Decorating Your Home For Fall on the Cheap

With the change of seasons, many people like to change their home decor.  I'm not talking about just bringing out a few seasonal decorations (which is what I usually do), I'm talking about a whole new look to the living room.  Transitioning from a light and airy summer look, to a warm and cozy fall look doesn't have to cost a fortune.  The change can be done by swapping out a few things such as curtains, pillows, throws, and the accent decorations you have on your tables, bookshelves and mantles.  I'm always looking to save money so I try to buy second hand when I can.  Yard sale and thrift stores are great places to find seasonal decor.  

In my area there are 8 thrift stores within about a 30 minute drive from each other.  For all you local folks, here's a link to an article that tells a little about each one HERE. That's a lot of places to find good deals.  Some stores like Goodwill, get new items (usually overstocks) from Target.  You never know what you'll find and just like regular retail shops, they also stock their shelves seasonally and get in new items all the time.

Recently I got two new blackout curtains.  They are the Threshold brand from Target.  They were marked $9.99 each but I got them even cheaper because of a 50% off sale.  Most stores have some sort of sale going on each day.  You just need to check what color tickets are discounted when you walk in and you can score pretty good deals, as if shopping second hand wasn't cheap enough.

I love autumnal colors and a few rooms in my house are decorated in these warm colors already including my bedroom.  I used to have off white curtains in there which matched the bedding but did little to block out the light.  I love these warmer colored curtains and the light blocking feature is amazing.  Now if only I had the time to sleep in.

One of the thrift stores even has a blog you can check out HERE.  It gives ideas about decorating and such.  This cute little wreath would make a great front door decoration for fall.



Besides shopping thrift stores, I love to yard sale.  I found this wreath for FREE last week and hung it up on my wreath hanger outside.  On the other side of the door is a fake pumpkin my mom was getting rid of.  I've had several people think that pumpkin is real and compliment me on my pumpkin carving skills.  

I'm still working on decorating my front porch.  I need to add some mums to those flower pots and then I'll call it done.

Antiques and vintage decor and a nice warm and cozy feel to any home.  If you want to add some antiques into your fall decor, you can find them at thrift stores but you might want to check out antique stores as well.  There are lots of antique stores in Bucks Co. PA and THIS articles lists them all along with other favorite antique shops all over the US and tips for finding antiques in any state.

New Hope, Bucks County. Photo courtesy of Visit Bucks County

I'd love to hear how you find good deals on seasonal decor, just comment below.  I also love to shop after season sales so I can get a jump start on next year's decorations.

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Declutter and Have a Yard Sale

Yard Sale Season is in full swing around here.  This past weekend there were 5 neighborhood yard sales in my town alone, and I scored some great deals.

So I thought it would be timely to share my tips for having a successful yard sale as well as my decluttering series so you'll have lots to sell.

Here's my
STEP by STEP Plan for having a Great Yard Sale:
(to read the original and full post, click HERE)

STEP 1. Gather your items
Realizing you have so much unwanted, unused, outgrown stuff that you could have a yard sale.
At the bottom of this post I'll have links about  how to declutter so you'll have plenty of stuff to sell.  Some people would rather donate their items than take the time to have a yard sale, and that's great.  Whatever you do, just get rid of the unwanted stuff.  For me, I had a very successful yard sale two years ago, but have donated or sold on craigslist since then.

STEP 2. Plan
Plan the day, time and location of your yard sale. A lot of sales around here are both Friday and Saturday sales.  Most start at 7 or 8am and last till about noon.  Spring and early fall are the most popular times to hold a yard sale since that is when people are switching out seasonal clothing.  Also, it gets pretty hot in the summer and people go on vacation so there's not as much foot traffic for sales in July and August.  If your neighborhood is having a neighborhood sale, join in.  The more houses selling stuff, the more traffic you'll get.  Likewise, if a neighborhood close to you is having a sale, you can piggyback off their traffic by having your sale the same day and time.

