Five Ways to Live Beautifully on a Limited Budget

I’ve always loved surrounding myself with beautiful things but there have been many instances throughout life where resources were  limited so I needed to be creative.  So, how do you surround yourself with beauty on a limited budget?  Here are five suggestions I’ve come up with in my search to live beautifully.

 

Collage Journal

Collage Journal

1.  Imagine It-In times of scarcity it can be difficult to imagine what it would be like if resources were more abundant.  What I have in multitude are images from magazines.  Even if you don’t have a bunch of periodicals lying around you can find them at used bookstores for cents.  Flip through the images in the magazines and find ones you like that are pretty or attractive to you. Rip the pages out and create a collage. Make the masterpiece into a journal or poster to hang on your wall for inspiration. Take the notebook around with you on your travels to record more ideas about ways of living beautifully.

Reupholstery in progress

Reupholstery in progress

2.  Reupholster It- I had a chair from Salvation Army for years before I took the time to reupholster it. I could see the beauty of the bones and figured some nice new fabric would turn it into a gem.  I think I paid about $25 for the chair and spent another $20 for fabric and trim. One long weekend I finally figured out how to do it by reading through Simple Upholstery & Slipcovers by Carol Parks.  It still needs the trim because I ran out of staples, but once it’s redone it’s probably worth a little over $100.

3.  Can It-When I was studying wine I wanted to know what vintners went through in growing their grapes so I planted a cabernet sauvignon grape vine in the backyard.  It took three years to produce fruit and then a one year learning curve to figure out what to do with the grapes, but this year I was able to make homemade grape jelly out of the harvest. Yum and what a great chance to spread the beauty around to friends.

Cabernet sauvignon grape jelly

Cabernet sauvignon grape jelly

4.  Drink It-If you can’t afford a nice dinner out, how about traveling to try a different coffee house?  The new Zumbar Coffee & Tea in Cardiff by the Sea, California is  an inexpensive excursion.  Beauty in a cup. Ahhh.

Zumbar Coffee

Zumbar Coffee

 

5.  Meditate on It-Certainly not least, but if it boils down to just you and God, meditate on the word for a beautiful mindset.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

 

Holley-Gerth-Button-250x250Coffee For Your Heart is a weekly challenge with Holley Gerth. Click on the heart to the left to find out how you can participate in this challenge too.

 

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  • Ginger Harrington Sep 18, 2014 Link

    I like your suggestions for finding beauty on a budget. It’s good to be creative and these kinds of activities bring great memories as well. Visiting from Coffee For Your Heart.