcheroos” like home haircuts and one-dollar spaghetti dinners make a tangible difference in our overall savings, enabling our project-driven lifestyle.
One of Barbara’s key questions addressed the dilemma of replacing something that still functions but bothers us—perhaps an old, yellowed, and energy-inefficient fridge. Our approach to such situations is quite deliberate: if an item genuinely makes us cringe, we start saving our pennies specifically for its replacement. The critical rule here is to save enough to afford a new one outright, without resorting to a credit card that we can’t immediately pay off. The guilt associated with carrying debt would utterly diminish any enjoyment from the new purchase. Once our savings goal is met, we confidently make the upgrade. Crucially, we always list the perfectly working item we’re replacing on platforms like Craigslist. This not only keeps it out of a landfill but also provides us with a little extra cash, which we mentally (and sometimes literally) allocate towards the cost of our upgraded version, making the overall investment feel even more affordable in the long run.
Through experience, we’ve learned that buying a cheap interim solution just to tide us over is never a smart move for us. We invariably end up regretting spending money on a placeholder when we could have saved that same amount towards the “forever item” we truly desired. We’d much rather exercise patience and put our money towards the long-term solution. However, this is a highly personal preference. If replacing your cringe-worthy chandelier with a $50 version from Home Depot brings you joy and helps you wait patiently while saving for that $250 beauty you’ll cherish forever, then that might be the perfect approach for you. The key is to genuinely assess what makes you happy, what you can realistically afford, and to weigh the pros and cons to devise a plan that aligns perfectly with your financial situation and personal contentment.
For major room makeovers, extensive communication and detailed planning are paramount. John and I always engage in thorough discussions before embarking on any significant renovation, ensuring we’re both completely aligned on the budget. For instance, after much chatting and number crunching for our bathroom remodel, we initially estimated spending between $3,000 and $5,000. To our pleasant surprise, we managed to complete the entire project for just $1,800! This massive saving was largely due to doing all the labor ourselves and relentlessly hunting down incredible deals on materials. Our strategy was to save the full $5,000 in our high-yield savings account before even starting. This meant that when we only spent $1,800, we had a substantial surplus, which we could then happily roll into our nursery makeover, providing a fantastic head start on funds—always a bonus!
We often find ourselves overestimating project costs more frequently than we go over budget, which is something we are incredibly thankful for. However, we still meticulously save up the entire estimated amount (or more!) and ensure it’s readily available in the bank before we commence any project. This eliminates immense stress and anxiety. Imagine if we only saved two-thirds of what we needed, simply assuming we were overestimating again – that would be incredibly stressful! Having the full renovation budget secured in our bank account transforms the project into a much more enjoyable and creatively fulfilling experience, free from financial worry.
Consider the nursery makeover as a prime example. We initially anticipated spending around $1,500, as we needed entirely new furniture and accessories—items like a crib, mattress, dresser, chair, ottoman, rug, curtains, chandelier, and art. Thanks to our diligent deal hunting, we’ve managed to secure nearly everything well within our budget. This includes scoring a $20 thrift store chair, a $20 Craigslist dresser, and hunting down clearance rugs and chandeliers. These smart finds make us confident that we’ll complete the nursery without reaching or exceeding our initial budget. We might even come in substantially under budget if our luck holds! It truly pays dividends to invest the time in pounding the pavement for the best deals and meticulously searching platforms like Craigslist for solid, well-made furniture that can be refinished. Often, these second-hand pieces are of far better quality than much of the cheap, mass-produced furniture churned out by companies today. You can see how the Craigslist dresser below transformed after we gave it some stain, paint, and plenty of elbow grease.
Roughly speaking, we probably allocate between five and ten percent of our total income to home improvements annually. This might seem like a considerable amount, but it’s quite reasonable considering we are almost constantly painting something or making trips to Home Depot. It’s important to remember that this percentage is a highly personal metric. Each family should meticulously review their bank accounts and assess their home’s needs to determine their own unique budget and home improvement priorities. For us, home projects are not just a hobby; they’ve become part of our profession, as a full-time home blogger requires continuous projects to sustain our site. Because home makeovers are such a high priority in our lives, we consciously go out of our way to save money in numerous other areas, such as maintaining just one fully paid-off car.
