22 Money Saving Tips for Fall
"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
As the weather cools down and Instagram is flooded with all things autumn, it’s easy to want to do all the fun things too. Like many others, fall is my favorite season. We’ve finally escaped the heat to wear our comfy sweaters, without having to worry about drowning in warm layers. We can swap our iced cold drinks for warm ciders and PSLs. Halloween and Thanksgiving are fun days to celebrate before the crazy rush of the holiday season.
Fall is beautiful and a lot of fun, but with all the fall festivities going on, it’s a great time to re-evaluate and think about ways to save some money this time of year. Here are 22 tips on saving money this fall.
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General
1) Find Free or Low-Cost Fall Festivities
Many local farms and orchards will offer a festival-like experience, but may have a surcharge to go apple picking, access to a corn maze, or go on a hayride. Do your research and find out what free fall events are being held by your local communities. Don’t just go to the same place that everyone else is going to. Compare prices of different farms or orchards around you too, as the entry fees and experiences may differ. Your town may offer other free activities too, like drive-in movie nights, haunted events, and more.
2) Go Outdoors
This is a given, but go outside! Just because it’s fall doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the weather. Nature (for the most part) is free! Explore a new hiking trail and enjoy the fall foliage. Use AllTrails to find your new favorite hike. Have a picnic in the park. Just take a stroll through your own town. Have one last barbecue. Gather around a bonfire for s’mores. Enjoy the fall scenery before it’s too cold.
3) DIY Decor
There are so many do-it-yourself tutorials explaining how to reinvent or recreate beautiful fall decorations. You can DIY from materials you already have, or even use things you found in the yard! You can make things as scary, crafty, or elegant as you want. From DIY wreaths, pumpkin displays, floral arrangements, and more, you can get creative and spend a fraction of the cost versus something new from Target, Hobby Lobby, or Homegoods. Pinterest and Instagram can be your friend here. Hit them up for #inspo.
Halloween
4) DIY Costumes
Have fun this fall and DIY costumes for yourself or your kids. I grew up buying costumes from Party City, but also DIY-ing costumes. With a little creativity, I was able to dress up as some strange things growing up, like an iPod, an octopus, sushi, and Rafiki from The Lion King. You can create a low-budget costume or make something from existing items in your home. Halloween is a great time to express yourself with interesting clothing, hair, and makeup and now’s the time to let the creative juices flow.
5) Check Your Town/City Calendars for Fun Stuff
Now that we are returning to our “normal” routines, don’t forget to check out your town or city calendars to see what fun stuff they have lined up for Halloween and all the holidays after. This can be a terrific way to enjoy the festivities without needing to needing to drive far away from home.
6) Host a Movie Night
As the weather cools and the ghouls come out, it might be prudent to stay indoors and binge-watch your favorite Halloween-themed shows and movies. You can still dress up and show off your costumes, have a NetflixParty and watch a scary movie together, or you can all carve pumpkins and show off your cool designs.
We are excited to watch Hocus Pocus 2 which comes out in September . Sisters!!
Food
7) Know your Autumn Harvest!
Take advantage of fruits and vegetables that are in season. They will be plentiful and cheaper. Whether you are picking the produce yourself at your local farm or just buying from the store, make it a priority to use ingredients that are in season. Apples, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, squash, and kale are just a few of the crops that will be in season in the fall.
8) Don’t Overbuy Apples & Pumpkins
If you’re like me, I get very excited whenever I go to a pick-your-own orchard or farm. I zealously overfill my bags and/or buckets with apples and I inadvertently end up picking a hefty pumpkin. Some farms charge by the pound and the heavier my items are, the more money I end up spending. Will you be exploring new recipes all month long? Will you be canning them? Do I plan on carving the pumpkin and roasting the seeds or am I just using it for decoration? Be realistic with what you are picking and mindful of what you will be doing with said produce.
My sister has learned to make applesauce so she’ll be stocking up on fresh, local apples so that her daughter can have some yummy fall goodness.
9) Become Your Own Barista
We all have our favorite fall drinks. Whether it be a PSL or salted caramel mocha, having a seasonal drink every day can cost you. Try to make your own fall drinks at home. There are tons of recipes for festive non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks that you can try! They don’t have to be pumpkin flavored of course. You’ll end up spending a few bucks to buy the initial ingredients, but having the supplies on hand will save you over time. Did you know you can find some of your favorite flavored syrups at TJ Maxx or you can always hit Amazon to get the multi-pack? Here’s the Fall/Winter pack and the classic pack. A pump or two will totally change your drink.
Or, you can be even more creative and make your own healthy version of PSL using actually pumpkin puree. Here’s one for you to try.
10) Have Your Own OktoberFest
Rather than spending money on going out to a festival (if there are any) or traveling elsewhere, have your own backyard OktoberFest. There are plenty of Oktoberfest-style beers at your local grocery or liquor store that you can stock up on. These will be cheaper than when you consume it at a restaurant or an event. You can go ahead and get pretzels, bratwursts, and sauerkraut, but you can also look into other Oktoberfest foods. You can go as all out or as lowkey, as you want with the food, clothing, and music in the comfort of your own home.
11) Power of the Potluck
If you are having a safe gathering this fall with your immediate family or an intimate group of friends, don’t do everything yourself. Invite everyone to bring a different dish or help bring other supplies. Having a potluck-style meal will save your wallet and stress levels. And make sure everyone brings containers…in case there are leftovers.
