"At the end of the day, your financial and personal safety is worth way more than taking risks on those too good to be true listings that just smell a little fishy. Shopping smart is as much about safety as it is about affordability."

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Moving out of your parents' house for the first time is both the most exciting step into adulthood and a scary path full of unknown and hard lessons waiting around every corner. From navigating new friendships to learning how to live independently, everything feels like a first in this new chapter of life. One of these firsts—my favourite aspect of moving out—was decorating my very own space. Whether it be a dorm room or an apartment, freedom and creative control can easily have harsh consequences on your bank account. To help ease the financial burden, I’ve compiled some life lessons, tips and tricks, and words of wisdom to help make your space uniquely yours without hurting your wallet.

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Patience makes perfect: take what you can get

 

It doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve spent on Pinterest refining the aesthetic you’re going for, or how many times you’ve had to explain what “coastal grandma” means to your parents. It doesn’t matter how prepared you think you are: nothing happens all at once. Speaking from experience, furnishing a new place always takes 10x as long as you expect it to and always—always—costs more than you budget for. Second-hand stores and hand-me-downs are your new best friend. That desk that a friend-of-a-friend’s roommate left last semester may not be cute—it may even be kind of ugly—but it’s free and it’s more realistic than the Anthropologie desk you’ve had pinned for seven months. 

 

If anything, this may be the time in your life when you are about to get really good at making someone else’s trash your very own curated collection of pre-loved gold. As someone who really, really likes interior design—and spends way too much time curating perfectly balanced moody collages on Pinterest—this was hard for me to accept when I first moved into my university apartment. It felt like someone dumped a cold bucket of water on my head when I realized that rent and hydro bills take priority over wall sconces.

 

This seems like common sense now, but moving into your first place is a momentously exciting adventure and some of us (myself included) can’t help but get a little carried away in our daydreaming. 

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Don’t sleep on the thrift stores

 

Speaking of wall sconces: the best apartment decor I ever scored was sitting dusty in a back aisle of Value Village on a random Wednesday. The gold bow-shaped candle sconces I had saved to my mood board were there, looking right at me. The very sconces I’d fixated on in the weeks leading up to my move and told everyone I had to have (be it overpriced on Etsy or not) were $4.

 

Everyone, so I’ve come to understand, has a story about crossing paths with something so sought after and seemingly impossible to find, about striking gold at a thrift store that completely transformed not only their new space, but made it feel a little more like home. When you’re far from home for the first time or feeling a bit lost in a new place, finding second-hand decor is an easy way to stay within your budget and maintain peace of mind. 
 

 

DIY (no really, you can do it yourself!)

 

Remember that pre-loved gold I mentioned earlier? Sometimes second-hand finds can be functional and a convenient way to stay on budget, but they’re not always… cute. To manage your finances while striving for a place that feels like home, DIY arts and crafts are a good compromise. Take picture frames for example: I thrifted quite a few (and still do!)  for my apartment and while they might not have been the perfect shade of black or the right vibe I was going for, with a quick coat of dollar store acrylic paint and a good wash later, I’d taken a pre-loved item and made it something that reflects the intention of my space. 

 

There are so many other hacks out there to transform something less than optimal into what brings you joy. From cute cushions to cover up a weird shade of couch fabric, throw blankets to add dimension to an awkwardly shaped room, a thrifted lamp shade to elevate your elementary childhood desk lamp, or finding thrifted fabric for flowy curtains that offset how the landlord painted over your four-bedroom apartment: the world is your imagination.

 

Just remember to keep all DIY fire smart, especially if you’re upcycling a lamp shade … 

 

 

This is the time to change who you are—your space included. 

 

Second-hand shopping is a miracle for not only your wallet, but for the space it offers to reinvent yourself again, and again, and another time, and probably once more for good measure. Finding apartment decor for a fraction of the price means you are allowing yourself the financial freedom to discover what you really like. Who are you away from your parents? What do you like? Who do you want to be? Maybe you can be someone with a cupboard solely full of mason jars or funky martini glasses or maybe even that friend who collects bird mugs, because why not? You can change yourself however many times you need because this is the time in your life when anything and everything is at your fingertips. So yeah, get that weird-looking oil painting of a pug you thrifted and hang it over the couch your brother’s friend gave you. In the realm of discovering who you are and how you fit into adulthood, discounted second-hand decor helps you along that journey. 

 

 

The downside of nifty thrifting: how to not get scammed

 

I’ve been here one too many times, unfortunately. Sometimes, when pursuing Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji, things are simply too good to be true. Not in the “Oh wow, I can’t believe someone is just giving this nightstand away for free” kind of way, but in the way that just screams scam. 

 

Recently, I moved out of my university apartment and made the move across the country with my partner. Starting with only what could fit in a Honda Civic, we were in desperate need of quick, cheap furniture on Facebook Marketplace. We found a beautiful sectional sofa couch for a fraction of the price it should have been sold for, and only a $75 delivery fee to have it brought to our apartment in another town. It felt too good to be true, and it most certainly was. The first red flag should have been that the account was made only 15 hours before and had no personal information or any indication that there was an actual person by the name of “Linda” behind the ad. The second flag we ignored—in our desperation to not sit on the floor of our apartment anymore—was that “Linda” would only take e-transfer (and would only hold the couch if we made the delivery deposit). 

 

Here is where I wish everyone would stop and think for a minute: listen to the alarm bells ringing in your gut and ask yourself if this is legit. Unfortunately, scams are waiting in every corner of the internet, and this one left my partner out $75 and with a very frustrating afternoon at the bank trying to unlock his debit card. 

 

A good rule of thumb, which I should have followed while shopping on second-hand sites, is: always use cash, always bring someone else with you for pick-ups, do a background check on whoever you’re buying from, and always listen to your gut. At the end of the day, your financial and personal safety is worth way more than taking risks on those too good to be true listings that just smell a little fishy. Shopping smart is as much about safety as it is about affordability. Keeping both in mind will allow furnishing and decorating your first place to be memorable, in the best ways!

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