"My Cheap Ass Home" mission statement

Welcome!

I'm starting this blog partially as a way of sharing information ('cause that's the kind of dork I am: the sharing variety) and partially to get my arse in gear and actually get around to making my apartment vaguely livable and decorated with a minimal amount of cost and effort.

I've been living in the same apartment for a little over a year, but due to not being remotely emotionally invested in the place, as well as having very little spare income, I hadn't gotten around to decorating much. It's hard to get motivated to spend money on a home that I know I'll leave as soon as it makes financial sense. And so, despite actually liking having a nicely designed pad to call my own, the apartment languished in undecorated hell. Yup, mismatched furniture, some of which is inherited and ugly (the champion of this being my couches that look like they toddled out of Miami Vice), bare walls, and no cohesive style.

I've finally gotten to a breaking point though and decided to break down and make the place look like a real home rather than an apartment I just moved into last week. Of course, I have limitations. I'm in grad school and am only working part-time, so my budget is VERY limited. I'm also thinking long-term, so I don't want to invest in lots of improvements that I can't take with me when I move and/or would have to spend lots of money to remove when I finally can ditch this place for something more permanent... so no built-in shelves, wallpaper, or painting.

Of course, I've got some things on my side too. I've got a bit of extra time, a natural cheapskate manner, a background in art, several relatives and friends who do home repair who I can bug for advice, and (possibly best of all) an Ikea mere minutes away (have you seen the "As Is" sections at Ikea?! They're a bargain hunter's paradise if you know how to tweak furniture and find the few Ikea pieces that actually hold up over time).

To keep me motivated I decided to track my efforts with a blog because maybe other people reading about what I'm doing might help be be motivated to actually get going on some of the projects I've got brewing in my head and stop being so lazy.

So, over the next while I'll be posting the projects I'm working on (including pics, instructions, costs, and even the mistakes I made along the way so you can avoid them). I'll also be posting links to articles, books, and shops I've found that have either helped me in my efforts to make my place less sucky on the cheap and/or have inspired me.

Hopefully by the end of this journey I'll have an apartment that doesn't shame me every time I have visitors as well as a blog that helps people out of their own lame apartment fail.