Blowing a Budget

I've just been told we're 5% over budget. It doesn't sound like much, but it's $12,000 we hadn't counted on. So I've joined up to fotolia where you can sell your photos. I don't expect to make much, but it's worth a shot, and at the very least some of the photos I'm proud of are out there (photography used to be my hobby until I was forced to sell my camera for financial reasons).

But I digress. When planning your own renovation, you would be wise to add a decent percentage to the quote, let's say 20%, as there will undoubtedly be items that were not included in the schedule, and as you progress you will also think "Wouldn't it be great if we could add xyz." You might ask where the figure 20% comes from, since we are only 5% over. Well, we're probably not even halfway yet, and we've been doing our best to reduce the cost. If we were to put in what we actually wanted, we would be up around the 50% mark. So let's call 20% a realistic compromise.