And one more tip: If you don’t want to leave a good dishware behind, thrift some that are presentable and use those so that you will be comfortable bringing food and don’t have to worry about leaving it behind.
Home
12) Swap out your Closet
If you tend to organize your closet by season or cold weather versus warm weather, now’s the time to let your cold weather wardrobe shine! Take out all of your sweaters, cardigans, pants, boots, and more, and make them the forefront of your closet. Remind yourself that you have a lot of clothes waiting to be worn. Incorporate some of your summer or lightweight layers with your heavier clothing to create new outfits. You don’t really need that new sweater, you just got bored of your closet or forgot you had an alternative in the first place!
Check out our latest video below where we walk through some ways to extend the life of your clothes including getting these cool patches to cover up some sweater holes and the fabric shaver to remove those ugly fuzz and pills.
13) Have a Garage Sale or Hit One Up
If possible, try to host a garage or yard sale. Just like spring cleaning, sometimes we need a good fall cleaning to feel refreshed and ready for the season. Get rid of things you are no longer enjoying, are taking up space, etc. If having a whole garage/yard sale for yourself seems daunting, consider hosting it with your family or a friend, or a neighbor.
Alternatively, need some new items for half the price, check out garage sales for things you need. This can be a perfect time to get baby clothes, furniture, home decor and so much more at great discounts
14) Sell Your Stuff Online
Take the time to see what clothing, housewares, and other miscellaneous items you can post for sale. There are plenty of platforms now for selling varying items, whether it be Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, Depop, Craigslist, and more. Consider your selling prices, as well as your shipping costs. If you have items you don’t want to bother shipping out, you can post items for pick-up only. This can be a great way to pad that holiday budget.
15) Weatherize
As the cool air sets in, your home may not be as energy efficient as it could be. Double-check and seal any cracks around doors and windows in your home. Don’t forget to check any mechanical heating systems in your home. It’s important to schedule servicing, replace filters, and clean out flues. Investing in your home by prepping for the colder weather can save you money on your energy bill. Easy ways to do this are: purchasing insulating curtains for your windows, draft stoppers for your doors, and getting an extra rug or two to double the floor insulation.
16) Utilize Passive Cooling/Heating
Passive cooling and heating refer to the use of the sun and natural elements as a means to cool or heat the interior spaces of your home. Fall is the perfect time to give your air conditioning unit a break, while also refraining from using the heater. If your home is on the chilly side, open up your curtains and/or blinds to let the sunlight naturally heat your home. If it’s still a bit balmy in your area, you can create a nice cross-breeze in your home by opening up windows. Take note of the orientation of your home and the windows, as this will translate to how much sunlight will be coming into and heating up your home.
Holidays
17) Finalize your Holiday Budget
Most people hate thinking about the holiday season before Thanksgiving, let alone Halloween, but last-minute planning can stress you out and can leave you overspending. Take a look at your budget for this holiday season, whether it be for gifts, decorations, food, and more, and create a budget for yourself. Get specific about the money you need to save and how much you want to spend on what. Start automating little savings so that when the time comes to shop, you already have funds ready.
18) Start Holiday Shopping Now
Take advantage of fall sales. Just because it’s not Black Friday, does not mean that sales aren’t happening already. Halloween, Veterans Day, and general Summer clearance sales open up opportunities to grab great deals. There’s no shame in shopping for the holidays early. Many stores will be pushing holiday sales early because of lost income due to the pandemic so the time to find a deal may well be before Thanksgiving rolls around.
Work
19) Review Open Enrollment
For those that have their insurance benefits at work, the open enrollment period will probably occur in the upcoming weeks. Go over your coverage for different plans and review what you are paying as an individual, or family, for premiums, co-pays, and more.
Take a look at our Open Enrollment video below so that you can maximize those benefits which can save you money and time.
20) Use Up your Balances
As the year comes to a close, flexible spending accounts and other accounts may have impending deadlines. Don’t forget to use up any flexible spending money before it’s too late, including any balances left on your FSA or commuter card. Check with your employer though to see if any of these spending deadlines have been extended due to the pandemic.
21) Gather Up Your Accomplishments
Lastly, if you are like most people, review season will be just around the corner. Now is the time to gather some of your accomplishments. Have a project you completed with flying colors? Got some great feedback from a colleague or client? Start documenting these together. 2020 has been a whirlwind year and it’s easy to forget what we accomplished in the first half of the year. If you have a manager who has multiple direct reports, it’s easy for them to forget all of the good work you’ve done, remind them. Doing so will ensure your manage continues to champion for you behind closed doors. This is super important in the weeks ahead.
Money
22) Bulk Up Your Emergency Fund
There continues to be a lot of uncertainty in the economy. With inflation still at an all-time high, with Fed rates continuing higher, many companies are being very cautious with how they spend money and this will trickle down to everyone.
In the coming months, bulk up your emergency fund so that you don’t have to liquidate assets at a loss or have to borrow money at higher rates. Our video on Emergency Funds can help you learn more about why you need an Emergency Fund.
Happy Fall!
Hopefully, you can make the most out of your fall, without draining your wallet!
22 Money Saving Tips for Fall
Photo by Valeriia Miller from Pexels
