7 Easy Ways To Save Money Decorating

When you’re trying to decorate on a budget, it can be difficult to afford everything you want. Which is where DIY projects like these ones for making your home look more expensive and these furniture makeovers can really help. However, new purchases are still a necessity for most makeovers, and that’s where these ways to save money decorating come in handy.

If you like to re-decorate as much as I do, setting and staying within a decorating budget is an important skill to have.

As many of you know, when I find something I like that is more than I want to pay, a DIY project is often my solution. It’s the ultimate way to save money decorating in my books. However, it isn’t always the easiest route to take.

And there are still many occasions where a DIY project just isn’t going to cut it. Which usually happens when I see something at one of my favorite decor stores that I just have to have.

That’s when I put these ways to save money decorating into action.

1 | Comparison Shopping

The first and biggest way I like to save money on decorating is to always do comparison shopping online.

Buying home decor items from the place that has the lowest price may seem somewhat obvious, but I’ve learned that retailers often try to make this harder than it sounds.

Many times they change the name of the product or don’t include the manufacturer so you can’t immediately tell the same thing is being sold elsewhere for less. But if you’re willing to do a little searching, you can often find yourself a deal.

Let me give you an example. When I was working on my recent deck makeover project, I saw this awesome pink bamboo bar cart on OneKingsLane.com (definitely not something I could DIY!).

It was priced at $250, which I actually thought wasn’t a bad price. But I decided to see if I could find it elsewhere for less.

So I did a search for “Pink Bamboo Bar Cart” (intentionally leaving off the brand name) on wayfair.com. And what do you know? They had the exact same product*, with a different name, priced at $185. That’s $65 in savings!

But wait! We’re not done yet…

I repeated the same search again on amazon.com and came up with the exact same product* again (with yet another name) for $132. Almost half off the original price I saw! Guess where I bought it?

You can find these kinds of identical products (or very close matches) for all kinds of stores, including popular ones like Pottery Barn and high-end retailers like Neiman Marcus.

So where do I normally do these kinds of comparisons? Here’s my list of go-to sites:

• wayfair.com
• amazon.com
• overstock.com
• target.com
• walmart.com
• jcpenney.com (Yes, JC Penney! They actually have really good prices on some products if you get them on sale.)
• houzz.com

If you use the chrome web browser, you can also right-click on the product image and select “Search Google For Image” from the menu that pops up. Many of the sites that sell it will come back in the results.

2 | Get Paid For Reviews

Online stores know that people read online reviews.

Most people are much more likely to buy something online if they see that other people who have bought it are saying good things about it.

Which is why a lot of stores will give you a store credit to do an online review.

Two of my favorite online retailers (overstock.com and wayfair.com) do this.

If you go your account and look for the Reviews section, you’ll see a list of products that you have bought. Look for any of the ones that are offering a dollar amount for a review and fill those out. They’ll add the money to your account for you to use on your next purchase. I got $40 for one review on the flamingo rug I purchased for my deck makeover!

Of course, this only works well if you are planning on making additional purchases at that store. Buying something you weren’t planning on getting just because you have some money saved up doesn’t really count as saving 🙂

3 | Install the Wikibuy App

Wikibuy is an automated coupon app that you can add to the web browser on your computer or save to your phone.

Then when you’re shopping online, it lets you know if there are coupons you can use when you go to check out.

All you have to do is sign up. Click here to sign up for Wikibuy using my link.

Note: Wikibuy does also provide some automated comparison shopping notifications when it finds a product for a lower price, but I usually find that my manual searches are more successful.

4 | Add The Rakuten Button (used to be Ebates)

Similar to the Wikibuy app, the Rakuten button (which used to be called Ebates) also gets added to your computer’s web browser or saved to your phone.

However, it saves you money in a different way – by providing cashback discounts.

When you go to a site that they have a discount for, a popup lets you know what the cashback percentage is. When you complete your purchase, it’s added to your account.

Then four times a year, they cash out your account by depositing it into your paypal account (or you can have them send you a check if you prefer). That’s actual dollars going back to your bank account!

When I first signed up, it sounded too good to be true…but it really does work.

Again, it doesn’t cost you anything to sign up, and their cash back program covers a lot of stores.

Click here to sign up for Rakuten using my link.

Note: If you have both Rakuten and Wikibuy installed, you’ll see the Wikibuy discount in the browser bar above the Rakuten popup. Then you can compare which one will give you the better deal.

5 | Shop On Long Weekends

You may or may not have noticed, but many stores have big sales on long weekends.

So if you’re on a budget, it pays to wait for the sale and save yourself some money.

The side benefit? If you sign up for Rakuten, their cash back discounts often go up on long weekends, too. And they apply to all purchases, including sale items. So you’ll be getting even more money back.

Like this 10% cash back discount that I got on Memorial Day at pier1.com…on top of their long weekend sale prices.

6 | Get The Store App

Most stores these days have an app for your phone.

And many of them (like JoAnn’s fabrics) have coupons that are only available in the app.

At the very least, they have a section where you can see all of the available sales and coupons in one place. Which makes it much easier to know what is on sale.

Since there are so many stores that have some kind of special running all the time, it’s worth your while to save the store apps to your phone. That way you always have access to the latest deals.

As a side benefit, most stores also keep track of your orders in their app so if you ever need to return anything, you don’t need to go hunting for the receipt.

7 | Sign Up For Rewards Programs

The last of my ways to save money decorating is to take advantage of rewards programs.

Many of the common decorating stores (like Pottery Barn, Pier 1, Overstock, Wayfair and TJ Maxx) have rewards programs where you get points for purchases that get translated into $10 or $20 gift certificates when you reach a certain number of points.

Some of these rewards programs are linked to having their credit card, but some of them are not.

If it’s a store that you shop at on a regular basis, you may as well earn discounts while you’re shopping.

Of course, like getting paid for reviews, this is only helpful if you would be spending money at that store anyways. And I wouldn’t necessarily advise getting a new credit card just for their store rewards, unless you REALLY like their discounts program.

Well, that’s it for my ways to save money decorating. Hopefully, you’ve found a couple of ideas for putting some decorating funds back in your own pockets.

Other Decorating Ideas You Might Like

• 10 Easy Ways To Make Your House Look More Expensive
• 10 Expensive Looking Makeovers For Your Old Furniture
• How To Make Cheap DIY Outdoor Curtains That Look Custom

Have any other suggestions for ways to save money decorating? Tell us in the section below.

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