How to breathe new life into your home on a budget…sounds a little impossible, doesn’t it?
However, you may be surprised to learn that by doing a little cleaning, reorganizing, and simple redecorating, you can make your home feel like a brand new place!
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Give Your Home New Life with New Eyes
Before you breathe some new life into your home with a project, take a minute to take a look around.
Joni from Life Unflaked says,
“To make your home feel like new again, get a fresh perspective. Pretend you’re a visitor (or your mother-in-law) and start at the front door, taking note of easily overlooked details that give your house a dreary feeling – scuffed baseboards, crooked wall art, traffic wear on the rugs, grubby light switches, books leaning sadly on the bookshelves. Chances are you can spiff up your home with little or no work just by neatening shelves, containing that entryway shoe disaster, switching out throw rugs, or touching up baseboards. Oh, and light a candle while you’re at it. One that smells like cupcakes and happiness.”
Who doesn’t like cupcakes and happiness?! haha
The purpose of this post isn’t to make you feel bad about what you do have…your home may be breathing just fine! But as I enjoy working to make our house feel homey, I wanted to share a few simple and inexpensive ways to make some changes.
Clean
If you’ve been on this journey with me for any amount of time, you know that I LOVE to have a clean house. Really, it’s more of a need for my sanity’s sake. But who has time to clean, let alone deep clean, daily – especially with young children at home?!
If you want to see my 6 tips for *always* having a clean house (even with littles) check out this post.
Having a clean house can make a BIG difference. It may be as easy as putting extra clothes and shoes away…or you may want to choose a few “deep cleaning” items to do.
Ok, so let’s just go through a few rooms together and pick some projects we may want to tackle…
Kitchen
The kitchen is one of the busiest places in a house, and one of my favorites!
Simple changes like setting out some plants, using cute utensil containers, or putting out some new towels can really freshen up your space on a budget.
Regularly, I will declutter our countertops and thoroughly wipe everything down. If splattering food while cooking was an Olympic sport, I would have a gold medal!
Here are a few quick cleaning projects that can also give your kitchen that refresh you’re looking for…
Microwave
A microwave is probably the most used appliance in your kitchen and needs to be cleaned often. Luckily it can be cleaned quickly and easily with these easy ways to clean your microwave hacks from Cara at Everything Kitchenware.
Refrigerator
Sometimes I feel like our fridge is where leftovers and condiments go to die. I’m pretty good at throwing away old dinners the night before trash day, but you’d be shocked to see the expiration dates on some of the other things I just went through! While you’re going through everything, take it all out and give everything a good wipe down with a kitchen cleaner or dish soap. Get those old milk spills and dried nasty spots outta there.
Sink
If you haven’t followed Becky from Clean Mama, you totally should! She has a nightly sink scrub that works wonders. Really, this isn’t a “deep cleaning” project, but something that we often forget to do in the hustle and bustle of the day.
For utility sinks, check out Susan from Organized 31’s tips for making a grungy utility sink look like new with natural ingredients you already have in your home.
Floors
Guys, our floors are over-worked and under-paid! Here in Florida, I am constantly battling the sandy soil coming in with our kiddos (and the digging dogs 🤪).
There are 2 products I will never not have (yes, a double negative for effect)…a robot vacuum and a steam mop! I fully express my love for them in my housekeeping post, but I cannot sing the praises of these two items enough!
Carpet
Have carpet stains? Yeah, me too. We have one particular rug that our girls are allowed to snack on and that we all practically live on. That rug has a well-loved life, haha. For info on how to clean all kinds of carpet stains, check out Angie’s carpet cleaning tricks. Oh, and as a bonus, she also has a list of 10 things you can clean with a carpet cleaner! Say whaaaat.
Baseboards
I’m going to count this under the “floor” section, because, close enough, right? As a kid, this was one of our “special jobs.” My dad is 6’6″, and being nearly 6′ tall myself, I totally understand why this was designated as a “kid” job! To make this easier, you can tie a rag or washcloth to the head of a broom or Swiffer sweeper. Typically, I’ll just get on my hands and knees and go around with a damp rag. It’s definitely not a “favorite” chore of mine, but one that can make a big difference!
Lastly when thinking about breathing new life into your floors, don’t forget to move the furniture and sweep/vacuum underneath!
Bathrooms
Eek. Don’t breathe in too much life here until you give it a good cleaning!
Bathtub
Holly from Pink Fortitude is frequently asked how to get rid of mold in the shower. “Should I use bleach to remove the mold? What is safe to use? Is there an all-natural method to remove mold? How do I keep the mold from coming back?” All of the answers are right here.
Other Places to Clean and Give New Life in Your Home
Quickly, here are a few other projects to consider when trying to breathe new life into your home. Cleaning typically requires very little additional cost, so it is a great solution when on a budget!
