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Home renovations can add value to your property, but there are ways to upgrade it without going into debt or blowing up your savings.
Interested in these budget-friendly options, Redditor u/scal369 made a post on the r/HomeImprovement community, asking its members to share $500-$1,000 investments that were "a total game-changer", and everyone immediately jumped into the comment section.
From re-painting the interior to battery-powered lawn equipment, the answers they provided touched on both aesthetics and functionality, and you don't need to be the handiest person on the block to try them yourself.
Image credits: scal369
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
When my kids were little I bought a refrigerated water fountain and put it on the side of my house facing my backyard. I'd love to know how many thousands of gallons the neighborhood kids drank. It saved them from coming in the house when they were playing outside. Total game changer. They liked drinking from it so much they would get off the couch and go outside to get a drink.
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#2
Extra fridge. Just by coincidence right when the pandemic started we replaced our fridge and left our old one in the garage planning on craigslisting it. We kept it instead and used it for bulk storage. It's been great - fewer visits to the grocery store, and more home cooking.
Francisco Manuel Teruel Gutiérrez 2 years ago
Tip: empty bottles can be stored at ambient temperature.
#3
A 3D printer. Half the random things I need for my apartment I just make myself now. Want an under-cabinet mounted paper towel holder? Done. Little sliding shelves for under my coffee table? Np. Tiny, oddly-shaped random piece of plastic to fix some latch or whatever that broke on my expensive something-or-other? Give me 20 minutes.
#4
Painted the interior of the whole house before moving in. It feels 20 years newer.
#5
Automatic light sensors for the laundry room and pantry. Not having to fumble while carrying a load with two hands is wonderful.
#6
Insulated the attic for ~ $500 plus $150 to put a bathroom fan in(in the upstairs bathroom before I blew the insulation in)
Easily have saved $1800 in heating and cooling costs since
#7
Bidet toilet seat. Your butt will never feel so clean. And the heated seat is great in the winter.
#8
Cabinet hinges with slow-close springs. Like moving to Beverly Hills.
#9
Shelving system in the garage. The amount of space we freed up was well worth the cost considering we don’t have a basement or a useable attic for storage.
#10
Battery powered lawn equipment. No more gas cans. No more 'tune ups'. Much less noise and no stinky exhaust (I hate two stroke fumes). Only think I have to do is keep the blade sharp and keep things greased. And in terms of power? Snapper 58V is just as powerful as it's gas counterparts. Now there's an 82V model out.
FYI - I have the Snapper blower, weed eater, and mower (Walmart was having a 50% off closeout sale). I will never go back to gas lawn tools as long as I'm on a town/city lot.
DE Ray 2 years ago
I got a corded electric mower 8 years ago. Love it. So much so that I got a corded weed-eater/trimmer the next year. True, the extension cord long enough to reach my whole yard cost as much as either, but so worth it for not having to get gas, change oil, wear ear plugs, etc.
#11
Putting a dimmer switch in the bathroom was the best decision ever. In the early mornings, it's not blindingly bright — but when you're cleaning the bathroom or want a bright shower, you have the option of turning it all the way up. Such a small investment, but I appreciate it every day.
#12
Best $20 investment was properly fitting door sweeps. I didn’t realize how much cold air was entering the house during the heating season. Take time to measure the size of the gap and width of the door.
Rei 2 years ago (edited)
Yup, we did that as well and I pretty quickly felt how much warmer the entrance area was. I would also recommend spending money on good windows and their isolation because that's where most of the heat disappears. Huge windows are nice, but there was a reason why older houses had quite small windows built in back in the days.
#13
A tankless water heater. Taking a shower with endless hot water is life changing.
#14
I installed sliding shelves in all of my lower kitchen cabinets. Eventually, I'll swap all of them out for drawers, but sliding shelves was a low-cost upgrade that adds SO much functionality. No more taking out every single item just to find that one thing in the back!
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
Good thinking! I have put lazy Susans in my pantry shelves, but pull out shelves would be good for the under sink shelves etc.
#15
Hiring a professional cleaning service twice a month. :P
#16
when we redid a bathroom we put in radiant heat under the tile floor. fantastic. Will do same anytime I do a floor. my cousin put it his finished basement in MN and the TV room went from being cold and uninviting to the most cozy room in the house during those long winters.
you can buy an electric mat to put under a thin rug.
#17
No brainer! Keyless entry lock. We got a Schlage. It was an easy install. The battery life is good and you get plenty of warning when it is time to change the 2 AA batteries. I no longer have to carry a house key. I can give workers, guests or relatives the other door code and then easily change it when I want to.
#18
Replaced pantry bifold doors with a French door style opening. Put spice rack on back of new doors. Added a few things to the inside and it seems so much more usable and organized
#19
Range hood vent. I can cook what I want and sear the f*ck out of some steaks.
#20
When I had toddlers that answer was a fully fenced yard. Life changing.
#21
A dishwasher is a must. So many fights used to be about who’s turn to do the dishes. Now we just place them in the dishwasher with some soap and press the button.
#22
Installing ceiling fans in every room — even the kitchen and garage — helped significantly with our cooling bills in the summer. Why turn the AC down when you can just turn a fan on?!
The $70 Home Depot ones look perfectly fine to me, and they make SUCH a difference in my everyday happiness.
#23
New water saver toilets. My water utility had a $75 rebate per low usage toilet so I replaced all my old water-wasters for next to nothing.
Part of the contract with the provider is you have to disable the old toilets so they can not be reused so as an added bonus I got to put on my safety glasses and find out how many hits with a hammer a toilet bowl can take before it shatters.
(For reference the answer is one).
#24
Cleaning lady was a game changer, every 2 weeks they come and my home is spotless when I get back from work. Sheets changed, windows clean, bathrooms spotless, dope AF.
Never thought I’d get there but I can see why everyone with more money then me does it.
Joybug 2 years ago
We have a cleaner, great investment, what they can achieve in an hour and a half is a lot more than I could because it's not their house and they don't get distracted. Gives me piece of mind knowing the whole house gets a good once over every fortnight. I don't just look at the $$ value of it because it is worth so much more to me emotionally to have that task completely taken care of.
#25
I bought a Google Home Mini speaker and a bunch of cheap, compatible smart outlets. I say 'good night' and it turns on my white noise machines, turns off my lights (including the Christmas tree!), turns on my heated blanket, tells me the weather for the next day, and starts the sleep playlist I like on Spotify. All of that for just over $100.
#26
Way less than $500, but removable shower heads. Makes cleaning the shower so much easier.
Also less than $500, smart lights and plugs for interior and exterior lights.
Then, closer to $500, the artificial Christmas tree that already has the lights in them. No more tangled light strings. Get them on a smart plug and you don’t have to fiddle with it all season.
$500-$1000: drinks fridge. Keeps booze and bottled drinks out of the kitchen fridge space.
More than $1000, remote control motorized blackout shades in the bedroom. Pretty much total darkness. And you can set up a schedule for them to auto open partially to fully. We used Hunter Douglas via Costco.
#28
$1000 worth of Ryobi tools. Ive saved probably 30k on researching the hell out of projects on YouTube/Reddit and doing them with Ryobi tools and its been amazing. They basically have a tool for EVERY kind of job and its sub $100. Having the right tool makes such a difference and at the end of it you have your project done, saved a TON of money, and built a tool collection.
#29
Mesh Wi-Fi totally changed my life. It's so worth installing one of these systems instead of the router your cable company charges you monthly for — now I never have to think about where the 'good' or 'bad' Wi-Fi spots are. It's just reliable everywhere, and you can forget about it entirely.
#30
We love our smart thermostat. They have really amazing features, and it's so much easier to know exactly how your system is working. We got ours for $180 at Costco during their Christmas sale, and installing it on our own was a piece of cake too.
What do you think ?
Chintan Shah 2 years ago
I like this post. It did make me think about how fortunate I am to not only own my house but also have enough disposable income to be able to spend on these types of things. I hope we all take a moment to reflect on how there are many hardworking individuals in the world without these luxuries and can give back to those less fortunate in a meaningful way.
