Deck the halls on a dime

Living alone for the first time gives you a whole new sense of control and independence. I get to do everything my own way and on my own time. My family has always been a "wait-until-after-Thanksgiving" family as far as Christmas decor goes, and I respect it, but I love Christmas and I just simply could not contain my excitement. I told myself to wait. But how does one not go crazy when you're flooded with Christmas in every store you walk in to? I was drooling when I went in to Target last week.

But unfortunately I've got a sick pup (click here to read more on his GoFundMe) who needs lots of medical attention, which in turn means lots of money, and I also went a couple of weeks out of work, which meant I had to keep my budget super tight.

I wanted so. badly. to buy up Target and HomeGoods and clear them of their Christmas sections, but I'm a lady on an extreme budget these days, so I had to figure something else out. This year I did all of my Christmas decor shopping at, drum roll please, the Dollar Tree.

I went garland crazy. You can wrap garland anywhere and things immediately look more festive! I want to keep it on my bar cart year-round! I also threw two Christmas kitchen towels over the handle to pull it all together. (PS- the wine glass and candy canes inside it were also from the Dollar Tree!) I bought 5 strands of garland total + 2 towels + 1 box of candy canes= $8 total.

Ok let's be real- I have two huskies with endless energy and I do not have the patience for glass ornaments. They're pretty, sure. But I don't need sliced up paws and endless sweeping and frustration just because those nuts think the ornaments are more of their ball toys to toss around. I bought 6 packs of varying ornaments (I got 4 of the same gold and silver ornaments and 2 packs of red to add a little bit of color). And again, garland. It fills up the extra space and makes the tree so much shinier! 6 packs of ornaments and 2 strings of garland? $8 to decorate the tree.

These mini Christmas trees make several appearances in my house. They're so festive and for $1 each I went a little nuts and bought 4 of them. They look great on an end table, coffee table and/or kitchen table! I also bought 3 festive faux flower bunches and put them in little glass jars. $5 total. Now I won't lie and say the "home for the holidays" sign didn't come from Target- but it was from the $1, 3,5 section for only $3, bringing this table to a total of $8.

Stockings! Oh how I love to jam-pack stockings full of goodies months before Christmas. I was so thrilled that the Dollar Tree had Star Wars stockings, because it's perfect for my nerdy boyfriend. They also had stockings for pups to fulfill all of my dog-lady desires (and cats, for you crazy cat ladies!). I have yet to buy a stocking for myself, but I know my mom and dad will pull through on one for their house ;)  Stockings= $3 total.

Wine glasses!! I'm so big on wine glasses. I used to be a crazy coffee mug hoarder (I won't lie, I still am) but as soon as I was introduced to the gloriousness that is wine, I became a wine glass hoarder. I stalk HomeGoods wine glass section on the regular because they have the cutest glasses for great prices. But low and behold, the Dollar Tree had these simple yet gorgeous glasses (they've got a gold lining on the top! Ahh). I bought a few for drinking, and one to hold candy canes in on the bar cart! Four wine glasses= $4.

Obsessed with the gold rim. It takes them from simple to elegant, and they look far more expensive than $1! They even have matching coffee mugs (got those, too) and plates so you can have a gorgeous table setting if you're hosting Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!



And the grand total? $31 for all of this holiday gloriousness.
I did purchase a couple other things that weren't photographed, but all in all, I didn't go over $50! The Dollar Tree is your friend! While I was in HomeGoods I also made a few other purchases (a Christmas themed mug that says "Dog Mom" because that's the kind of person I am) and some gift wrap.
The Dollar Tree also provided me with 6 rolls of wrapping paper, however I will say that HomeGoods has amazing prices on gift wrap and you generally get more square feet!  And the Dollar Spot at Target is home to many cute glitter mini-trees and festive signs.

Happy budget shopping!

Decorate on a {tight} budget

As much as I grew up on the idea of being non-materialistic, I won't lie to you: I love having nice things. But being that I am 20 years old and a full-time student with only a part-time job, paying rent and pleading with my mom to loan me twenty bucks for gas is a little higher on my priorities list than dropping a couple hundred dollars on the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale or buying a $1500 coffee table. Online shopping consists of hitting the "Shop from: Lowest to Highest" option on the drop down menu. And even then, I have to close out of the tab because I know I still don't need that pair of $5 socks from Forever21 or another coffee mug from Etsy.

About a year back, my parents told me they had bought another fixer-upper house and that once it was done I could rent it from them while I am in college. I was so excited! So excited, in fact, that two days later I went to the animal shelter and adopted a dog, because you can't have a house without a dog, right? My next stop was Homegoods, because I needed some wall art and wine glasses. Definitely responsible purchases.
Fast-forward a year, and the renovations are complete, I have (mostly) finished decorating, and it's finally time to move in! Somewhere along the way I had to realize that I can't spend all my money on wine glasses (bummer) because decorating a house is so much more than I ever imagined. I had to learn very quickly how to put furniture on the floor and art on the walls without winding up on the negative side of my bank account. Here are a few of the tips I learned along the way!

