Five Frugal Fall Decorating Tips

November 12, 2018

If you’re anything like me, each new season makes me want to do a total overhaul of my house to make it feel more festive! The problem with this is that it can get expensive really quickly! At this point in my life, I don’t have a lot of seasonal home décor. I haven’t had the advantage of years to collect items that I love for each season, and I also don’t have an unlimited budget to fill my house with beautiful pieces that I will keep for years to come.

Actually, funny story: for my husband and I’s first Christmas together as boyfriend-girlfriend, I went slightly Christmas decoration crazy! We both LOVE Christmas and I wanted to make it really special. I was still living with my parents at the time, working my way through graduate school, and my husband was a bachelor in a new home with only an artificial Christmas tree for décor. We had nothing to create a festive Christmas atmosphere! Well, one lunch hour I sauntered over to the local At Home and spent almost $200 on Christmas decorations! At the time, this was fine because I was living with my parents and had virtually no expenses. Fast forward today, and my husband might just lock me up if I randomly went out and spent $200 on decorations.

Since I have to really watch my budget these days, here are my top five tips for being frugal this fall on your home decorations.

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  1. Check out your local dollar store for fake flowers and foliage. Almost all of my fake plants in the house come from the Dollar Tree. They always have seasonal choices (think leaves in the fall, poinsettias near Christmas) and since everything is only a dollar, you can be sure to add a nice variety to your arrangements! My trick is to start with a very neutral base that can be used for every season (i.e. greenery) and then add seasonal colors. Here I added in some colorful foliage and a few neutral colored flowers.

  1. Invest in some good chalk paint.This is a must-have for every season because you never know when it will come in handy. For example, almost all of the pumpkins in my house right now started off as a gaudy, bright orange color. I got most of them either from the Dollar Tree (see a pattern?) or a big variety pack from Hobby Lobby on sale. All I did to make them fit in better with my style was give them a quick couple coats of chalk paint that I had lying around the house and wah-lah! Much more in tune with our more muted theme.

  1. Allow yourself one special purchase.I do think this is super important when you’re young and trying to build yourself a beautiful décor collection. By now you know that I love my cheap hacks, but I also want to have beautiful pieces that I know are going to last. Every year we do the typical pumpkin patch visit to Gull Meadow Farms here in Kalamazoo. Not only do they have delicious apples, donuts and cider, but their barn is filled with so many unique pieces that I have to limit myself to one, otherwise I might leave with the entire barn! This year I bought this super cute pumpkin which I think fits perfectly. I loved how neutral it was and I know it will be versatile each fall to come.

  1. Season pillow covers! Amazon is my go-to for pillow covers. There are so many choices at a good price, and with Amazon Prime, I don’t have to pay for shipping! What girl doesn’t love shopping in her pajamas from the comfort of her own couch?? Bonus points when that comfy couch has adorable pillows, which mine now does. An additional perk is that you can wash them whenever you want, which definitely comes in handy when you have a puppy who loves jumping up on the couch after digging holes in the backyard. You can find my pillows in the sources below.

  1. Last, but not least,stay true to yourself.In the world we live in with Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., it is so easy to want to recreate what someone else has already done. I struggle with this every time I scroll through Instagram these days and come across one of my favorite bloggers. Although their homes are absolutely stunning, everything they have may not suit my space and I certainly can’t afford to make that happen anyway. If you love bright, Jack-O-Lantern orange, use the neon orange! If muted, neutral colors are more your thing, stick with the creams and tans. Build up your home décor stash with items you love, because after all, you’re the one living there!

Hopefully this has helped give you a few ideas on how you can create a space that makes you happy, regardless of where you are in life right now. I’d love to hear how you keep your bank account on track as we move into the holidays coming up! Drop me a comment below!

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