How I Saved a Fortune on Window Treatments

It had been 10 years since I last decorated my bedroom. Everything was severely outdated, especially my window treatments. We were going to need to replace them, so I went shopping.

It had been five years since I last looked at window treatments but decided to delay gratification and wait a while. To my surprise, I found the exact same window treatments in the stores as I had found five years ago. In addition, the prices were also the same: too expensive. As I went from store to store looking for window treatments that I didn't think were either ugly or dated, I began to get discouraged.

Finally, I did find window treatments I liked at the last place I thought I would - a department store. I took home two different window treatments to try out only to decide that at the cost of $120.00 per window, it was still more than I wanted to spend for the five windows in my bedroom and bath. To top it off, my husband and I were beginning to wage a battle as I preferred one and he preferred the other.

Unwilling to pay $600.00 on window treatments that I thought were just OK, and also unwilling to make my husband miserable with my choice, I set out to find something that we could both agree on and something that wouldn't clean out my checking account. So I headed out the the closest fabric clearance center I could find. It was 40 minutes from my home, but very much worth the drive. They were turning over their inventory, so the items I knew would be affordable, were even cheaper than I expected.

For the cost of one window treatment, I purchased enough fabric to cover all five windows, including lining, trim, and tie-back tassels. I will have to sew them myself, but even if I couldn't sew, I know someone who could do it for only $150 more, still cutting the price of my window treatments in half. Furthermore, I eliminated disagreements with my husband by texting him photos of the fabrics I liked and including him in the process.

So if you are in need of window treatments and don't want to feel robbed after settling on a window treatment you don't love, here are the lessons I learned.

• Start by looking around at window treatments to get an idea of what you like and don't like.
• If you can't find low priced window treatments that you like, look for fabric to make your own instead.
• Remember Fabric stores have coupons that can give you a large discount on a cut of fabric.
• Look for fabric warehouses or clearance centers that may have even better prices than the regular fabric store.
• Don't be afraid to sew your own curtains. Look at your old curtains to see how easy they are to construct. It is as easy as sewing straight lines.
• If you are afraid of sewing, ask around to find out who in your live does sew and could stand to make some extra money. You will still come out much cheaper than buying curtains in the store, plus they will be custom, which is always better than store bought.