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The Idea For the Spreadsheet
When we first moved into our home at the beginning of 2021, we had so many projects we wanted to complete in our home, but we did not have the money to do everything at once. So, we needed to prioritize. Ultimately, the projects came down to doing projects in rooms where we spent the most time in (makes sense) which was the living room, flex room, our bedroom and a bit of the kitchen. Now that we had our prioritized rooms in mind, we needed to list out all of the details of each project in one place.
This is where the spreadsheet comes in. We created a shared Google Sheet document that both Travis and I can edit as needed. The spreadsheet would include all of the projects we wanted to complete in our home by the end of the year with fine detail of what would go into each project. By breaking the projects down into finer detail, we could really dissect the financials of it all. We set up the spreadsheet with the following column titles.
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Item: A brief description of the item that we would be purchasing
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Room: Which room this item would be for
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Estimated Amount: Based on a bit of research, we estimated how much the item would cost
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Who Paid: Travis and I are not married, so our expenses are still separate. All of the items we buy for our home are considered 'ours', but it is nice to know who paid for it just in case there is a discrepancy, we know whose bank account to reference
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ROI: Is this item going to be an 'Expense' or an 'Upgrade'? Items labeled 'Expense' can be taken when if move (furniture, certain appliances, etc.). 'Upgrade' items are upgrades to the house that will stay if we move (flooring, paint, light fixtures, etc.)
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Purchased: If the item has been purchased, we put a 'Yes' in this column
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Notes: Any particular items we need to check in on with the installer, manufacturer, seller or if the item is backordered
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Actual Amount: After the item is purchased, we put down the actual amount of the item to see how off-base we were in our estimate (or how much we saved compared to our estimate)
We Went Through Every Room
We sat down in our living room and just looked at the entire room and determined what we wanted to add and change. Items for the living room included, a larger rug, ceilings fan, curtains, curtain rod, sofa, coffee table, media console (basically everything). Our old furniture from our previous separate apartments and our rent house together, was just not proportional to the our new living room. We would have to purchase new furniture that would make sense for the space. Like I said, we are not made of money, so this spreadsheet is meant to be a year long process. These items on the list might even roll over into next year. We are trying to give ourselves grace through this entire process. I (Chelsea) wants it all done sooner rather than later and Travis needs a bit more time to pull the trigger on things. Like I said in the 'Our Home' intro, we make a great team.
After we made a list for the living room, we went into the kitchen and looked over everything, opened every cabinet and drawer, browsed the pantry and made a list for the kitchen as we went. The kitchen was pretty mild of a list with some of the items being new pendant lights over the island, cabinet pulls on all of the drawers and cabinets and changing out the drawer sliders to be soft close to name a few.
Next was the flex room adjacent to the living room where we wanted to make a little lounge, cocktail, music area. This room needed new accent chairs, side table, decor, curtains, curtain rod and rug.
Lastly was our bedroom which need a new bed frame and mattress (we do not regret upgrading to a king) and new dresser, night stands, curtains, curtain rods, lamps (basically a complete overhaul).
These were the rooms we would focus on this year. Once an item was completed, we highlighted that item in the spreadsheet to get a better visual of what is left.
Reevaluating
With it now being 8 months since we moved in, we revisited the list. We scoped out the items that were left to purchase and evaluated if those items were still a priority. If some of the items that were left weren't a priority for the rest of the year, we moved them to the 2022 spreadsheet. We also took this time to evaluate our budget of what we expected to spend for this year and if we were on track. This helped us to determine what types of items would move to next year's spreadsheet based on cost and priority.
Creating Your Own Spreadsheet
If you want to create your own spreadsheet for your home, follow the link below!
