How to Decorate for Fall on a Budget

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I had fully intended on sharing a great before and after with y’all today, but sometimes life happens. It looks like I’ve got a case of the sickies to start off the week. So I’ll be curled up in bed watching Friends reruns and trying every trick in the book to prevent Olivia from using me as a human trampoline.

But I thought it would be helpful to share some of the ways I decorated for fall on a budget this year. (Because ya know, we need any leftover money we can muster for new boots…or groceries.)

I don’t typically go all out for seasonal decorating other than for Christmas, but something ignited a cheerful spark in me this fall.

6 Ways to Decorate for Fall on a Budget:

1. Use a neutral color palette.

I love the look of neutral seasonal decor anyway, but the reason it’s so great for a small budget is you can use lots of neutral decor year-round. For my fall tablescape, I rounded up neutral placemats, napkins, wood chargers, and cream candles that I can stash away to use again for winter, spring, or summer.

Choosing traditional orange, rust, and gold colors might limit me in those other seasons.

2. Check thrift stores year-round.

I find the best seasonal decor at my local thrift store at the most random times of the year. Fall wreaths seem to show up on the shelves in the middle of spring or summer. If they’re in great shape, I snap them up and pay just a couple bucks for them. (By the way, you can check out all of my thrift shopping secrets here.)

3. Repurpose items in a festive way.

If you have a chalkboard, write a message on it just for fall. Fill a lantern with pinecones. Or if you have a typewriter, tuck a printed fall quote inside. You can download my printable here.

4. Rely on nature.

Pinecones from the yard, a few branches cut from the trees, apples from the produce aisle (or apple tree if you’re really lucky), use whatever you find on a nature walk to scatter on a table or shelf for dirt cheap (literally).

5. Shop post-season sales.

I love scouring the clearance aisles at Michaels and Hobby Lobby for their post-season decor. A lot of times, their seasonal items are marked at 70-80% off on clearance. But even if you aren’t able to get out there for the big sales, they usually have 40-50% off for the early birds or sometimes throughout the seasonal months. I picked up pretty much all of my store-bought decor items at half price because I got them at the end of August when they first hit the shelves, and I used a coupon on top of that.

6. Buy faux.

You think if I say “faux” instead of “fake” it’s fancier? Sure, we’ll go with that. I use mostly fake pumpkins throughout our house because I can pay almost the same price for those as real ones, and I don’t have to keep buying them for years to come. This year, I just pulled my fake pumpkins out of storage and started decorating, no purchase necessary.

If you want my entire fall tour’s source list, you can check it out here. Have you already started decorating for fall? Or are you not too big on the seasonal decorating thing?

If you’re already thinking about Christmas decorating, you can check out my tips for budget Christmas decor too. Although, if you’ve already busted out the Michael Buble Christmas CD and Elf movie, I’m sorry. We can’t be friends. (Wink wink.)

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