1. Furniture: Shop flea markets, garage sales, and family members homes.
There is not a single piece of furniture in my house that I bought new. Collectively, everything in my home probably cost about the same as one new couch. I got my iron bed frame, kitchen table & chair set and coffee table in Canton at their monthly flea market. My kitchen table and chairs were in a half-off booth and cost only $80. My farmhouse-window-pane-turned-coffee-table cost $40 after a little haggling. My bed frame (my favorite piece in my house!) we got for $125 after haggling it down from $200. Flea markets are also good for finding unique pieces- I guarantee you no one else I know will have the same bed or coffee table. Several of my end tables and lamps came from garage sales, every piece under $10. And there will always, always be friends and family who will give you furniture they are replacing for free. For years my mom has wanted a new couch, so I was the first to raise my hand and offer to take her old one off her hands. Let family know you are moving and in need of furniture, and you will be shocked at the things they offer up!

2. HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby are a Pinterest girl's best friend.
I love to daydream about having a nice house one day that is furnished like the ones popping up on my Pinterest feed. What a cute vase, I think to myself and click on the link. Oh, it's only $450! I don't even get paychecks with those kind of numbers on them. This leads me to why I love HomeGoods so much (almost as much as Target). HomeGoods carries very on-trend decor, very similar to expensive pieces I see online, for so. much. less. I got the gorgeous gold pineapple on my table at HG for only $15! They've also got really stylish kitchen basics (dish towels, silverware, serving bowls) for great prices.
Hobby Lobby is great because the entire store goes on sale for half off every week. If it's not on sale for half off one week, it's almost guaranteed it will be by the next week. I check their weekly ad every Sunday night to see what's on sale and then show up at 9am Monday morning to get what I want. I got all of my wall art (frames included!) for half off and under $16 for each print. My dalmatian pillows were half off for $11, and my dalmatian rug was only $10.

3. The Dollar Tree is your friend.
The Dollar Tree was great when we were five and our moms let us go in and pick out three things and we had to pick really wisely. Should we get a bag of candy, a nail polish, or a new hair towel wrap? The options were endless. And after that age it's almost like we forgot about the Dollar Tree entirely. Bad move: the DT was my absolute saving grace when it came to essentials for my house. I got so caught up in decorating and furniture that I forgot the necessities. I stocked my house with toilet paper, paper towels, plastic kitchenware, cleaning supplies, Kleenex and so much more all for under $30. A lot of times they carry overstock from name brands, too! Before you go breaking the bank on can openers and mop buckets (these things seriously add up), make your rounds through the DT. I can almost guarantee you won't leave empty-handed.

4. Know when things hit the sale rack.
Target, Hobby Lobby, and thrift stores have been my best friends. Not only because they're reasonably priced, but because I know their sale days. If it's not on sale, it's almost guaranteed that I won't buy it. I already went into Hobby Lobby's sale rotation, but a lot of local thrift stores also have colored tag sale days. So if it has a green tag on Monday, it's 99 cents, and so on and so forth. One of my favorite stops in a thrift store is the home section. I always look for photo frames (they're dirt cheap at thrift stores!). Target also has markdown schedule that's important to know. Click here to check out their markdown schedule.

5. Put faux sheepskin rugs and plants everywhere.
And thus I leave you with my last piece of (slightly random) advice.
I don't know what it is about sheepskin rugs and plants, but they just look nice. I bought two sheepskin rugs from Ikea for $30 and one from HomeGoods for $12. My dad was very quick to ask why I had so many. I felt like I didn't have enough. My home is from the 70's, and even after renovating, there's still some blemishes. I threw one down on my stained closet floor and laid my shoes on top and it instantly made it look more chic. If there are any spots in your house that you feel look a little bland, toss a sheepskin rug down. They also look great draped over the backs of chairs.
Plants make your house look and feel more cozy. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. But my house instantly looked more inviting once I had a few plants on the counters, end tables, and one by the couch. Here's the thing with me and plants, though: I have a brown thumb, not a green thumb. I kill plants almost instantly. I try my darndest to water them the correct amount when they need it and give them the correct amount of sunlight, but nothing works. So there's only two real plants in my house (the kind that basically need no attention), and the rest are fake. And they still have the same effect!

And after many months of trying to pinch my pennies and keep my house from representing what my bank account looks like (sad and empty), my house has become a home and it's time to move in!
If you have any questions about where anything came from in the above pictures, feel free to email me at insusiesshoes@gmail.com