In 2014, I moved into an apartment in NYC and one of my New Year’s goals that year was to furnish and decorate my apartment in a budget friendly way. It was the first apartment I’d had in about seven years and when I moved in, it definitely had a meth-den chic to it. I had 2 camping chairs and a big blue plastic bin as a table and I was sleeping on an inflatable mattress.

Now, I would argue, if you come home and find joy in your camping chairs, plastic bin and inflatable mattress, what more do you need?

It just so happened though, I didn’t. I had a stressful, lunatic boss and when I came home at the end of the day, I wanted it to at least be comfortable enough that I didn’t constantly have back pain from my bed and seating arrangements.

The problem though was that I was on a pretty strict budget. Step one though was to figure out how much I really could spend and prioritize what I wanted.

I figured I could sink about $1,000 into furnishing my home. I had lived in crappy cruise ship cabins and a circus train up until then, so the top of my list item was a good mattress.

From there I got a little creative.

I threw it out to family and friends that I was looking for some furnishings and my people managed to supply me with a small table and two chairs, a TV stand, an ottoman/bench thing that opened and had storage in it, and one comfy armchair for zero dollars, I just had to show up and take it.

That left two big ticket items, the mattress and some sort of couch. Since I’m still fighting becoming a full adult, apparently, all I wanted was a mattress and box spring, I didn’t care at all about a proper bed frame or headboard.

After some really inept mattress shopping, I was the proud owner of a very soft queen sized mattress. Turns out, I don’t like super soft mattresses, but that’s a problem for a few years down the road. At the time, it was exactly what I wanted for about $400. When I buy a new one though, I’m totally going with a cheaper online option, like Leesa, that lets you sleep on them for a few weeks before committing for good.

I went back and forth on the couch idea for a while too because I had a found a mini-futon that was adorable and chic… and about $500, which was pretty much the rest of my budget. Since I couldn’t see myself staying in New York for a long time, I decided to pick a budget futon from Walmart for about $150 bucks. It assembled a lot easier, sleeps two instead of one, and it was a totally fine pick.

After making a budget, organizing a list of what I needed and prioritizing those items, I was doing pretty good. I was actually way under budget. My home still needed a little something though.

In March of that year, one of my BFFs turned 30 and decided we were doing a wine and design to celebrate. I painted a questionable mountain scene and thought “ah ha! I will just create my own decorations for my apartment.”

I thought it would be easy peasy. I dropped $45 at Michael’s and brought home some canvases and paint and started checking out Pinterest for ideas. I had mixed success, but with the paintings up on the wall, it definitely started to feel a little more like home.

Pinterest totally made it look like vinyl letters would stick to a canvas with no problem, but that was a lie. My proudest “work of art” was the sound wave with the lyrics in it that I made when I was teaching myself how Photoshop and the plotter worked at work.

I feel like my decorating scheme definitely worked for my temporary apartment when I was 29/30, but even just a few years later now, it’s not exactly what I would go with anymore. When I was decorating my RV over the last year and a half, the only “work of art” that made it from the NYC apartment into the RV was the sound wave piece.

That being said, I still managed to find enough unique pieces on a budget to decorate that space too. As crazy as it sounds, even places like Five Below have some cute stuff to decorate with. Home Good, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s all also have some decent budget-friendly art.

And, of course, whether it was NYC, my RV or probably any place I live ever, I think another nice, budget friendly touch, is some candles. I have a soft spot for supporting artists on Etsy, but you can really find good candles anywhere.

What tricks do you use to stay under budget when you’re moving to a new space?