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Many people think it’s hard to have a beautiful, inviting home without having to drop major bank roll.
Whether you’re looking to add a little something new or completely revamp a room, you can decorate on a budget and still add charm to your home for less.
Here’s Why Making it a Goal is Crucial
Before I explain the tips, you may wonder:
Can I really do this?
Stop yourself for a minute and ask, “What is the big picture behind this?” For me, one of my biggest goals this year was to make my home prettier. This didn’t mean I had to spend a fortune to do so. That’s what was initially holding me back.
So if I have to cut back a bit on the weekend once in awhile, it didn’t bother me at all because I know having a prettier house was more important to me than, say, woofing down a bunch of appetizers at a local happy hour. Also, I would use one of my low-cost outings as a planning session to plot out what I wanted to accomplish in my house.
To strengthen your dollar stretching muscles, I’m sharing how I successfully planned and executed my recent purchase. So if you need to add some color to your house or change things up a bit, stay tuned.
You may even start to get a kick out of this process and wonder why you haven’t done this sooner. So instead of whining about where you live or trying to work tons of extra hours to make more money, try these ideas listed below.
How to Start Decorating and Make Your Wallet Clap
So here are the tips already.
1. Decide what area needs improving.
Look around your house and decide what area needs that perfect something. Ideally, it should be a place where something new can make an impact. Would a new throw blanket be what you need? Would putting a decorative item above the fireplace make a big difference? Are bold pillows what will make the room more attractive?
It’s crucial to identify what part of the house you are aiming to improve. I’ve always felt that my table needed something on the side of it. It just looked a little barren. I wasn’t sure what I’d get, but if something struck me while I was out, I’d be ready to buy.
2. Photograph your way to a beautiful home.
Before I go shopping, I take a picture of that very area in my home that needs some sprucing. If I have enough time, I measure about how tall and wide I can go with this new future item by pulling out my measuring tape. I highly recommend you get a free, paper one from IKEA. Keep one in your home and store another in a baggy in your glove compartment or purse so it’s always handy.
Once I find an item that may fit the bill, I whip my phone out and look at the picture again and measure it before buying it. I find when I do this, I’m much less likely to come back to the store and return items which is a big pain in the neck. It’s actually one of the reasons I stopped trying to beautify my home for a long time. That and my obsession of having a clutter free home for super busy people. I didn’t know what to let back in after ditching so much stuff.
3. Finding a gem.
So when I stumbled upon this adorable owl, I fell in love with it. My mom had a big owl collection in the 80’s and this was a modern way to re-invite the wise bird back into my own décor. At first, I wasn’t sure if this blue color would go with the color scheme I established.
My walls are currently yellow with mostly red and orange accents. So I pulled my phone out and thumbed through my photos. The paintings on the wall and parts of the runner on my table had a similar blue color in them. This definitely gave me the green light to purchase this. The vase happened to be on sale for $5.99 and the dried flowers were only $2.39. It was in alignment with my decorating goals and budget.
4. Make sure it’s a fit.
Once I got it home, I realized it was a keeper. It went well with the house. I really liked how it looked. It was within my budget and it was on sale to boot. I really thought I lost my knack for decorating for awhile there. I didn’t think kids and a nicely decorated home went hand and hand.
5. Try the same thing backwards.
While I love finding the spot in my house that needs a little something first, you can also take a picture of something you see while out and decide if you have a spot for it later. I do this when I’m at Michael’s or Walmart. I have a bad habit of buying pillows that don’t go with my home. I end up having to buy pillow covers to fix the mistake and 9 out of ten times I don’t even really love the pillow covers. So in an effort to graduate from my former decorating style, what I used to called camouflage cover up chic, I make fewer mistakes and find stuff that’s more in alignment with what I want my home to look like versus covering up mistakes. I also get excited to focus on my next purchase for my home.
In an effort to get the items I like for the least amount possible, I try to turn my receipt into a coupon whenever possible. Many store receipts offer discounts if you fill out short surveys about your shopping experience. I wrote about this in regards to getting deals on clothing, but the same idea applies for this case. Take advantage of these especially if you know that you will go back shortly to complete a project.
Another way to spend less is to get the Raise app. It’s a newly released app that sells discounted gift cards. Once you purchase one, it’s instantly available to use at the register. So if you know about how much you are going to spend at checkout, you can purchase that amount as a gift card while in the store.
For example, If I knew I was going to spend about 50 dollars or so on this shopping trip, I could purchase a gift card and potentially get 11.4% off. So I would only spend $47.45 to get the card. Also, another way to maximize your shopping trip is to check in on which credit cards offer the best rewards for this store.
Also, take a look at the Pick2Pay app right before you check out to see which of your credit cards is currently offering the best rewards. This is of course for those who use cards responsibly. Rewards don’t mean much if you carry a balance and pay interest.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking to spiff up your home or give a room a complete overhaul, it can be done affordably. You can decorate on a budget, and still add charm to your home for less. Use the cost-effective ways mentioned and create the most impressive home in your neighborhood.
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