Reduce Stress While Renovating

Just type “renovations divorce” into a search engine, and you are not greeted with articles about divorcing your DIY project (although most of us may want to at some point), but you are coldly faced with endless features on how much stress a renovation can cause a partnership and/or family. Unfortunately, at some point in your married life you are likely to have to carry out some kind of renovation, whether it is simply painting, ripping out bathrooms or hiring a contractor (or three) to remodel your living space. Reducing the stress while renovating can keep family life a lot more even keel and save you a lot of worry.

Steps

 * 1) Be realistic and set a budget. Set realistic goals and a budget you know you can afford. Setting up a budget sheet so you can see the numbers day by day can help relieve financial stress.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 1.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Realize that renovation budgets have a tendency to balloon or blow out. Are you prepared for this or is there an absolute line after which you'll say, "no more"?
 * 3) *Be sensible about choices for fittings and the like. Do you really need the most expensive when a lower cost item will still look great and function perfectly?
 * 4) *Get a range of quotes from different places and service providers. That way you will know what the basic industry prices are and can bargain better.
 * 5) Manage the renovation as a project. Keep good records of expenditure, of things done and not done, contact details of tradespersons, accounts of broken/damaged or unfinished things, and so forth. Set goals and desired finish times for elements of the project, breaking it down into reasonably achievable chunks. By staying on top of the documentation, invoices and comings and goings of tradespersons, you'll keep things running much more smoothly than if you approach the renovation in a haphazard manner without goal or end dates.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 2.jpg|center]]
 * 6) *Divide the tasks among family according to strengths. If your wife is a whizz with accounts, or your husband is brilliant with bargaining, assign those tasks to the person best able to do it. Even the kids can get involved, with such things as suggestions for garden designs, searching for fittings online and making a Pinterest board of ideas. By involving everyone in the project, there is buy in and more interest in the eventual outcome.
 * 7) Cope with the inevitable small hiccup with a philosophical mindset. Relax. Okay, so if a wall falls down, then you have every right to jump around, stamp your feet and scream from the rooftops. However, if you find that the dust is piling up in the corner, you've purchased the wrong shaped fittings or the room hasn't been completed precisely on time, then don’t panic. These things can be rectified easily enough, so don’t let yourself stress out.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 3.jpg|center]]
 * 8) *Be aware that just as with budgets, deadlines tend to blow out. Promises made by tradespersons don't always pan out, and expected finish times are often delayed by unforeseen problems that need attending to. At the end of the day, it is better to approach the renovation slowly but surely than to cover up problems and finish quickly, only to have the problems ending up undermining safety, longevity or soundness.
 * 9) Get professional help for the things you cannot do. Avoid doing renovating jobs you have no qualifications for or no idea how to go about. It's just not worth the hassle and stress involved, and there can be a potential for physical harm too.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 4.jpg|center]]
 * 10) *In some cases, you may find that working alongside a renovation professional is a good option. You can be the laborer, the general dogsbody and the professional will do all the hard work. This can save money, depending on what it is the professional is doing.
 * 11) Tidy at the end of the day. After a long day of renovating, the last thing on your mind may be tidying up to create a mess the next day. But give it a try to see how much better you feel. Returning to a tidy work site will start your renovation day on a positive note, and it stops the mess from piling up over the course of your renovation.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 5.jpg|center]]
 * 12) *Enjoy your shower or bath after each day's hard renovation. Have a bubble bath if you like that sort of thing. A little bit of pampering is well earned during renovations.
 * 13) Take a break now and then. Get out of the house! Pack your loved ones up in to the car, stop by the grocery store to pick up picnic food and head out for a few hours off from your relaxation. You’ve earned it and you will be ready to work hard the next day.[[Image:Reduce Stress While Renovating Step 6.jpg|center]]
 * 14) *Eat out or have take-outs now and then, to ease the burden of having to cook as well as renovate all of the time.

Tips

 * Friends and extended family may be able to help out now and then. However, don't make the mistake of forcing them or of leaning on them too heavily.
 * If your sleeping quarters, bathroom facilities and eating areas are badly impacted by the renovations, consider moving out for a time. You could rent another house nearby, move into a cheap motel or camp out the back in an RV. Or, move in with extended family or friends for a short while, if they have an in-law apartment or similar.

Warnings

 * Renovating is stressful and it can be expensive. Things do go wrong. By acknowledging that the project you're about to undertake has challenges and likely unforeseen bad events, you can help shore yourself up against the more negative moments renovation brings.

Sources and Citations

 * http://www.myreno411.com/articles/tips-advice/reduce-stress-while-renovating – research source