How to Spruce Up Your Home on a Budget (19 free & cheap ideas!)

How to freshen up your home on a budget! Free and cheap home upgrades to spruce up your home, and make it look nice inside.

Now more than ever, our home is our sanctuary.

So if you don’t switch things up every now and then…

…it can start to feel a little stale.

We can get REALLY sick of being there, and looking at our same ol’ decor day after day.

Luckily, there are ways we can spruce up our home on a budget!

Even without spending a dime, you can freshen up your living space.

Best of all? None of these ideas involve complicated DIY projects.

Let’s dive into these inexpensive home upgrades.

They will make your house feel more like a home!

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• How to Keep Your Home Smelling Good All the Time
• 10 Easy Tricks to Make Your Living Room More Cozy
• How to Organize a Small Bedroom (on a budget!)

This post may contain affiliate links. You can view my full disclosure policy here. 

How can I make my home beautiful without spending any money?

The following home upgrade ideas are all completely FREE! 

You can make your home way more cozy by tackling some of these quick and easy ideas:

1. Declutter the surfaces

All the flat places in our home are like magnets for clutter.

If you clear off and tidy up those surfaces, it will make your home look SO much nicer.

Here are some common surfaces that get cluttered:

• Kitchen countertops and island
• Bathroom counter
• Bedroom nightstand and dresser
• Refrigerator (sides and top)
• Entryway table
• Dining room table

Try clearing off some of those areas (or at least tidy them up), and see how much cleaner the room looks instantly!

2. Swap out pictures 

A fun way to change things up is to switch the pictures in your frames.

You could change up old family snapshots, or put out happy memories with friends.

It’s fun to swap out the frames with seasonally-appropriate pictures (ie. summer vacation pics in the summer, holiday ones in December, etc.)

Or go online and search for some free printable decor you can frame!

There are some really beautiful and fun ones you can print right on your home printer.

Pinterest is a great place to find free pretty printables.

3. Rearrange the furniture

Another easy way to freshen up your home without spending money is to rearrange the furniture.

Your living room or bedroom will get an instant refresh by changing where the big furniture is placed.

It just takes a little planning and a tape measure.

4. Let the light in

If your home is feeling dark or dingy, make it a point to open the curtains, blinds, or front door.

Make it part of your daily morning routine. Sunlight lifts your mood, and helps regulate your body’s internal clock.

5. Store loose items

Don’t worry, you don’t need an expensive trip to the Container Store to organize your home.

Look around for glass jars, baskets, boxes, or containers you can use to contain loose items.

Random items lying around make your space look messy!

Here are some free organizing ideas:

• Store open snacks and pantry staples in glass jars (save your salsa and pasta sauce jars)
• Tie up your cords with bread bag fasteners or twine. Keep the ones you aren’t currently using in a drawer or basket, out of sight.
• Organize your drawers with little boxes (ie. shoe box bottoms to organize socks)
• Use jars to hold Q-tips, cotton balls, writing utensils, or office and craft supplies
• Keep remote controls in a basket, box, or drawer

Rethink the packaging and containers you usually throw away. There are so many ways to repurpose them!

Related: 10 Things You Need to Organize Your Messy Kitchen

6. Bring in something fresh

A vase of fresh flowers make a BIG difference in the atmosphere of your kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom.

Clip some flowers or greens from your yard to put in a vase or glass jar.

You could also buy an inexpensive bouquet from a store like Aldi, or buy some houseplants to keep in your living space all the time.

They even help purify the air!

Related: FREE Printable Spring Cleaning Checklist (everything you need to do!)

7. Swap decor from room to room

To spruce up your home on a tight budget, just reuse and repurpose your decor.

The little decor pieces from your bedroom can take on a new life in the living room. And vice versa.

Rethink how you have things arranged on a shelf or table. 

Or rethink what you think of as decor. Books with the same color binding can be stacked to look like decor, for example.

Moving things around make you notice your space more, and help you get more use out of what you’ve already bought.