DE Ray 2 years ago
Nobody mentioned the plumber's snake. They cost well under $100, are basically the same tool professional plumbers use for 70% of emergency calls, and are breathtakingly easy to use. When I was a landlord with four small rent houses, I saved probably close to $10k in plumbing fees in 4 years with one.
Daniel Marsh 2 years ago
Does this count? I found a sun roof on my car makes a world of difference on my mood. Of course, it was that I bought a very old used car, not that I put one in. But the price difference between it and a similar car with no moon roof was way less than $1000.
A Jones 2 years ago
Window flytraps are the best kind out there (out of everything I tried). They are thin pieces of transparent panels you just stick to windows. I get yearly "plagues" due to the mediocre ventilation of my apartment. I also think I have a not-so-clean neighbor next door where they're coming from. So they do amazing as the pests seem to gather there often.
Kate Jones 2 years ago
Years ago, my parents upgraded their house from using oil and radiators to a gas system. It didn't even cost that much to do, they got a huge rebate in taxes for doing it and it worked soooooo much better. It was so much cheaper per month to run. Any cost they paid was well worth it in the long run from what they saved in just buying oil every 3 months in the winter.
Jutta Plötz 10 months ago
A good upgrade is replacing the lamps with a single bulb with several bulbs in low light areas so if the break you don’t try to replace it in the dark.
SoCal Sandy 2 years ago
Cheap Craiglist 7x9 rug for dining room floor when my kids were babies & toddlers. Steam clean the spaghetti sauce out and throw rug away when it's too far gone. We bought 3 over several years for less than $50 each.
IlovemydogShilo 2 years ago
I meant to say we got a dog. There's nothing like a pet to make we a house a home
Load More Replies...
Alex the Country Dog 2 years ago
And apparently a judgmental, closed-minded one.
Load More Replies... Chintan Shah 2 years ago
I like this post. It did make me think about how fortunate I am to not only own my house but also have enough disposable income to be able to spend on these types of things. I hope we all take a moment to reflect on how there are many hardworking individuals in the world without these luxuries and can give back to those less fortunate in a meaningful way.
DE Ray 2 years ago
Nobody mentioned the plumber's snake. They cost well under $100, are basically the same tool professional plumbers use for 70% of emergency calls, and are breathtakingly easy to use. When I was a landlord with four small rent houses, I saved probably close to $10k in plumbing fees in 4 years with one.
Daniel Marsh 2 years ago
Does this count? I found a sun roof on my car makes a world of difference on my mood. Of course, it was that I bought a very old used car, not that I put one in. But the price difference between it and a similar car with no moon roof was way less than $1000.
A Jones 2 years ago
Window flytraps are the best kind out there (out of everything I tried). They are thin pieces of transparent panels you just stick to windows. I get yearly "plagues" due to the mediocre ventilation of my apartment. I also think I have a not-so-clean neighbor next door where they're coming from. So they do amazing as the pests seem to gather there often.
Kate Jones 2 years ago
Years ago, my parents upgraded their house from using oil and radiators to a gas system. It didn't even cost that much to do, they got a huge rebate in taxes for doing it and it worked soooooo much better. It was so much cheaper per month to run. Any cost they paid was well worth it in the long run from what they saved in just buying oil every 3 months in the winter.
Jutta Plötz 10 months ago
A good upgrade is replacing the lamps with a single bulb with several bulbs in low light areas so if the break you don’t try to replace it in the dark.
SoCal Sandy 2 years ago
Cheap Craiglist 7x9 rug for dining room floor when my kids were babies & toddlers. Steam clean the spaghetti sauce out and throw rug away when it's too far gone. We bought 3 over several years for less than $50 each.
IlovemydogShilo 2 years ago
I meant to say we got a dog. There's nothing like a pet to make we a house a home
Load More Replies... Alex the Country Dog 2 years ago
And apparently a judgmental, closed-minded one.
Load More Replies...
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