2 Hacks That Will Change Your Life: How To Renovate your Kitchen for Only $1000, and Discover The BE
In 2013, when living in the the San Francisco Bay Area, we completed a kitchen renovation for our home. Normally this kitchen reno would have cost us an estimated $30,000 for both material and labour costs. But by following the hack that we’re about to share, we were ultimately able to get it all done for $1000. No, that wasn’t a typo! We really were able to complete the entire reno for 3.3% of the standard price!
When people see the outstanding transformation our kitchen went through and then hear that we only spent a grand on the reno, they tend to become sceptical. Most people just can’t believe that we made such a drastic change happen for so little. But I swear to you guys that a kitchen reno like this is totally possible, even on a budget of $1000!
What’s the secret, you ask? Well, prepare for your mind to be BLOWN. Keep reading to find out exactly how we were able to achieve an amazing kitchen at bargain basement prices and how you can pull it off too!
The Big Secret
So as you guys know, Amon and I like to invest heavily in real estate. One way we end up saving a lot of money with our property renovations is by DIY-ing a lot of the projects ourselves, rather than buying brand new or contracting everything out. The same was true for this house. When we did the research on how much it would cost to contract the renovation work out, we were shocked at the astronomical prices we were quoted.
Line items included costs that we knew we could just do ourselves for significantly cheaper. For example, one quote listed $2,600 just to take the demolished materials from the house to the dump. This same job ended up costing us only $200 when we rented a Uhaul and did it ourselves! They also listed a charge for the time it would take them to go to the city and get in the requisite permits- hundreds of dollars for less than an hour of work!
Ultimately money-sucking costs like these were littered throughout the estimates and, in the hopes of cutting these costs, we decided to see if we could do the reno ourselves.
So how did we actually go about doing this? We started this process by first exploring the kitchen displays at IKEA. We really liked the look and layout of these kitchens and ended up settling on a kitchen that would cost us around $15,000. At this point we were perfectly fine with spending the $15,000 and realizing our savings by doing the labour ourselves.
But here is where the story changes.
On our way out of IKEA one day, we stumbled upon the “As-Is” section, which is basically just the clearance section where customer returns end up, and realized that there was more than just furniture here. We were able to find essentially everything one would need for an entire kitchen! From cabinets and appliances, to countertops and hardware- it was all there at heavily marked down prices!
So after making this incredibly discovery, we were in the As-Is section EVERY DAY! And it wasn’t just returns that ended up here. Showroom models also got relocated here once IKEA rotated to a new kitchen display, so at times we would find entire kitchens, already put together, just sitting there waiting for someone to scoop it up!
So we were at IKEA every single day, trying to find deals. That said, we didn’t approach this willy-nilly. We actually did have a plan for exactly what we wanted in our kitchen. We put this plan through the IKEA website and it gave us a list of materials that we need to buy in order to create that same $15K kitchen we’d initially selected. So, ultimately our goal was to build the same IKEA kitchen, but finding the materials separately in the discounted section, rather than paying full price.
Seriously, you guys would not BELIEVE the deals we were able to get with this method! For instance, buying new cabinet doors from IKEA would normally have cost around $80, but we were able to get them for around $8- $10. The cabinet units themselves start at around $200, but we found them for around $20. Similarly, we were able to find the countertops we wanted for $10- $30, when normally they’d go for around $100/slab. And we were also able to get the $800 oven hood we wanted for only $80!
How Practical Is This? Surprisingly, Very!
Ok, you might think that this would take FOREVER. But in reality, we were there so often that it only took us a few weeks to accumulate everything we needed!
You might also think that we just got lucky and that these deals might only have been available for a short amount of time, or in a specific location. But you’d be wrong again! At a later date Amon actually checked out IKEAs in both Florida and California and found that those As-Is sections had deals that were just as good!
Side Hustle Worthy? Absolutely!
For those of you who aren’t planning a kitchen reno anytime soon, taking advantage of the IKEA As-Is section can actually work as an amazing side hustle! After our reno, for instance, we listed our unused materials on Craigslist and they sold like wildfire! We bought a granite countertop that we had no intention of using ourselves, and sold it to a contractor for a huge profit! We even scooped up entire showroom kitchens and had then re-sold in a matter of days!
The Lowdown
So there you have it guys! You asked how it was possible to get such great reno results for only $1000, and now you’ve learned the big secret! You have here not one, but TWO epic hacks that we have personally found life-changing!
If you’re going to do a kitchen renovation, don’t hire a contractor. Instead, save a boatload of money by doing the work yourself with discounted products from the IKEA As-Is section!
If you’re looking for a side hustle, buying and reselling products found in the As-Is section can be an incredibly profitable option!
Our recommendation is for you to get on these deals NOW! Even if you’re not renovating your kitchen, you can make this into a successful side hustle by acquiring goods for cheap and then selling them online.