STEP 3. Advertise 
There are 3 main ways to advertise a yard sale.
1. Put an ad in the local newspaper
2. Post an ad on craigslist or Facebook (free)
3. Put up signs and posters directing traffic to your neighborhood and to your specific house. Signs should be simple, large and boldly written on sturdy material such as card board. The words 'yard sale' along with the dates, times and an arrow are informative. Once in the neighborhood, signs with just an arrow leading to your home are all that is needed to get more traffic. Balloons at cross roads also draw attention and attract buyers.

STEP 4. Sort, Label, and Price.
A day or two before the yard sale, I like to sort, label and price my items.
The basement had become the dumping ground for our unwanted stuff so I drug everything upstairs. I sorted clothing by size and labeled each bin with the size and price. For example I had a bin of Girls 12 month clothing for .25 each piece. Other items such as household decor or cooking, I kept together in a bin with price stickers on each item. This would make it easier the day of the sale when it came time to set out my stuff.

STEP 5. Store your stuff till the day of the sale.
After you have everything sorted and labeled you need to store it (hopefully out of your living area) till the day of the sale. If you have room, you can put your ready to go bins and boxes in the garage so on the day of the sale you can open the garage and set out your things. And because everything is sorted and labeled you can quickly set up your sale and be ready to sell to all those early birds that come a half hour before your sale is supposed to start.

STEP 6. Setting up 
I like to set my items up in the driveway leading up to my garage.  I find that a lot of people do a 'drive by' and if they can't see what you have, they might not even take the time to stop.  Colorful and large items can attract customers so be sure to have those prominently displayed.  Fragile and expensive items were stored near or in the garage.

STEP 7. Selling
Be prepared for people to bargain and be willing to take less for your stuff. My goal was to get rid of my stuff so I was more than willing to take a lower offer. Sometimes I'd negotiate such as when someone offered $20 for an item I priced at $40. We met in the middle at $30. A couple of times I refused an offer (if it was for a higher priced item) knowing I could get more for it by selling it on craigslist. And often if someone didn't agree to buy it when they found out the price, I'd ask them to make an offer. Or when they'd ask how much, I'd say "I'm asking $25", so they'd know I am flexible on the price.
Other things to consider when having a yard sale: Have plenty of change on hand such as quarters and ones. I had to make change for a $20. when someone bought something for $2. Don't assume customers will have exact change. Keep track of how much money you started with so you know how much money you made. Have lots of bags for the customers to put their purchases in.

Now that you know how to have a successful yard sale, let's go back to Step 1:  You need stuff to sell.  That leads me to my series of posts about:

HOW TO DECLUTTER

This post gives you 3 REASONS TO GET ORGANIZED (Being organized saves you time, money and gives you peace of mind)
This post tells you WHY WE HOLD ONTO CLUTTER, the different types of clutter and how to overcome each type.
And this post tells you HOW TO GET AND STAY ORGANIZED.

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How To Stockpile Kid's Clothing

Of course I went to yard sales over the weekend, and this time I stocked up on some clothing for the Babes.   I'm not ashamed to admit that most of my kid's clothing comes from yard sales or hand me downs.  

I also don't like to pay more than .25¢ for clothes either.  I will spend more for a dress or outerwear and as the older two kids are getting bigger their clothing does tend to cost a little more.   However, I've found that it's pretty easy to spend .25¢ for clothing up to size 6.  The easiest way to do this is buy it in bulk.  Most people will give you a better price if you buy a lot.

Sometimes you can get lucky and buy it by the bagful.  One yard sale was selling their clothing for $2 a bag.  The bags were the size a grocery bag.  If I found at least 8 things that would make it .25¢ per item.  Turns out I was able to stuff 22 items into that bag making each piece cost about .09¢!

The Ottoman is Otto-here

I've been in a clearing out and de-cluttering mood.  Ever since I had a couple of yard sales back in September, I've been looking for things to get rid of.  One thing that has been bothering me was the ottoman in our living room.  It was something I had picked up for free at a yard sale two years ago and recovered it so it looked like this:

You can see I had even made some matching pillows.

Of course it didn't start out that lovely.  When I first got it, it looked like this: