Master Bath Budget Planning

As we put the master bathroom back together, I am determined that we'll keep the spending within our small budget and know, at all times, the exact amount of money that we've spent and how much we have left.

This has been one of our biggest issues as we've been working room by room. Because of 1,000 small trips to Home Depot (sometimes multiple times a day), I really couldn't tell you how much we spent on the front bathroom because the expenses are spread around the ATM, Credit, Cash, gift cards, etc...

Most of the issue has been that we had no idea what we're going to need until we need it and planning ahead is my strength, not Dave's. As you read about here, here, here, and here this room has already been started and $6,000 has already been spent on the exterior wall and rough plumbing and electrical.

As I showed you a few days ago, we're now ready to move onto the next stage of the project which is putting the floor, walls, and new ceiling back together.

This project has a couple good things going for it in the money department.

1. We've put a bathroom together before, so Dave knows a lot more of the "unexpected costs" so they can now become expected costs.
2. I know that I need to be instrumental in the planning and I've learned A LOT watching him and Homes on Homes (love that show).
3. There aren't 101 projects going on at the same time; the distractability is dramatically decreased.
4. We have a firm budget of $1,600 and it is cash in-hand. We don't have any money other than that to go "over" into like last time when there was a giant chunk of cash (sadly, the giant chunk was a lot more fun).
5. We have a firm deadline of April 7. His parents will be here the next day for his graduation and his motivation to have it done is high.
6. After yesterday, he has one class period to attend and one final to take, and he is completely done with school!!

Where do we start this magical budgeting planning process?

For the past two weeks, I've been asking Dave to tell me what he needs to do and in what order to get him pre-thinking about it. I've been taking notes.

Saturday, I sat him down with my excel spreadsheet ready with everything he's told me and we added a lot more of the parts of the process.Home Depot was our next step. We spent two hours walking around, writing down the costs and correctly estimating how much of everything we needed. We even added a few things we'd forgotten. The first "brainstorm" list then transformed into a budget speadsheet, subtotaled into the main categories of this stage of the project (HVAC, Structural repairs, Insulation, and Drywall/Shower Inclosure). Adding Riverside's 8.85% sales tax and a 15% overage opps fund (according to Homes, this is standard for all contractors), we're budgeted at $1,660.11

I think our month budget can absorb $60.11.

This Saturday, we'll be going to Home Depot and purchasing this shopping list! And there will be $100 petty cash in our money box in case of an emergency Home Depot run...