4 HOME MAINTENANCE SAVINGS STRATEGIES

GUEST BLOGGER: EMMA PARKHURST 

​I have been a homeowner for just about a year now, and so far my husband and I have dealt with 3 different leaks and 5 days with a broken furnace during the winter. We are no strangers to these problems – we experienced both in our first apartment together. Luckily our past experiences with these issues gave us the motivation to prepare for inevitable home maintenance issues. Right after we closed on our home, we really focused on beefing up our “rainy-day fund”, or should I say “leak-and-no-heat-day fund” using these strategies:

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• Automatic Savings Payments. If this feature is available through your bank or credit union, set a percentage of your paycheck to automatically deposit into a savings account. This helps us immensely as a couple since we tend to forget to allocate funds for our savings.
• Smarter Grocery Shopping: Meal Planning Beforehand. This tip prevented us from buying food items that had no meal to go with. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the grocery store only to get home realizing I don’t have anything to make an actual meal. It might also be worth shopping around different stores to see which one carries less expensive items. For example, we get our poultry products at Smith’s, but purchase produce from Trader Joe’s or Sprouts because it is less expensive. This works out perfectly for us because these stores are all on the same street in our neighborhood. If this isn’t realistic for you, consider some other options like buying generic brands, selecting and using coupons carefully, or shopping alone and after you have eaten.
• Collect Small Bills: Okay – this one is a bit old school. We have a jar in our house that we use to collect any cash that is $10 or less. We don’t always use cash, but when we have these smaller bills we stash them in the jar and add them to our savings.
• Buy Used When Appropriate: We have saved so much money by purchasing second-hand items on KSL, Facebook Marketplace, or estate sales. As newer homeowners, we also try to take advantage of hand-me-down furniture from family members or clearance items at furniture stores.

These are just a couple of money-saving tips that personally work for us and have helped us increase our home maintenance fund. Check out Slashing Expenses, a guide to help you slash your expenses and save more, for additional ideas to boost your home maintenance fund!