Related: Cheap Ways to Change Up Your Home Decor for Every Season

8. Add scent

How your home smells really impacts how it feels!

You probably have a scented candle, wax melt lamp, or essential oil diffuser that you often forget to use.

Get it going, and enjoy how good your home smells!

You can also make a simmer pot right on the stove, using citrus peels, cinnamon, and vanilla. 

Related: 10 Prettiest Essential Oil Diffusers (to make your home look AND smell fabulous)

9. Tidy up daily

A simple daily cleaning routine prevents your house from getting out of control.

If you want to avoid spending every Saturday afternoon cleaning the house, do a little each day instead.

Here’s some ideas for your daily cleaning routine:

• Make the bed
• Do the dishes
• Sort the mail
• Do one load of laundry
• Put away out-of-place items
• Wipe the counters
• Do one major cleaning task (ie. dust, vacuum, mop the floors, etc) 

Related: How to Clean Your House Really Fast (step by step!)

10 Cheap home upgrade ideas

If you do have a little money to spend, there are some inexpensive ways to spruce your home up.

Here are some ways to revamp your decor without spending a lot of money!

10. Cute throw pillows

Freshen up your couch or bed with new throw pillows.

Or get some cute throw pillow covers to reuse the pillows you already have.

It’s an inexpensive upgrade that makes a big impact.

11. Paint

You can completely change the look of a room with about $50 worth of paint.

It’s actually much easier than you think!

I’ve repainted every room of our house, and did each room in just a few hours.

You can also use spray paint to give something small a facelift.

Some things you can spray paint are:

• End tables and small pieces of furniture
• Metal cabinets
• Mailbox
• Faucet
• Doorknobs
• Vases and plant pots
• Patio furniture
• Curtain rods
• Floor vent covers
• Electrical outlet covers
• Tree branches and pinecones to use as decor
• Wicker baskets
• Trash cans
• Hardware

Hint: White, gold, or black spray paint can make old items look new and expensive!

12. Shower curtain

Change up the look of your bathroom just by swapping out the shower curtain.

13. Seasonal decor

Put out a few pieces of seasonal decor throughout the year.

I like to use interchangeable seasonal decor like this, so I don’t have to store tons of bins of decorations.

14. Change hardware

Swap out the drawer or cabinet pulls in your kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom for an easy facelift.

When we redid our kitchen, I ordered a big set of matching cabinet handles. 

It was MUCH cheaper than buying them individually at the hardware store.

15. Curtains

New curtains totally change up the look of a room. 

And they don’t have to be expensive at all! IKEA and Amazon both have many budget-friendly options.

Hint: For a more expensive look, make sure the curtains are long enough to touch the floor. 

16. Slipcover

If you’re tired of the way your sofa looks, consider getting a slipcover to give it a new look.

17. Lighting

The lighting in your home has a big impact on how cozy it feels.

Warm lighting looks much better than harsh, cool overhead lighting.

Table and floor lamps, task lighting, and string lights are lovely ways to spruce up your living space.

18. Cute hand towels

Don’t underestimate the power of a cute hand towel to make you smile.

Seasonal ones you can switch out for every holiday are nice, as are bright, cheerful designs.

I usually order mine from Kohl’s, in a sale+coupon scenario.

19. Rug

A new rug will definitely change up the look of a space.

It doesn’t have to be a giant area rug, though those are nice too.

A new rug in the entryway, kitchen, bedroom, or different bathroom rugs can make a big impact.

Ready to spruce up your home?

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to freshen up your home. Even on a tight budget!

Try incorporating one of two of these idea this week, and notice how it changes the way you feel about your home.

It’s worth the effort!

For more homemaking inspiration, check out:

• 12 Tricks to Motivate Yourself to Clean When You HATE Cleaning
• How to Make Your Laundry Smell Good (a ton of easy tricks!)
• 12 Tricks to Motivate Yourself to Clean When You HATE Cleaning