Too bad all these require money. Making money today, in this economy environment which gets worse with every day that passes, home renovation has passed on a secondary plan in people’s priorities. We all may lose our jobs tomorrow, so we need all the savings we can get, in order to be able to survive until a new job comes in.

However, there are a few things which we can make better with barely any money at all. Therefore, if you really feel bad about your living space, you can try to improve it.

Cleanliness is the queen of elegance

No matter how old your furniture or your carpets may be, cleanliness should be a priority for you. A clean place looks good by all means. You can be poor, but you cannot let yourself be dirty or messy. De-cluttering can be one of the most pleasant experiences of somebody who doesn’t even dream to get money for renovations. This is a step by step plan to improve your home only by tidying it up a bit:

• Look around you and find ten things which are not quite in good order. Write them down. The list can be something like: dirty curtains, filthy carpet in the dining room, food on the kitchen floor, bathroom sink with your former beard all over it…
• Pick up one of the rooms in your home and start fixing the mess you’ve written down before.
• After you finish it, take a break. Sit down and enjoy your results. Everything should be shiny and in good order by now, so you have all the reasons to feel good.
• Move on to the second room and repeat the process. Do this with all things on your list.
• Stop and enjoy. Does your home look better now? Did the vacuum cleaner and the duster do a great job for your carpets and furniture? If not, maybe you should consider buying one of those portable steam cleaners. They are not very expensive and they do a great cleaning job, thanks to the steam power. Besides, they work with water, so no more money spent on detergents.
• Very important: make sure you put all things back in place after you use them. When something messes up, fix it immediately. Don’t let clutter accumulate again.

The total expense for all the above should be less than $20 a month. The steam cleaner is not included here, but if you want it, I suppose you need to add a few hundreds bucks for the beginning. Thinking that the average life span of such a vapor cleaner can be of 3-4 years at least, it surely pays off.