5 Simple, Practical Ways to Save Hundreds on Home Decor
Today I’m sharing 5 simple, practical ways to save hundreds on home decor. It’s easier than you might think!
These simple, practical ways to save hundreds on home decor honestly weren’t hard to come up with, because they come natural to me. If you’ve been following along here for a while, you know that my whole blog is built around this concept of thrifty decor and decorating on a budget.
In the past I’ve talked about some of the more obvious ways to save money whenever you are trying to decorate your home, such as shopping thrift stores and garage sales or checking Facebook Marketplace.
But today I have some new tips that I would like to share with you guys, and if being frugal doesn’t come natural to you, maybe this post will help you today! This is just how my mind works when I’m decorating, so here are my simple, practical ways to save hundreds on home decor:
Don’t Buy It unless You Love It
My first tip – don’t purchase something unless you absolutely love it. I have made this mistake so many times and sometimes I still make this mistake, especially when I shop at thrift stores and garage sales. I will see something and if it’s a great price I’ll convince myself that I can make it work, even if I don’t really love it.
Sometimes I bring it home, put it in my house and use it for a little while, but after a few weeks I am ready to get rid of it because I never loved it to begin with.
Goodwill especially is a weakness of mine because they carry a lot of brand new salvaged items from places like Walmart, Target and Kohl’s. I will see a brand new piece marked down, sometimes as low as 75% and buy it just because the price is so amazing. No no no!!
Even though an item is cheap and “such a great deal”, don’t buy it unless you love it! If you keep purchasing things over and over again just because they are cheap, you will end up spending a lot of money on items that you never really loved to begin with.
So this is my rule. If you don’t love it, I would suggest walking away. Now, if there is something that you are unsure about and won’t know until you see it in your home, that’s different. Save your receipt and if you don’t love it or it’s not right for your space, return it.
Can I Recreate This, for Less?
My second tip – if you find something you really love, ask yourself if you can recreate that same item for a lot less. I’ve shared so many examples throughout my home of things that I saw that I loved and knew I could recreate for a lot less.
Just recently I shared a lamp makeover that is a perfect example of this! I found a $300 lamp that I loved and recreated it for just $3.
My headboard is another example. I saw a Pottery Barn headboard that I loved, but it was over a thousand dollars. I was not going to spend that kind of money, and I knew we could make one for whole lot less. So we did!
It takes some creativity and ingenuity, but I think that you can save so much money by pausing and asking yourself if you can create the item you love, for a whole lot less. I think that habit comes naturally to those who grew up in a household that had a frugal mindset, but I know that it’s not natural for everyone. If you really are trying to save money, try this tip.
Avoid Shopping without a List
My next tip – try to avoid home decor stores unless you are looking for something specific. I am blessed to live in the middle of nowhere with no major home decor stores anywhere near me. I can guarantee that if I had the big market home decor stores nearby and I stopped in regularly, I would find something to bring home every time.
So, if you are trying to save money on home decor, try to avoid shopping altogether. Wait and only go to those stores when you are looking for something specific. A great tool to help with this is the notes app on your phone! Make a list of the things that you’re on the lookout for, and the next time you go to a home decor shopping, get out your list and only shop for the items you have written down. I think this is one of the most simple, practical ways to save hundreds on home decor.
Be Patient
My fourth tip – be patient! I think our generation has a real problem of wanting to have everything that it took our parents 25-30 years to accumulate. We want it all now. We think everything has to be perfect and Instagram worthy right now.
A lot of times we buy or settle in order to get a space “finished”, instead of being patient and holding out for the things that we really love. I have done this in my own home and realized later that I settled just to finish a blog post or share a photo. How silly.
I think it’s especially hard for bloggers because we feel the pressure of deadlines and so we hurry to finish a space. Wait for the gems that are right around the corner. Have patience. You will learn so much more about your style when you play around with your decor and work with what you have. You will realize what you truly love.
Work with What You Have First
My final tip – work with what you have first. Shop your home first. Every time I want to switch things around, I will go and look through my home decor stash and play with those items before I buy new.
Sometimes you might not have the right piece, but by playing with the decor that you already have, you may realize that you like something completely different than expected. Or you might surprise yourself and find that you already have the perfect piece for that vignette you are trying to work on.
