Back in 2008 one in five claimed that they would spend a £1,000 windfall on home repairs, but that figure has dropped to only 1 in ten. It seems that as our budgets have become tighter we are re-evaluating out priorities. According to the report our top three priorities are now paying the bills, adding to our savings for that rainy day and saving for big ticket purchases – leaving little or no cash for home repairs, maintenance and redecoration.
These are worrying statistics as not only does a lack of maintenance potentially result in a very expensive emergency, but it also affects how we feel about our homes and our lives. Brightening up your living space can give you a real boost. It can be as good, if not better than going on holiday. And in troubled times we need to find every little way we can to make ourselves feel more positive and in control of our lives.
In addition we Brits are spending more evenings in front of the TV as nights out become more of a treat. And this means more of us are cooking from scratch, which can only be good for our health, waistlines and wellbeing.
Feeling the pinch? Hurry up and enter our competition and you could win a gift card from B&Q worth £150 – just think what you could do with that….and how much better you will feel with a newly decorated home.
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Another thing (at least in my experience anyway) is that people lack the skills (and in some cases the imagination) to actually attempt a DIY project, I've lost count of the amount of adverts I've seen for people who will come to your home and put the flat pack furniture you've just bought together for you.
ReplyDeleteI've also found that there's this attitude that everything has to be new, so no re-cycling materials or re-purposing items for a different use, and I've found that there also seems to be an attitude that says it's not good unless you paid loads of money for someone else to do the painting or wallpapering, so almost like there's an elevated status in shelling out loads of cash for something you could have done for a fraction of the price, so as an example re-claimed wooden kitchen worktops that you bought for say £100 are not as good as the ones bought brand new for £500 when they are essentially the same thing.
But as I say it's just my experience.