Frugal Friday--A few frugal tips for a lovely home

I was happy to see that Crystal has started up Frugal Fridays again! I would consider myself overall to be "frugality-challenged," meaning I still have a LOT to learn and implement in the ways and means of saving money. So I enjoy the Frugal Fridays feature, as it is helpful to me to learn tips and tricks from other ladies who are a lot more skilled in this area than I am! Anyway, Crystal requested frugal decorating ideas, as her family has just moved into a larger home. Though I'm by no means an expert in the area of frugal decorating, I thought I would share a few things that I've learned in decorating my own home.

1. Use what you already have. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but I find that sometimes I store decorating stuff away and forget that I have it. So every so often, it's good to go on a "treasure hunt" and find things that I totally forgot about. It's fun because it's like getting something new, even though I may have had it for a long time! This is especially true for me since moving into our new house, because we had packed up totes and more totes full of "stuff" that just wouldn't fit into our little trailer. As I delve into the totes every now and then, I find a lot of cool stuff that would be "just right" for this or that spot in our house. (I also find a lot of kitchen supplies that I had forgotten I had!) It saves a lot of money to decorate with what you already have on hand, rather than running out to buy more stuff to fill up your home, and then finding that maybe you already had that very thing, tucked away somewhere else!

2. Let others know your decorating "themes" and tastes. I am not saying here that we should go around asking people to give us decor for our homes. :) What I mean by this, is that if you have a specific theme to your home decor, then when people are thinking about getting you a Christmas gift, etc, they will know what type of stuff you like, and will enjoy helping you add to your collection. For example, our home is mostly decorated in a lodge/woodsy theme, with the exception of a few rooms. I have received many decorations over the years with moose, chickadees (another favorite of mine!) and other items that fit into this theme. In the winter, I like to decorate with my snowman collection, and I've also receieved a number of cute additions with this theme for Christmas gifts. Here are my 2 newest ones that I received this year from Josh, Joanne and family. Aren't they so cute?!


3. When you want/need something new, shop the sales! I have added some lovely things to my home just by hitting some good sales. You can find winter/Christmas decor marked WAY down after the holidays every year. Kohl's and JoAnn Fabrics are a couple places that often have nice things. A couple years ago at JoAnn Fabrics, I found this pretty wrought-iron votive holder for our wall.

I don't remember the price, but I want to say it was around $5-10, probably marked down from about $20-30. We put it up on the wall above our bed, I got some cheapie votives at Walmart, and voila!--a lovely wall decoration.
By the way, the above picture also shows the new bedspread Jim got me for Christmas. I will probably alternate it sometimes with my other one, which is a lodge-themed quilt. It's fun to be able to change the look of the room by changing the bedspread!


4. Use photos as art for walls and tables. I have always loved going into other people's homes and looking at the photos of their family and friends. We have quite a lot of photos on display here and there. Some are professional family portraits, while many others are just snapshots that we really liked, and later framed. I have a dream of someday doing a whole "family tree" wall--with all black and white pictures of us, our parents, our grandparents, etc. as far back as I can find . . . an idea which I've shamelessly stolen from other family members. :) I think it would be really cool!! Although it may have to wait till we someday build an addition on the house, as I'm not sure if we have enough empty wall space right now!

5. "Recycle" old frames. There are some pictures that I framed back in high school, which I don't necessarily want on display now. Not that they don't contain special memories . . . but they were a part of my room in my teen years and don't really have a place in our home today. So in these cases, I can just remove the frames and save the pictures in a box or drawer, and use the frames for new pictures. Some of the frames were "dollar store quality"--not much to look at. In one such case, I took a small plastic frame that was a bright yellow, and painted it to have a fresh new look. I framed one of my favorite snapshots from our wedding in it, and I love how it turned out!


These are just a few of the ideas that came to mind--I'm sure I will think of others--but I hope some of you may enjoy these and find them helpful. I'd love to hear any of your own ideas if you want to comment or share them on your own blogs, too!