...you should teach yourself to paint. With the stuff available now, like two part epoxy clear coat in a spray can that you mix by pushing a button that opens a separate compartment and has a 24-36 hour pot life in the can, painting has come much more within range of the average home hobbyist.
You can set up a small portable twin tank compressor with a pretty decent spray gun and water filtration on the line from the stuff available at Home Depot and Harbor Freight that does a credible job of laying on color coat and primer. You can even buy self etching primer in spray cans now.
Decals are still gonna run you around 40-50 bucks though. There's no way around that unless you want to take the time and trouble to lay out and make them yourself...which is more than I'm up for. On the upside, these decals are probably not available, so you save money.