BUDGETINGCOLLEGELIFESTYLE & TRAVEL

Decorating Your First Place on a Budget

Decorating your first place while in college — whether it’s a dorm room or an apartment — can be an exciting time, no matter what year of college you’re in! To get the most out of this experience, it’s important to take a few things into consideration before, during and after decorating.

Working Within Your Budget

A budget is an important part of — and a foundation of — personal finance. Determining your budget prior to shopping for furnishings and décor is key. Read our article Creating a Budget Step by Step if you’d like a better understanding of budgeting.

Determine Your Decorating Budget

In my professional experience, students tend to use their budgets on fun activities with friends like dining out, trips to the movies, student tickets to games and events, etc. Because this is often the case for college students, we’re going to use a second budgeting step to finalize your dorm budget. With any money left over, you will then decide how much of that you’ll use for decorating. To determine your decorating budget, begin the budgeting process again. This time, replace the income portion with your budget amount from the first step. Then add up those additional activity expenses such as the movies and tickets we listed earlier, and the amount leftover is your decorating budget:

Budget – Planned Activities = Decorating Budget

Timelines and Prioritization

When deciding how to spend your decorating budget, it’s important to consider a timeline and what your priorities are. For instance, do you need all the decorations now or can some of them be purchased later? What items are necessary to help you function within the space? Are the items practical, related to your lifestyle, or for self-expression? Asking questions like these is important to help you maximize your budget while creating a space you can call your own.

Think Outside of Online Major Retailers

After asking yourself these important questions, it’s time to begin procuring the items you need. Again, we are looking to maximize the decorating budget you have, so shopping online retailers should be your last stop. With more than 300,000 items in the average American household, consider item swapping with friends or upperclassmen. Ask both friends and family members if they have items they’re no longer using and would be willing to give to you. Consider visiting some local thrift shops! You may be able to find inexpensive items while also keeping things sustainable. Lastly, take a shopping trip to online marketplaces where items are sold at extreme discounts or given away for free.

Decorating your first place can be a fun and exciting experience, even if you aren’t a freshman. However, keep in mind that you may be leaving your space at the end of the year, which means you’ll need to decide what items to keep, donate or dispose of. Use this information to guide your decorating adventure!

Sources:

https://www.becomingminimalist.com/clutter-stats/