It may seem lofty to make a master plan for your home and yard if you are a person of simple means, but those simple means are exactly why you should make a master plan. Making a long range master plan will save you money and help you to create the kind of home and yard you want. Pandemic days are perfect days to enlist in long range planning like this.
Will you stay or will you go?
The first decision you have to make is whether you will stay in your current living situation or move. This decision will affect all the decisions that come after. For example, I'm not sure if we'll stay or if we'll go. A year ago, I was sure that I would move, but now, with more time at home, I'm recognizing many benefits of my current home so I just might stay. The indecision affects next decisions because I'll prioritize actions in the master plan that benefit the home whether we stay here or if we decide to sell.
The must-do list
The master plan has to start with the must-do jobs--jobs that make your home and yard safe and sustainable. It's good to audit all the spaces and make a list of what has to be fixed right away. Once you have the list, then research how to make those repairs. Often the repairs are much simpler than you imagined, but sometimes the repairs do require hiring an expert to do the job.
Clean and purge
The next step is to purge your home of all unnecessary objects, objects you will likely never use again. This includes paperwork that can easily be found online. As much as possible give away unneeded items to those who may need them. Recycle what you can, and throw out the rest. Once you've purged, then do a thorough cleaning of your home.
Dream list
What does your living space mean to you? What do you like about it and what don't you like about it? If you had all the money in the world, what would you do to your home? What do you want your life-at-home experience to be like. Dream big, then work on a more realistic list of doable updates.
Updates
After that it is time to update and refresh spaces in your home. Since this likely costs money, you will need to make a priority list based on your finances and needs. For example, we think about updating our deck to make it a bit larger, but that's costly and our deck is still solid, so that won't be high on the list right now. However, several rooms need painting--that's not too expensive and we have the time and money to afford paint so that will likely rise to the top of the list. As we make the update list, we have many questions to answer including the following:
- How can we make our home more warm and welcoming for guests?
- What furniture is uncomfortable or falling apart that needs to be replaced?
- What updates will save us money now and in the long run? For example we replaced our windows a few years ago and that was a really good idea since the house is warmer and the windows stay cleaner allowing the light to come through.
- What updates will prepare our house for the next stage of our living or to sell the house?