How To Stay Organized and On Budget
If you’ve gone through the lesson on making a plan for your project (start there first!), you’ve already heard about my recommendation to use a Budget and Item Tracker spreadsheet to help you stay organized and on budget. Go ahead and click the button below to head to a Google Sheet that you can download and use for your own projects, then read on for my strategies.
I know, I know - budgeting isn’t the most fun part, but it’s important! Determining your budget ahead of time will help keep your wallet happy as you dive into the design process.
You can go at budgeting from one of two directions: top-down or bottom-up. They’ll both give you a total overall budget, but the approaches are different. Let me explain what I mean…
Top-down budgeting
This is where you choose a total number that you want to stay at or near to complete the project. Let’s say you know you’d like to spend $8,000 redecorating your bedroom. That’s an amount you feel comfortable allocating to that space and you think it will allow you to get everything you need.
With your $8,000 budget in hand, you’ll be able to spend “against it” as you find your bed, rug, dresser, etc. It gives you flexibility with what you spend on each piece individually, but gives you an overall “ceiling” to stay under. It’s a good practice to have some line-item numbers in mind for what you’d like to spend on certain pieces, but there’s a lot of flexibility there. I suggest tracking what you’ve spent in your Budget and Item Tracker as you go along so you know where you are and how much you have left. Accountability is key here so you don’t go over budget!
Bottom-up budgeting
This strategy goes at it from a piece-by-piece method from the get-go. Instead of picking an overall budget and working within it, you’re going to decide what you’d like to spend on each piece individually then add it all up in order to come up with your total. The reason you might want to consider bottom-up budgeting is because it helps you prioritize where you want to spend vs. save from the outset so you make good buying decisions as you go along.
Let’s keep using our bedroom project as an example: let’s say you know you want to invest in a bed and dresser, but would like to spend less on a rug, bedside tables, and lamps to achieve that look and style you have in your mind.
In this case, your line-item budget might look like this:
Bed: $1,200
Dresser: $1,000
Rug: $300
Bedside Tables: $250 each
Lamps: $150 each
That would make your total budget $3,300 for the room. (Now, of course this isn’t everything a bedroom needs - don’t forget to factor in other items like bedding, art, and a mirror, but this gives you a general sense of how bottom-up budgeting might work!).
Again, best practice for budgeting is to track it! List out all the items and your budget for each to get your total budget. Then, once you find the actual piece you want to purchase, add the number for the actual amount you spent on it.
So which method is best?
They’re both good! It’s more about personal preference and how your brain works. Some folks like to have flexibility in their budgets and would rather “spend against” their overall budget as they find those perfect pieces of furniture and decor while others like to have tighter parameters from the get-go so they can narrow their search and stay disciplined about where their money goes. I bet you know which camp you fall into without thinking too hard about it!
In the e-design world, I ask folks what their overall budget is in my initial questionnaire and then I allocate that money according to the client’s priorities and preferences, so I’m usually going the top-down route. I typically set a ballpark range for each piece so when I’m on the hunt, I know what I generally have to spend on it.
Occasionally I have a client that isn’t sure what she should spend on her room, so in that case, I’ll help her think through it by putting together a bottom-up budget using an itemized list of what we’ll need. That way, she’ll be able to see all the items we’ll need for the design and what they might cost. I’ll include ranges for those pieces and give her a “high/low” overall budget and then she can decide what she’s comfortable spending.
Where to splurge vs. save
This can be a tough topic because everyone prioritizes things differently and places value on certain items more than others. For example, you may LOVE original art, so you’re willing to spend a bigger chunk of change on that while others may be excited about the affordable art they find at Target. Or, perhaps a high quality, comfortable sofa is the most important thing to you, so you’re happy to allocate more to that and spend less on a rug. It all depends!
In general though, I’d encourage you to invest in two areas:
Pieces you use ALL the time that need to be durable or comfortable. Upholstered items like sofas, or pieces you open and close everyday like dressers fall into that category.
A few special or unique items that stop you in your tracks - those could fall into any category, but allow yourself to buy that higher priced item if you can’t stop thinking about it and know it’ll make a big difference in your room/space. These will be what makes your home reflect YOU and really make it a place you love!
Once you identify a few places where you’d like to invest, you can work in some more affordable pieces to balance it out and stick to your budget. I’m a big fan of mixing high and low!
Final thoughts
Budgeting doesn’t have to be scary or hard - it should be methodical though. No matter which way you approach it you’ll want to track your budget and spending in an organized and thoughtful way. The Budget and Item Tracker spreadsheet will help you do just that.
That spreadsheet and I become close companions as I shop for clients (or myself!) and I find there’s a lot of freedom working within your limits as you decorate your home!