- Dust ceiling fans and fixtures
- Dust blinds
- Wash windows and window sills (enjoy the fresh breeze while you’re at it!)
- Sweep garage and porches
- Sanitize washing machine and dryer
Declutter and Reorganize
Kallie from One Fit Mamma’s favorite tip for keeping a home feeling fresh is to declutter often.
Most people leave their house cluttered, but clean their house. If you are wanting your house to feel brand new declutter and move things around for a fresher look.
Doesn’t it feel nice to reorganize and then stand back and admire? Angela from Handmade In The Heartland says that reorganizing your pantry can be a HUGE mood booster and you’ll get a little lift every time you walk in! Check out her amazing before and after here…and how she pulled off such a transformation!
Ellen at Confessions of an Over Worked Mom has some tips to organize your linen closet! These tips will help declutter you linen closet so you can easily see what you have and need! For my next trick, I shall fold a fitted sheet, haha.
Redecorate
When it comes to our home, I’ve found that I have a caviar taste on a tuna fish budget. If it’s not on sale, or from Hobby Lobby, or even better, the sale aisle at Hobby Lobby I probably won’t buy it.
I’m also not one who can just walk into a store and put together a room. I like to grow into a space – to find things that fit together over time. It’s also easier on my wallet that way 😉. I vividly remember registering for our wedding. It felt nearly impossible for me to pick out even just a rug and shower curtain for an apartment I hadn’t seen yet! I know, that probably makes me sound a little nuts.
Update Linens
Recently, I splurged and bought all new towels (and hand towels and washcloths). I can’t wait to shower and be wrapped in fluffy white softness at the end of each (or every other, haha) day! Now listen, our home instantly felt fresher and more luxurious and it was absolutely worth the cost!
We’ve been married almost 9 years…and have been using the same towels since our wedding. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but now I know how to better wash and take care of our things to keep them soft!
I also replaced two sets of sheets for our bedroom. If you’ve never slept on jersey knit sheets, do yourself a favor and try a set pronto! They are so incredibly soft and make our bed feel like more of a retreat than a “place to crash.”
Use What You Already Have
Before you head to the store, see what you already have to work with. We all have things stowed away that can bring new life to your home. By repurposing and reusing, you’ll be sure to stay on your budget.
After nearly 9 years, I changed our shower curtain. By using things I already had, a simple refresh of our bathroom cost me around $35. Is it strange to share a picture of my toilet? haha oh well. There is no shame in my repurposing game!
Funny story about the shower curtain – as I was hanging it, I thought “hmm, this kinda smells like vomited goldfish crackers” but figured it would air out. It did not. My husband and daughter both came running outta there wondering what in the world that horrible smell was 😂. I popped it into the dryer (which also reduced the wrinkles) along with some drops of lavender essential oil on our wool dryer balls and promptly opened the window.
Simple Crafting
My mother-in-law is a crafting queen!! With just spray paint and canvas tarps, she made us the most amazing bedroom curtains! One thing she’s taught me is that a little creativity can go a long way.
So lately, I’ve been really into plants. Truthfully, my success rate is only about 60%, but I just can’t stop buying (and killing, evidently) fiddle leaf fig and palm trees! I thought I’d go a little smaller and try a few accent plants, but didn’t want to buy nicer-looking pots until I knew I could keep these little guys alive. So, I got out the jute! I’m convinced a little jute can make anything look shabby chic. Ta-da!
Sometimes, the smallest touches can have the biggest impact. The more crafting and you-ness oin your home, the more special and unique it becomes!
Add Some Greenery
Speaking of plants…get some!! Something about having indoor plants makes me feel super classy. Mary Poppins herself said “A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” as she pulled out a potted plant. So, I must be on to something here!
Before you head to the nursery, do a little research so you don’t waste your money. We are on a budget here, remember. Guides like this have been super helpful to me.
Pothos and snake plants have been the easiest to keep alive so far, but I’m not giving up on my fiddle leaf fig dream! The one survivor is being carefully watched next to my nightstand.
If you don’t have a green thumb (or any interest), maybe investing in a faux plant is the way to go. We have a large awkward corner in our living room that drives me crazy. After a few palm tree deaths, I ordered this faux bird of paradise and am very pleased! It’s sitting on an upside down Dollar Tree sand bucket for extra height, because, I’m that classy 🤪.
Breathe New Life into Your Home on a Budget with Contentment
There we go – that should get you started! What are some of your other favorite ways to refresh your home?
As I wrap this up, I just want to remind us all to not get so caught up in the decorating of our house that we forget what makes a home. Home is a place we share with the ones we love the most. And even though it is fun and rewarding to clean, decorate, and take care of the things we have…they really are just things.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
1 Timothy 6:6
Other Homemaking Topics You May Enjoy
How to Make “Dish Towel” Curtains
6 Easy & Time-Saving Tips to Always Have a Clean House