The one great thing we noted about our house when we were looking at the first time was the ample amount of outlets. There is at least six in every room plus at lest 2 vents and were all either almond colored or an odd metal finish. Vents are expensive and we didn't feel like buying 40 covers, so we decided to just grab some spray paint and update all of the outlets and vents. We used Rustoleum Satin White we picked up for $6 and Rustoleum Clear Semi-Gloss for plastics for $4 from Wal-Mart. So for $10 we changed a small feature in our house but made a big difference.
After we took off all the covers and vents, we made sure to give them a good cleaning before we laid them out to be painted. A few of them didn't get a good wipe down and started to bubble up because the paint didn't have a good surface to stick to. We did two coats of the white and then two of the clear. The clear spray paint just ensures that scratches won't peel the paint off. You can also prime the pieces first if you don't buy the 2-in-1 stuff. Young House Love did that in their Updating Hardware post.