Our commitment to being debt-free extends to our vehicles. We drove a ten-year-old Maxima with over 170,000 miles on it for four years until we had saved enough cash to fully pay for a safer, newer 2009 Altima for our growing family. That was certainly a celebratory day a few months ago! Making sacrifices and diligently cutting costs in other areas of our lives has consistently enabled us to save the necessary funds to pay for things completely, rather than being burdened by monthly car payments or credit card bills that seem impossible to squash. Furthermore, by consciously deciding to be a one-car household, we save a substantial sum on the transportation front. All the money that would otherwise go towards purchasing, insuring, and gassing up a second vehicle remains in our savings, bolstering our financial freedom and project funds.
We understand that our meticulous approach to saving and paying off purchases is often considered rare in today’s consumer-driven society. There are likely readers who find it hard to fathom how we manage to save for extensive renovations before they begin or pay for a new car outright the day we drive it off the lot. A crucial hint: it’s not because we earn an exceptionally high income. In fact, by national averages, our income level falls below the average, even for our area. The secret lies in our spending habits: we are incredibly frugal in many areas where other “normal” people might not be. For us, a “nice meal out” is often a once-monthly trip to Chipotle. We likely spend a combined total of about $10 a month on clothing, with some months being absolutely zero. I even managed to spend less than $20 on my entire maternity wardrobe, thanks to generous friends and family passing along their gently used items. We’ve even taken to making our own cleaning products to further reduce expenses in that category, and as mentioned, we opt for at-home haircuts over professional services.
Therefore, before you conclude that saving a few hundred dollars a month for a significant renovation goal or those dream furnishings is utterly impossible, take a moment to honestly assess your own spending. Are there any discretionary expenses you can cut back on? This could range from your daily Starbucks coffee habit to that monthly professional haircut. If you’re truly committed to saving more, challenge yourself to go an entire month without buying any new clothing or dining out. You might be surprised to discover how quickly your savings grow once you make a conscious decision to implement major changes. You could even consider downgrading from two cars to one, exploring carpooling options, or embracing cycling. Another viable strategy is to sell your expensive vehicle for something a bit older with more miles. Trading “car glamour” for “house glamour” isn’t a foreign concept to us; we drove our last car into the ground, selling it to Carmax with nearly 200,000 miles on it once we had diligently saved enough to replace it responsibly.
Our overarching advice remains consistent: never spend beyond your means. Take the necessary time to save diligently for items and projects that hold genuine importance and value for you. Resist the temptation to fritter away funds on a multitude of cheap accessories (even if they’re on sale!) that you don’t truly need every time you walk into a store. That impulse to buy can be powerful, but resisting it is key. If we don’t have the money in our savings designated for a particular purchase, we simply don’t spend it. Instead, we get creative, utilizing paint and other supplies we already have around the house for free, mini makeovers to refresh our space and tide us over. We always allow ourselves ample time to hunt down the very best deals while our savings account steadily grows. This might involve proactive measures like hosting a garage sale or selling unnecessary items on Craigslist to generate extra funds for our latest goal. This patient and strategic approach works wonders for us, and we sincerely hope it brings you similar success. Happy saving and smart spending to you and yours!
Oh, and we’d genuinely love to hear how you save your pennies! Are there any “envelope system” devotees out there? Or perhaps you have unique strategies for living well on a more modest income? Please share your wisdom and experiences in the comments below!
Pssst—To learn even more about how we meticulously pinch pennies here at Casa Petersik, be sure to explore our comprehensive Save It series. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. Find even more brilliant money-saving ideas right here. Additionally, these posts about embracing a simpler life might offer further inspiration: “The Simple Life,” “Life on Less,” and “Living on Less.”