April 2018 Spending Report

Hi folks,

Welcome to my fifth spending report where I'll be bringing you up to speed on my progress during the fourth month of 2018.

Just in case you're new to this, I'll explain a little bit on what it's about.

Below is a detailed list of all the jobs I've completed during April 2018, split into the little and not-so-little projects. The major projects are ones that take me more than 5 days, the minor ones take 5 days or less.

I've gone into a little detail on each, and will eventually do some detailed how-to blog posts on them in time. Although I don't keep an exact tally of the time it takes me to do each DIY project, I have put a pretty accurate amount of days against each. I've also estimated how much I reckon I've saved by not paying a professional to do the work.

To the right (or below if looking on a phone) is a summary of the whole page. You'll notice that I keep a running tally of the figures that occurred in previous spending reports to give you a good idea of the whole costs.

That's it, enjoy reading folks and I hope you find this information valuable if you're about to start a similar project...

Jump straight to...


DIY SPENDING SUMMARY


During April 2018:                        £943.74

Total so far:                                     £14446.80


ESTIMATED MONEY SAVED

During April 2018:                         £1050.00

Total so far:                                      £14275.00


TIME SPENT ON DIY


During April 2018:                           9 days

Total so far:                                        83.5 days


NUMBER OF DIY PROJECTS


Small DIY Projects completed in April 2018: 0

Total so far: 8

Large DIY Projects completed in April 2018: 1 (two half's)

Total so far: 4.5


How do you estimate the money saved?

The Main Bedroom

For now it's the main bedroom, until I build the extension that is.

view from corner of main bedroom
Half way through tearing off the bad bits of plaster

This room kicked off on Saturday 24th March 2018, where I stripped the wall of wallpaper and did a lot of plaster repair, including changing the sockets and switches, and skim coating the whole lot. I did this alongside the 2nd Bedroom, where I pretty much did the same type of work.

  • Total cost of DIY Project: £600.39
  • Estimated Money Saved: £525 (1 day plasterer, 0.5 day electrician, 1.5 day painter)
  • Time Taken: 5 days
  • 1/2 Large DIY Project (I'll be revisiting this later when I replace the radiator and other bits)

DIY COST BREAKDOWN (all incl. VAT)

  • 2 Hillary's blinds = £460.00
  • 1/2 heavy duty dustsheet = £4.50
  • 2 masking tape = £4.00
  • 3 light duty dust sheets =£3.00
  • 2 double back boxes =£2.20
  • 2 double socket fascias (brushed stainless steel) =£16.00
  • 2 double socket fascias with USB charging points (brushed stainless steel) =£28.78
  • 3m twin and earth cable =£3.00
  • TV aerial socket fascia =£5.16
  • 2 bags Thistle Multifinish plaster =£13.73
  • 1 bag Thistle Deepfill = £6.98
  • 1/2 tin Matt emulsion (mist coat) = £6.00
  • Roller Sleeve = £2.58
  • Valspar V700 Premium Blend paint, custom colour (creme) = £45

The 3rd Bedroom

The 3rd bedroom was made of pretty dated stuff and had 3 sockets, way too little these days, so I set about sorting it out.

corner view looking into bedroom with everything covered in dust sheets. wallpaper is stripped and half way through diy job
I literally crammed everything in one big pile in the centre of the room, then held it all together using dust sheets and masking tape!

Like the main bedroom, this room kicked off on Saturday 24th March 2018, where I stripped the wall of wallpaper and did a lot of plaster repair, including changing the sockets and switches, and skim coating the whole lot.

  • Total cost of DIY Project: £343.35
  • Estimated Money Saved: £525 (1 day plasterer, 0.5 day electrician, 1.5 day painter)
  • Time Taken: 4 days
  • 1/2 Large DIY Project (I'll be revisiting this later when I replace the radiator)

DIY COST BREAKDOWN (all incl. VAT)

  • 1 Hillary blinds = £230.00
  • 1/2 heavy duty dustsheet = £4.50
  • 2 masking tape = £4.00
  • 4 light duty dust sheets = £4.00
  • 2 double back boxes = £2.20
  • 1 double socket fascia (brushed stainless steel) = £8.00
  • 2 double socket fascias with USB charging points (brushed stainless steel) = £28.78
  • 2m twin and earth cable = approx. £1.00
  • 2 bags Thistle Multifinish plaster = £13.73
  • 1 bag Thistle Deepfill = £6.98
  • 1/2 tin Matt emulsion (mist coat) = £6.00
  • 2 Roller Sleeves = £5.16
  • 1 tin Dulux Natural Slate paint = £16
  • 1 tin Electric Blue paint (feature wall) = £12

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