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
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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.
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.
Tip: empty bottles can be stored at ambient temperature.
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.
Painted the interior of the whole house before moving in. It feels 20 years newer.
Automatic light sensors for the laundry room and pantry. Not having to fumble while carrying a load with two hands is wonderful.
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
Bidet toilet seat. Your butt will never feel so clean. And the heated seat is great in the winter.
Cabinet hinges with slow-close springs. Like moving to Beverly Hills.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A tankless water heater. Taking a shower with endless hot water is life changing.
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!
Good thinking! I have put lazy Susans in my pantry shelves, but pull out shelves would be good for the under sink shelves etc.
Hiring a professional cleaning service twice a month. :P
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.
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.
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
Range hood vent. I can cook what I want and sear the f*ck out of some steaks.
When I had toddlers that answer was a fully fenced yard. Life changing.
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.
People don't think about it, but dishwashers are so much more efficient, too. Not only do they do a better job of cleaning, but they use significantly less water than hand-washing.
Isn't that only true if, like most people, you keep the water running while you wash the dishes? I have a dishwasher but I always wash by hand because (1) I hardly use any water, turning it on only to rinse off what I washed, and (2) every dishwasher I've ever used has done a terrible job actually getting the dishes clean.
Load More Replies...My dishwasher was an excellent investment: I am disabled and often on bed rest 3 or 4 days a week. I bought an affordable dishwasher and took out an insurance policy which will replace it should it break down. If I've been unwell for days, the last thing I want is a tiny kitchen covered in dirty dishes.
I actually didn’t realize for a long time that not everybody has one. Now that I think about it it makes sense, very useful.
Wait...there's people who use JUST the dishwasher and don't hand wash them before they put them in the dishwasher? Now that's a concept.
When we gutted our kitchen decades ago, my husband asked if we really needed a D/W. I'm still laughing.
My neighbors kids used to argue about whose turn it was to UNLOAD the dishwasher. Every night.
I never used mine. Even with a room mate it took 2 weeks to fill it up and make running it anything less than a senseless waste. And by the time it was full enough to run it there was that nasty dishes been left sitting smell. Much more efficient to just hand wash. Throw kids into the mix and it's a different story tho, lol.
My dishwasher is haunted. No Sh!t. This thing start by itself anytime it wants to, turned on or not. The normal cycle is two and a half hours long, and sounds like a pissed off badger in a running clothes dryer. The "quick-wash" setting runs for over an hour. The door seal likes to tighten up in the middle, causing soapy water arterial spray to blast out, like a pair of squirters scissoring on my kitchen floor. My landlord, Papa Legba, refuses to replace it. His ass says it cannot leave, then mumbles something about the blind causing a holy war.
When my husband and I bought our first house we were showing my brother in law around and as we went in to the kitchen I said, "Sadly, no dishwasher." Without skipping a beat he said, "I see two." I swear it took me way longer than it should have to figure that out.
I rent, and I refuse to rent a place that doesn’t have a dishwasher or laundry machines. The two places I’ve lived without a dishwasher were agony. Doing laundry in the tub sucks a lot. For quality of life as a single person, I highly recommend trying to get one or both if you are able to! (Not everyone is able to, I know!)
We have a rota of who does cooking and who does the washing up. Washing by hand gets the dishes cleaner and if you wash as you cook, there really isn't a huge amount left to do at the end. I don't feel I am missing out by not having one. I never have arguments about who fills it and who empties it and I never have to use an alternative bowl because they are all in the dishwasher.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
$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.
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.
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.
Not a thing in tropical countries... unfortunately... I dream of AC and to pay the power bill for it
Note: this post originally had 78 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I meant to say we got a dog. There's nothing like a pet to make we a house a home
Load More Replies...And apparently a judgmental, closed-minded one.
Load More Replies...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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I meant to say we got a dog. There's nothing like a pet to make we a house a home
Load More Replies...And apparently a judgmental, closed-minded one.
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