Christmas is coming and between gifts, baking, traveling and cards, the expenses add up. The last thing we need is another expense to add to the list at this time of year, which is why we always try to decorate on a dime, if we can, certain things like lights, the tree and special ornaments we paid full price for, but if you don't have to then save the money, from more gifts,...for yourself! Come on you deserve it! So here are some of the ways I decorate the house and still save money at the same time: First of all, I buy used when i can, garage sales, dollar stores, online auctions, friends or family are all great places to look for used decorations, here are a few examples of things i have put together, a little buck, a lot of bang, (in my opinion lol!)
This is a picture of a tree branch my hubby cut for me and then painted a couple years back, it always sits in the corner of the living room, year round, but add a few bulbs that I got at the Boxing day sales and voila, this is a great alternative if you don't have a tree, or don't have room for a tree!
This is a picture of our tv with "the fireplace" on, we have an actually electric fire place that heats up, but i like this DVD of the fire too. This was cheap at Walmart, like 9$ and it has Brad Paisley singing Christmas carols, I like putting it on when we are decorating or getting company, gives a nice ambiance to the room.
Here are 3 dollar store vases that I empty and redecorate at every holiday, they are so handy, pretty and cheap, I filled them with some dollar store greenery, pine cones and Christmas bulbs that I bought for 25 cents at a garage sale. They look so cute, if i do say so myself, and i do! lol!
Next is the tomato cage Christmas tree! I saw this on Pinterest last winter and never got around to doing it, now I regret it, cause I love it and wish I had it last year! We got a couple of used lights for free from my Aunty, wrapped them around an old tomato cage and tied on a few plastic Xmas balls from the dollar store! Too cute and looks pretty lit up outside!
Our tree, Oh how i Love the Christmas tree, and so does my daughter! We always decorate early just so we can enjoy it longer! Our tree is made up of ornaments that are gifts from family and friends, homemade crafts, garage sale bulbs and dollar store snowflakes! Even the tree skirt is from the dollar store! It says "I believe in Santa!" we love it, the star was from my aunt, the tree we bought 50% off at Canadian tire! I love a good deal!
Here is the picture of our "Mantle" while we do have a little fire place, we don't have a mantel cause the TV sits on it, but I have always wanted to be able to decorate a mantle and now I can, this is actually a large shelf for our daughters toys, but it works as my mantel and I love it!
Next we have one of my baskets, I have a few of them scattered around the house, for my birthday I got a beautiful set of basket and I use them all the time to decorate with! I fill teh baskets with large pine cones, artificial apples, dollar store jewels, greenery and more garage sale bulbs, you can never have too many, these are the ones that had no string or they were missing the tops, but turn them around and you would never know!
This is our table center piece year round, I always fill it with different things and I love it! Our table runner is from the dollar store and I love it too, a perfect touch to our table!
Here are a couple more baskets I did up today, they look so pretty around the house, you can also put some cinnamon sticks in there and they will smell pretty too!
I love this little arrangement, this is a pretty vase I got from my Grandmother in law and I added a few dollar store goodies to it, it sits on my desk and makes me happy!
Anyway I hope this blog gave you all some ideas on how to decorate your home without breaking the bank, take those garage sale and dollar store items and turn them into something to be proud of, happy decorating everyone!
