Decorating on a Budget Using Craigslist and Your Local Thrift Store

There are many ways to decorate your home on a budget; though while walking through your local home type of store you may feel really small and shabby when you see all of the pretty doorknobs and curtains and pillows. Even the shabby chic stuff is way out of your price range. You see a few nice things on sale, but overall if you bought those things you really wouldn't have any money leftover and they would not decorate the entire space you're trying to decorate.

If you have a budget the best thing to do is to first decide on your decorating goal and then divide the money up to meet that goal before you go out shopping. Like if you're budget is $100 for your apartment and you want it to feel homey; you would start from there. Goals can be anything, macho; clean and simple; punk; fashionable; eco-friendly; artistic etc. But, for the sake of example let's go with homey.

You have a one bedroom apartment; no furniture; $100. Let's say you at least do have your TV and Internet; a few dishes or paper plates and flatware; a pot; toiletries and maybe a futon or space bed and sheets. But if not; then you should probably spend the first $100 for those things if they're important to you and then decorate next month. But they might not be an issue for you. As a side note, you can get those things from the sources listed below as well if you don't even have those yet.

The first place to look is on Craigslist. Go to the free section and type in art under the search. Many people have grown out of their art and are replacing it. You can find some decent things if you're willing to go pick it up. You can also find some furniture there. Now you definitely have to go pick it up and inspect it carefully because there should always be a sensible reason why they're giving it away for free. Definitely check for stains or strange odors. Always bring someone with you when going to pick up free furniture or anything of that nature so they can have an objective eye that you don't on the item. You also want to bring someone for protection. Carry mase to.

The next place to go is the dollar store. In the area that I live; we have a wonderful chain called Dollar Tree. This is the dollar store to beat all the dollar stores I've seen. Every single thing is $1 no exceptions and they have great quality on many of the items. You can find many things there like candles and decorative little knick knack thingies. You can find kitchen towels and vases and fake flowers. The best thing to do is let your creativity come out there and you will find a lot. They have a huge party section that you can use to create your own unique wall art and collages. Heck even a few coloring book pictures colored in really cool and framed can fill up a few walls.

Thrift stores are the next great place for art, and things like curtains, and decorative centerpiece like things. You might even be able to find some cheap furniture. I would also say to expand your mind and consider things like sheets etc. for curtains there. You might get more for your money.

So there are 3 places to go with $100. You can decide to spend $80 in the dollar and thrift store and save the rest of the money for gas to get the free stuff from Craigslist or you can choose to spend like $20-$30 at the dollar store and $50-$60 at the thrift store. It's fully up to you. But, you CAN decorate on your budget.