Where to find cheap stuff for your home

Good morning Dinks.  Has spring fever hit you yet?  I’m not exactly sure if that’s what I’m going through right now but I can tell you that I’m definitely over winter and ready to move on to the next phase of the year – or should I say season of the year.

When spring comes the snow melts and we can start spending more time outside.  As you know Nick and I moved into a new apartment in October and after getting all our furniture we decided to hold off on the decorating until spring.  Now spring is almost here and I’m ready to start decorating, but there’s a catch…as there always is.  I need to do it for cheap, like really cheap.

So here’s the question.  How do you make your apartment look like a million bucks for less than $1000?  Normally I would say buy everything used, but my boyfriend doesn’t believe in buying other people’s stuff because he thinks it’s garbage.  I try to spin a used item as being a vintage masterpiece but he’s not buying it.  The following are ways I would like to decorate our apartment on the cheap but unfortunately I won’t be able to take my own advice.

Fill your bookshelf with used books

Our bedroom has a built in bookshelf.  I love it, it’s gorgeous and it gives the room character.  Even though Nick and I both really like to read I don’t think we could fill up this bookshelf in our entire lifetime.  It’s almost the entire size of our wall which has 14 foot ceilings and there’s room for at least two rows of books on each of the five shelves.

If you want to fill your bookshelf go to your library and buy their books.  My Dad keeps sending me books that he buys at library sales.  “Read this book, I bought it for $1” he tells me.  I think I inherited my love of reading from my Dad, actually I know it.  He’s always the first to ask me what I’m reading and he even sends me back books that I’ve given to him.  Yes that’s right, not only does my Dad re-gift my gifts but he gives them back to me.  I don’t mind because we have the same taste in books; we both love to read crime fiction.

Drive around hitting up garage sales

I’m not sure where the term garage sale comes from because they’re usually held on someone’s front lawn, by the curb or in a driveway.  But nevertheless garage sales are a great place to find hidden treasures.  As long as the item looks clean and I need it garage sale finds can give old world charm to a new apartment.

I love walking around garage sales looking for book ends, lamps and other decor but for reasons already mentioned I never buy anything.  I wouldn’t buy just anything and everything from a garage sale because I don’t want to clutter our pretty new apartment with junk, but rare cute items are OK.

Take advantage of other peoples woes

Does profiting from someone’s loss make you a bad person?  I would normally say yes, but not when it comes to money.  You may have heard that both Sony and Target are closing their stores in Canada.  Although I feel bad for these mega million corporations I can’t help but take advantage of their going out of business sales.

I bought candles and pillows at a discount for our new living room at Target and Nick bought a new sound bar for our entertainment system from The Sony Store.  Going out of business sales are a great place to get awesome things on the cheap.

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.