You just bought a new home, so now you can focus on the fun task of decorating and furnishing your home!
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Decorating an entire home can seem daunting, especially if you're trying to live frugally. With a little creativity, you can make your new home your own and stay on budget. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the prices of furniture and decorations for a new home. In this article, we're going to explore ways you can furnish your new home without draining your bank account.
1. Set a budget
Before you start looking for interior design inspiration on Pinterest, it's important to decide how much money you have to spend on decorating your home. Based on your household expenses, decide on an amount to spend and stick to it.
If you can only afford to set aside a certain amount of money each month, plan to split your furniture and decor purchases on a monthly basis. You can book one room per month or every few months.
Once you've completed one area of your home, you can move on to the next on your list. However, if you need to set up your home right away and don't want to wait, you can look into options such as furniture financing or taking one out line of credit. With a line of credit, you could be approved for the money you need to decorate and furnish your home the same day. Then simply repay the loan with a manageable repayment plan of your choice.
2. Reuse what you can
When you move from an apartment or other house, don't overlook the current furnishings and decorations that you already have. Although you may want to start fresh and decorate from scratch, there are likely beautiful pieces that you could use from your current home.
To give away existing furniture or decorations new life, consider painting them a different color or updating the fabric reupholster to give your furniture a whole new look. For example, paint your solid wood nursery set a fun color and swap out the drawer handles, or move your living room decor to a guest room to change things up.
You don't have to use these pieces forever, but it can be a great way to fill up spaces in your home until you can afford to upgrade.
3. Focus on specific spaces
Identify the areas of your home that are most important to you and allocate the majority of your budget to those areas. Often you will want to put the most effort into areas where you want to spend most of the time such as kitchen, living room and bedroom.
Give these areas a little time to really feel like they represent the vibe you want in your home. Items like a nice bedroom set or a quality couch are capital goods that will last for many years, so you probably won't need to buy them again anytime soon.
By focusing your energy and money on these important areas, you can save in the other less important areas. If your new home has multiple bedrooms or extra space, there's nothing wrong with leaving some rooms empty if you don't have an immediate use for them.
4. Shop second hand
The stigma behind second-hand shopping is rapidly diminishing with the rise of the Facebook marketplace and second-hand shopping. It's also a great way to shop for furniture and home accessories. You can find quality pieces that people are selling for a fraction of the price if you look hard enough.
If you have a specific piece of furniture or quirky wall art in mind, look around the used market before buying new. You can often find exactly the item you are looking for, in new or like-new condition. Finding the things you want can take time, but if you can wait, the savings are worth it.
Aside from saving you a ton of money, another benefit of buying used is that you can usually pick them up locally and take them home that day. You may need a truck or large vehicle to pick up larger pieces of furniture, but not having to worry about shipping or having to pay for shipping can help you save money.
5. Start with the basics
If you're working on a limited budget to furnish your home, prioritize the purchase essential items such as furniture, crockery and kitchen utensils. These are often the more expensive purchases, but they are things that you only have to buy once every few years.
It can be tempting to buy nice decorations for the walls and nice pillows and rugs, but none of these things matter if you don't have a couch to sit on or a kitchen table to eat at. Hold on to finishing touches like decorations and knick-knacks until you have your basic necessities.
Make a list of everything you need and want for your home and put a star next to the essentials. Start with these items. When you've covered all the essentials, you can move on to the additional stuff.
6. Borrow from friends and family
You don't have to go out and buy everything right away. You may want to change the way you decorated a particular room, or you may find that something you imagined doesn't work in real life. A good way to try things out is to borrow things from friends and family when you can.
This is very situational and may not be an option for everyone, but it's worth asking. If you have someone in your circle who has additional furniture such as sofas, tables, bedroom sets, etc. that they are not currently using, ask if they can be borrowed.
Borrowing items means you can set up the space and see what it looks like before committing to the style. You'll be surprised how often you'll change your mind when you see it in person. It's better to realize this before you've spent a lot of money on an entire room of furniture so you can adjust.
Even if you end up loving the style, borrowing means using something while choosing your dream furniture. This is a great strategy if you have an expensive item in mind that you need to save up for. Don't be afraid to ask!