I actually did this when we finished our sunroom. I can remember when my husband finished the built-ins and I wanted to decorate the shelves. All the stores were closed here due to the pandemic, but I went down into my basement and I just started trying things that I already had. I couldn’t believe it, but I was able to decorate all of the shelves and I didn’t have to spend any extra money!
I hope these simple, practical ways to save hundreds on home decor were a help you guys. I know that it doesn’t come natural for everyone to want to be frugal and save money. For some people it’s really hard and you really have to learn it, but I think if you follow some of these tips today, you will surprise yourself at how much you save on home decor.
I would love to hear from you! How have these tips helped you not only on saving money, but finding pieces you already loved in your own home and achieving a beautiful look for less? Please let me know in the comment section below!
PIN IT FOR LATER…
Wow! You are amazing! This post should be read by everyone in blog land! You are such a breath of fresh air!! Your Mother must be so proud of you; she raised an angel of a daughter with such wonderful core values with a good head on her shoulders! Your advice is wonderful and it takes some people decades to learn what you have mentioned today! I respect you so much for careful budgeting and planning! I will certainly take to heart what you said today and I will think of your advice everytime I want to go to TJMAXX or Target LOL I used to go to TJMAXX 3-4 times per week! I came home with something almost every time! THANK YOU, I needed to hear your message today!
I love to save money but am not as fortunate as you. My husband is not handy nor does he want to be. We have to hire out all the things need more than minimal help with.I cerainly would like your kind of help.
Aww Linda, yes. My husband is such a blessing and I’m very thankful for his help with the larger projects. There are so many simple ways we can make big changes, though, even on our own! Paint being one of them. 🙂 I have transformed rooms, floors, and furniture all with just paint! It makes such a difference. Thank you for visiting my blog! 🙂
Good post & reminder. A silver lining of the pandemic is leaning in to our own stuff and using our creative juices in repurposing some in new ways.. And then the delight one feels when they see it come together. Our financial situation no longer requires we be extra resourceful but we choose to be in order to be good stewards of our blessings, including the planet we live on by not needlessly filling the land fill. It makes money available for other things and also sparks our creativity and brings the pleasure of a creative job well done. One other thing I did while a young wife was take things to consignment shops to earn money to buy wallpapers and fabrics to decorate with but those shops may not exist anymore.
I agree Pamela!! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and telling me a bit about yourself. It’s neat to meet other like minded people! Love those ideas you shared! 🙂
I am definitely always thinking of how to be as frugal as I can be. I love thrift store shopping. I find that often the one-of-a-kind type item at a thrift store is far cheaper than the often generic looking, trendy, hot new thing, and I love the style more of the thrift store item, too. You can find the generic or knicknack type item in a thrift store, too, but it is so easy to find a gorgeous vintage item of real value and something you will love in your home forever.
I also found that by donating things I was not excited about or that did not work here, the prettiness opened up without spending a dime. I moved around the things I kept and had a better look than when I had more “stuff” to choose from.
I commented earlier in May, too, and I’m backkkkk. ;). I think we can get impatient to have it all come together, or even if we don’t know what our home’s “personality” is yet, then over buying to try out things to help us see what sticks. I over bought just to try to figure out what color scheme I liked, and for a bit I felt like I had more colors than a rainbow just trying to pull it together. I did that with random decor accents, too. Some accents were just not harmonious with the house or the design.
When I came down to it, I realized at the end of the day, I want a soft, serene, simplified look, without clutter, no matter if that is popular, unpopular, or too sedate to some. Lol! I made a decision. I chose white, tans, and green as the main colors, and I feel more restful at home and like the house more. I have plants and just love them. I donated or gifted to others the things I “liked but didn’t love.” Sometimes it was hard to donate because I knew I had wasted money buying something. If something was actually very pretty but not harmonious, I did say goodbye to it. At times I had stuff that had worked in prior apartments but just did not work in this house. I tried to make it all work. It just didn’t.
I also used to redecorate too fast as far as rotating accents and colors, I think because I was unhappy with the look so quickly. A month later I was putting in storage something I had just decorated with. I changed the entire look too fast for seasonal decorating. I realized I did not like the accents or look that much if i was doing that. I wanted a calm, soft look, but I felt like there was too much and the wrong accents. I am still collecting things in the house to donate, actually. It is a small house. I just took a box to donate the other day. It was unused decor. I am planning on taking another box coming up. The house has never looked prettier. I am much happier, too, with it.