Home repairs are expensive. They can usually end up costing you hundreds per hour and thousands for the job. You’ll be lucky if any insurance can cover the repairs. But what do you do if you can’t afford the repairs and you still need it to get done? Luckily, there is plenty you can do that can help you get the repairs you need without worrying too much about money.
The best ways to afford to repair your home include: having a side hustle, selling through online stores, knowing the right people, and doing it yourself. Home repairs can cost a lot and starting to save now can help ease some stress away when a repair is needed.
Lets look deeper into each of these areas to understand how they can help and what the best way to go about them is.
Prepare in Advance for Home Repairs
If your house is a older, you may want to update it, fix a couple of holes, replace the plumbing so it’s fresh, etc. Don’t get started on anything until you have the money, supplies, and help you need. Don’t make your summer project a new bathroom when you don’t have the money to change it and account for mistakes or extra damage.
A lot of the time with repairs something may come up that can change the way things are done. Extra repairs may need to be done and other things may break along the way. Save more than the amount you need so you don’t have to stress when those extras pop up.
I also highly suggest going to Home Advisor because they offer two main services that will help with repairs. They have a questionnaire that helps them understand what the problem is and then they can connect you with people who can help with the specific repairs you need. It also has a page dedicated to Fixed Price Services. So if you want to go a cheaper route and see exactly how much your paying, the fixed prices will be better.
Getting to know more people in your area can help if you don’t know what to do when you can’t afford home repairs. A network of people helps introduce you to those who may offer different types of home repairs. Get a quote from them and start discussing the repairs you need. Gathering information on the prices of things you need first will be helpful to know how much you need to save for the repairs.
Side Hustles
Side hustles can sound like an unstable way to earn money. You might worry that you’ll become a part of a scam or that the business will suddenly disappear. When it comes to side hustles, they can be a good way to earn money and if you know where to look you can find good ones.
The most important thing you need to do is plenty of research on the businesses you work with, be clear on what you are doing, and carefully read any contracts they pose.
Some common side hustles include taking surveys for cash, manage ads for businesses, food delivery, blogging, editing or content writing, pet care, child care, rideshare driver, tutoring, freelance, etc.
- Survey Junkie– Little slower when it comes to earning cash. You take surveys and they usually pay you in gift cards or through PayPal.
- Ads- Talk to the small business in your area or that you know of online and offer to run their ads for cash.
- Food Delivery– DoorDash or Uber Eats is a great way to earn money in your area. Every town needs at least one and you do it on your own time.
- Blogging– This or any form of social media presence can eventually become a money maker. Plenty of people today start their own stream channel, famous Instagram, etc. If you can make good consistent content, your odds of success improve.
- Ride Share Driver– Uber and Lyft are the taxies of today and just like food delivery, it’s a great way to earn a lot of money. However, it does depend on the need in your area and the size of your area.
- Pet or Child Care– Care.com is a child sitting website always looking for more babysitters for the area. You can also talk to friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc. about taking care of their kids for a date or watching the pets for the weekend. Rover is a good pet care website like Care.com.
- Plasma– There is likely a plasma center in your area. If you aren’t too scared of needles you can donate your plasma for cash. Most places also offer bonuses depending on how often you donate and when you first start. Nothing wrong with earning money while being of help.
Online Selling Side Hustle
Places like Facebook, Shopify, Esty, eBay, etc. lets you sell furniture, homemade gifts, baked goods, and more. Just make sure that you aren’t pricing it too high and you are selling things that actually have worth, not just the T-shirt that has a couple of holes in it. There are also many different ways you can approach online selling.
Types of Selling can include:
- Creative- Create things and sell them online. However, this does mean you’ll be spending money on supplies.
- Documents- Teachers Pay Teachers or Etsy lets you sell printables where you only create the document to sell and you just need to print and ship or sell the file to them.
- Home Goods- Go through your stuff and storage and start selling all the things you don’t use anymore.
- Flipping- Go to a thrift store, find free furniture, find old clothes, or old cars, fix up the product and sell it for more money.
Get Connected
Inexpensive home repair businesses are hard to come by. The best way to get a service for cheaper is to know someone. Get closer with your friends and family. Ask them if they know anybody good they would recommend.
Go to community events, talk to people in your neighborhood, host BBQs, just get out there and connect with people. Soon enough you’ll stumble upon a good repairman. They might be willing to help you or even teach you. Be a good friend and pay them, and they might offer a discount in return.
Barter for Home Repairs
You may not have plumber skills or an electrical license but it’s possible to barter. Maybe you are a decent painter and can trade those services for plumbing or electrical work with a contractor you know in those industries. You can also trade landscaping or lawn care for repair work you don’t feel comfortable with.
Consider all the skills and experience you have and then ask professional contractors if they will trade their work for your service. This could be:
- Web design
- Bookkeeping
- Marketing
- Writing company newsletters
Perhaps you could also offer to refer friends and family to them with serious effort in exchange for a discount for every referral?
DIY Repair Projects
There are some cases when doing a project yourself will be a lot cheaper. Some places will say it costs $200 or more to fill a couple of screw holes. You can buy a kit that solves the same problem for $9 at Lowe’s.
Smaller projects, you can definitely do yourself, but do your research first so you don’t make matters worse and need to pay for bigger repairs later. A bigger project like fixing plumbing, do ample research. And if you are not confident you can handle it, hiring a professional may be the only option.