When you’re on a budget, it can be hard to imagine the possibility of having the home of your dreams. Luckily, there are ways to stay cost savvy and create a haven for you and your family to treasure over the years. Here are some frugal ways of creating your personal perfect living space, so you can begin enjoying your home even more.

Get creative

If you have some arts and crafts skills, consider applying this talent to your home. For example:

  • Upcycle old clothing into cushion covers with a quick use of the sewing machine, or glue gun. You can buy funky buttons and sequins to attach to your cushions to make them truly unique. If you have a lot of old t-shirts, consider sewing them into a large blanket that you can all snuggle under on the sofa. One bonus of this is, that you know it’s totally washable.
  • Buy a large canvas and let the children loose on it with paint, chalk, pens or crayons to create a family masterpiece that you can proudly display for many years to come.
  • If you’ve got a piece of furniture that’s looking a little sad, give it a lick of paint and some new handles, and it will look as good as new. If it’s in disrepair, it’s super cheap to buy the materials from your local hardware store to make it as good as new.
  • Rather than splashing out on a new kitchen, just jazz your kitchen up and shop touchless faucets from Faucets Canada. Then, replace the kitchen cupboard doors for an entirely new feel (and look) to your kitchen.
  • Use old towels to create a fancy bath mat or rug. There are loads of tutorials online on how to do this with a simple needle and thread.
  • Reuse an old and battered watering can as a plant pot for a quirky look to your garden.

Doing this will not only allow you to reuse many of your household items, but it will save you from buying new, and your home will have your own personal touch on it.

Lend

There are times in life when simply reusing some old items won’t do the job because appliances need replacing, or furniture is beyond repair. In a case like this you’ll most likely have to look into securing some form of loan. Should you already own your home, or at least have a mortgage, homeowner loans can be a useful avenue to explore – especially for those who currently have a poor credit score. These can help you pay for those emergency repairs and purchases you hadn’t planned for, using your status as a homeowner to secure the loan. As with any loan there are risks should you be unable to repay, but they can be better than the unsecured loans you may also have to research.

Another way of using lending would be to ask trusted family members to lend you the money to make the repairs. This can be good because you’re not in such a rush to pay back large amounts of money, and there’s no interest accrued on the money that you’ve borrowed. 

Sell

A great and easy way of making money is to sell your unwanted or unused belongings. There are so many different ways that you can do this such as selling online, having a yard sale, or even placing for sale signs in shops that allow you to do so. Craigslist is a free and easy to use resource for selling your household goods.

You will be surprised at how many things around your home that you don’t use, so why not collect some of your unused belongings and total up how much you could make from it. The perfect way of decluttering your home, and also being able to afford to decorate and furnish to your desire. 

Another idea would be to sell an unused vehicle. If you live close to local amenities or find yourself taking public transport because it’s easier, selling your car or truck might be a great way of making a large amount of money for your home. It would also be a great excuse to begin walking more, and keeping the family fit and healthy.

As you can see, these three cost savvy ways of improving your home are not as far out of reach as you may have thought. Remember to upcycle when you can, reuse items for other purposes, shop smart, and sell anything that’s no longer wanted or used and you will find that the home of your dreams isn’t too far away.