Decorating My Apartment for Fall with a $50 Budget
Whether the weather reflects it or not, Fall is on the horizon! Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts have brought their Pumpkin Spice goodies to stores earlier than ever, which means it is officially time for Fall!
One of my favorite parts of Fall, other than the cooler weather, is decorating! I love oranges, reds, and browns, and especially love the scent of fresh potpourri. Growing up, decorating was so much fun because I got to go shopping with my parents and buy all of the decorations I wanted on my folk’s dime, of course!
Sadly, the reality of growing up is realizing that holiday decorations are not cheap and the ones that are cheap, are actually kind of, well, cheap! On top of that, it’s super hard to decorate a tiny apartment, because you don’t always have the cute front porch to decorate or a second story to hang lights from. The one positive of having a small apartment to decorate is that there is less space that needs expensive decor!
I, for one, am a smart shopper and am always on the hunt for a good discount. I can thank my mama for that one! My mom taught me how to shop for good deals and those are lessons I will hold onto forever and want to pass along to you.
This is why, for this Autumn, I have decided to give myself a $50 budget to decorate my apartment. I wanted to show you, and even myself, that it is possible to have cute, Pinterest-worthy decor that won’t put you in the hole!
Here Are My Rules:
I have $50 to buy Fall Decor for my apartment
The total should be calculated pre-tax (basically I added the price on the price tags up and used that to be equal to or less than $50)
Items can be bought and used in conjunction with items I already have at home
Find the BEST PRICES
Time for Shopping
Once my rules were set, it was time to go shopping! Since I am aiming for the cheapest prices, I wanted to hit up the stores that I knew always had great prices - Marshalls, Ross, and 99 Cents Only Stores.
My first stop was Marshalls, where I found so much of my everyday apartment decor. I loooove Marshalls! I used to hate going here when I was a kid because there was just SO MUCH stuff, but as I got older, and I had a sense of the kinds of items I wanted, shopping at Marshall’s became so much easier. It’s especially easy to shop here when you are looking for something specific, like Autumn decor. Here, I was able to find two really cute Halloween serving plates that totaled about $8.00!
After Marshalls, it was time to hit up their brother, Ross. I honestly see no difference between Marshalls and Ross other than the name, but they often have different items, so it is always worth going to both stores! At Ross, I was able to find a big bag of pumpkin scented potpourri for $6.99 and a plush, three-tiered jack-o-lantern decor item that was about $5. These items, combined with what I bought from Marshalls equaled about $20. I’ve already used ⅖ of my budget on only four items! It was time to hit the dollar store.
The 99 Cents Only Store is the epitome of ballin on a budget. You can get so much for so little! It’s one of my favorite stores. Now, I know that the quality of items here isn’t the best, but sometimes they have really great decor or really great items that will elevate items you already have at home.
For just $8, I was able to find three fall leaf candle holders, a “Hello Fall” sign, burgundy burlap, two different fall centerpieces, and a bag of plastic, loose, Fall leaves. Some items, like the sign and the candle holders, are perfect on their own, but other items, like the burlap and the loose leaves, were used to add to some items I had back at my apartment.
I had some empty mason jars and clear vases that needed repurposing, so I took the potpourri I bought at Marshalls and poured it into two clear vases and a mason jar. Then, I took the burlap I bought at the 99 Cents Only Store and tied little bows around the neck of each vase/jar. Boom! Now I have three new fall decor pieces to place around my apartment.
After these three stores, I looked at my haul and decided that I had some good looking pieces, but now I needed a scent to tie everything together. Naturally, I took my butt over to Bath & Body Works and got to sniffing! I have always loved this store and find it incredibly relaxing to hang out and smell all of the candles. They recently stocked up on all of their Autumn candles, so I had a lot to choose from! Even luckier for me, on the day I went, Bath & Body Works was having a huge sale on their 3-wick candles! I ended up getting one called “Harvest Gathering” for only $14! This brought my total up to $42!
With only $8 left, I reluctantly drove over to Target, not being too optimistic about getting something amazing for such a small amount of money. I was...right. Target is where I went over my budget! Sorry!
I told myself at the beginning that I was only allowed to break my budget if I found something that I absolutely fell in love with and didn’t think that I could find anywhere else. What is this magic, budget-breaking item, you may ask? Well, it is my perfect, fall wreath! I have been scavenging trying to find an Autumn wreath that I didn’t hate and I finally found it, so I wasn’t going to let my mere $8 remaining stop me! My wreath came out to be $28, which put me $20 over my initial $50 budget, but it is so worth it! I mean, just look at it! She’s gorgeous, and an item that I will keep for the rest of my life!
So, with all of that being said and done, I spent $70 on 14 items from five different stores! I would say that is really good! Despite going over my budget, I am really proud of the shopping I did and the way I intertwined new Fall decor items with Fall decor items from previous years.
The moral of the story is that if you want to decorate your apartment for Fall, but don’t have a lot of money, it can be done!