Hi folks,
Welcome to my fourth spending report where I'll be bringing you up to speed on my progress during March 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 March 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 March 2018: £386.33
Total so far: £13889.39
ESTIMATED MONEY SAVED
During March 2018: £225.00
Total so far: £13225.00
TIME SPENT ON DIY
During March 2018: 2.5 days
Total so far: 74.5 days
NUMBER OF DIY PROJECTS
Small DIY Projects completed in March 2018: 1.5
Total so far: 8
Large DIY Projects completed in March 2018: 0
Total so far: 3.5
The Desk
I made a good start on building a Bespoke wooden desk made from Sapele hardwood to match the shelf wall in my Dining Room
Woodworking is what I love the most, and this desk is no exception. It was a bit of a challenge though, as the 600mm deep desk was formed from two pieces that were 300mm wide, so I had a 3.6m long join to hide right down the middle! I'm half way through building it, so this spending report will be continued in a later month.
- Total cost of DIY Project: £386.33
- Estimated Money Saved: £225.00 (carpenter for 1.5 days)
- Time Taken: 2 days (so far)
- 1/2 a small DIY Project (I still need to put the drawers in)
DIY COST BREAKDOWN (all incl. VAT)
- 3m2 Sapele Hardwood, cut to order = £228.60
- zip bolts x 2 =£9.00 (I used several but had some leftover)
- 1No 2.4m long C16 grade pine wood = £12
- 8No. 100mm long 7.0 screws = £0.80
- Other assorted screws = £2.00
- 4No. 600mm wide B&Q IT Kitchen Prestige Drawers = £75.96
- 3No. 400mm wide B&Q IT Kitchen Prestige Drawers = £50.97
- A load of Rawl plugs - £0.50
- Loba WS 2K Fusion & Hardener A1 (part pot) = £3.00
- Lecol 7500 Filler (part pot) = £2.00
- 120 & 60 grit sand paper = £1.50
I made a good saving on the drawers. I found the ones I wanted from B&Q, but were quite pricey as they were from their "Prestige" range. However, after a little digging around, I realised they were about half the price on Amazon, and surprisingly it was B&Q selling them on Amazon, go figure!
I'll be returning to the desk to finish it off at a later date, got to get on with other stuff for now. Here's the design of the front view on the completed desk, you can see the drawers along it's full length, and the full height drawers on the right:
The Sledge
Sometimes, you just want to make something for fun, it's not all about shelves, painting or decorating. It unexpectedly snowed on March 17th, I sacked off the house DIY and made a sledge for my daughter and her friend.
Granted, it's looks pretty crap, but it's robust as hell and it worked.
- Total cost of DIY Project: £NA
- Estimated Money Saved: £NA
- Time Taken: 1/2 night
- Small DIY Project (it deserves to be recorded in the project log)
DIY COST BREAKDOWN (all incl. VAT)
I'll be honest, most of it was formed using bits of offcuts, old rope and some spare screws. There really was no cost with this, other than my sanity for staying up till 5am to make the thing!
Here's the sledge in action:
