Most of us have watched a new home buyer show or two and seen how a family buys a house and then spends tens of thousands of dollars renovating it so the house is just their style.
While that’s fun to watch, for many of us living on a tight budget, buying the house is enough of a financial strain. There is little money leftover for changing the house’s décor or even buying new furnishings.
If you’d like to make some changes to your new home, there are strategies to decorate your home frugally.
First, Be Cautious And Grateful
First, before you do anything, evaluate your budget.
Buying a new home is an enormous financial obligation. The last thing you want to do at this point is buy new furnishings and redesign the house and put yourself thousands of dollars in debt.
When you own a home, being in a strong financial position is essential because you never know when a large repair might be necessary.
Be cautious with the money you’d like to spend. You can always wait until you’re in a better financial position.
We bought our home 5.5 years ago. The first thing I wanted to do was repaint the ugly living room walls that were done in a 90’s sponge paint fashion.
Ugh.
But guess what, that still hasn’t been done. We don’t have time for such a large project, and thanks to numerous expensive home repairs (replacing a water heater and an AC unit, for starters) and medical bills, we just haven’t had the money. And I’m okay with it.
I know we’ll be in this house for years, and eventually there will be money (and time) to repaint the living room and redo the floors.
How To Decorate Your
Home Frugally
However, if you do want to make some changes and buy new
items, try these low-cost techniques:
Join Your Local Buy Nothing Group On Facebook
Join your local buy nothing group on Facebook. There you will find people giving away all manner of items.
Furnishing your home this way takes patience and flexibility, but it costs nothing.
Many people have fun seeing how many items they need that they can get for free.
Use A Habitat For Humanity Store
Another option is to visit a Habitat for Humanity store in your area.
In these stores, you will find new and gently used appliances, building materials, and used furniture. You’ll likely save up to 50 to 90{1652eb1ffa4184925f6a63a9c04ea6b421acb7a78117241e7d4325cdca8339fa} off retail prices.
Again, the trick with these types of places is that you can’t have your heart set on one particular item. You must be willing to work with what you find at the store, and if you can’t find what you’re looking for now, you must be willing to wait until you can.
Visit Hobby Lobby
If you have a local Hobby Lobby, consider looking for your décor there.
A friend of mine decorated much of her house with items she found at Hobby Lobby, several of them on clearance.
Most Hobby Lobby stores are huge, offering you a wide range of items to choose from that change seasonally.
Decorating A New House Can Be Fun & Frugal
Congratulations on buying a new house. While it’s exciting to immediately go in and spend thousands of dollars to make your house uniquely yours, recognize that doing so makes for good television, but may not be possible for all new home owners.
Take your time decorating and furnishing your new home, and use some of these strategies to make doing so as easy on the wallet as possible. You’ll be glad you did, even if you need to exercise patience.
