Frugal Style, Stretching Your Decorating Dollars

When it comes to priorities in life, food, shelter, and clothing are going to come at the top of the list. Interior decorating usually has to come in somewhere further down the line. However just because you don’t have a fortune doesn’t mean you can’t have a home that looks fabulous. The following frugal decorating tips should help you to maximize your decorative spending, making every dollar count more, in order to achieve the most attractive spaces possible.

The first thing you should consider is used items. Just because something is being discarded doesn’t mean that it is ugly, tattered, or ruined. Many times people cycle the style of their homes, discarding, donating, or selling objects which they have owned for a while, but which they no longer have the space for.

Yard sales are a great place to find inexpensive home décor items. Often you can purchase pieces that look brand new, for prices that are a fraction of what the original owner paid. Since decorative items are often only lightly used, they can survive the test of time better than other more functional pieces. One trick is to patrol the neighborhood in search of yard sales early in the morning to find the greatest selection, or to search them out late in the day, when they will be more likely to make a deal just so they can get rid of something.

You should also keep your eye open for flyers or ads in the paper about multi family garage sales. These are much larger events, with a number of different venders converging to offer their new and used wares. The advantage is that you can compare prices, and even play the different vendors off of one another.

EBay is sort of a huge, international yard sale, with literally millions of items listed for auction. While many commercial products are set at retail prices, there is always the possibility of finding a private seller that is just trying to make a few bucks getting rid of some old decorative items. In general, you will want to purchase smaller pieces from eBay, as shipping can end up being a factor. One way to offset this is to do searches by location and narrowing the listing down to items which are within driving distance so that you can go and pick them up.

Craigslist is another online tool that you can use to search out great deals on inexpensive home products. A giant classified ad, you can narrow your searches by item and location. Often you will find people listing very nice pieces of furniture on there for little or no money. However you should always be cautious when entering someone’s home to view a potential product. If possible it is always better to meet in a neutral, public location, to ensure everyone’s safety.

Even if you prefer to do your shopping for new, in store items, you should always be certain to compare prices. If you have a web enabled phone a quick search should be able to tell you if the same item is available online at a better price. If not, a pad and a pen will allow you to record prices and do competitive searches later on. Having a beautiful home doesn’t have to cost a fortune. There are a variety of tricks that you can use to save a couple of bucks. The key is to have a discerning eye, and to understand the value of the products you are looking at. You don’t want to just leap on the first cheep piece of junk that you see. Instead you should wait and browse and take your time making only the finest selections.

This article was brought to you courtesy of PebbleZ.com, the manufacturers of a line of inexpensive drink coasters made from natural sandstone, slate, marble, onyx, and fossil stone. The actual text was written by style philosopher Joey Pebble.

SW Home Decor
SantaFeDecor.com
WesternCowboyHorseDecor.com