Fall Front Porch (Under $100!)

 Fall is certainly one of my favorite seasons. We are spending a tremendous amount of time outside enjoying my favorite type of 65 and sunny weather. (Insert all the fall emojis here - ha). So as soon as the calendar hit September 1st, I was ready to break out the autumnal decor. Since the inside of our house has such a ways to go, and we're not exactly hosting get togethers anyways - I figured it was a safe bet to focus on the porch. We don't exactly have a ton of storage space in PV, so I didn't go crazy with any signs or baskets or such. I wanted to see if I could stick to less than $100, but still create something pretty fun.

Happy to report I DID stick to the budget. Sadly though, the squirrels in our hood thought the pumpkins were an all you can eat buffet specifically set out for them. If you've been following along on Instagram (@thepvcapecod), you got to hear all about it! 

I ended up getting some amazing pumpkins from Sprouts in sage, white, and a pale orange. The sage pumpkins were my absolute favorite, they just really spoke to me. And listen, when something makes you feel a little something extra in 2020 - do not pass that up! I know it's not traditional fall orange-red-brown, but against our brick patio and stairs it was a nice pop of color. The pumpkins ranged from $4-8, and I ended up with 9 total. Grand total for pumpkins was $38 (rounding upper tax).

In addition to the pumpkins, I wanted some mums. I went to Suburban Lawn & Garden because I also needed to pick up some additional pots to put them in. However, I do know that at one point Aldi's had mums on sale for as little as $3/piece! The small mums I got were around $6, and the larger ones $15. 

Keeping it real here, the 3 little mums I bought were no where near blooming. I seem to remember in previous years them blooming pretty quickly, so I thought if I got them so early like this I'd get to enjoy them for longer. Fast forward to aforementioned squirrels ravaging the pumpkins that I needed to take photos sooner rather than later or I'd be replacing 9 pumpkins. Long story short - I had to go buy a couple more mums that were more photogenic, as that was the cheaper route. #sigh.

I already had my doormats, as well as the DIY Wreath. So that's not included in the cost, and neither is the replacement mums 😬. The only other thing I purchased was a hay bale from Hobby Lobby, and a few of the plastic pots from Suburban Lawn & Garden (to stay on budget of course). Total cost for everything was just about $100. 

• $38 for pumpkins
• $46 for mums
• $10 for pots (we already had a couple at home from previous years)
• $6 for a hay bale (with a coupon 😏)
• TOTAL $100!

Do you decorate your porch for Fall? Do you have issues with the squirrels? Below are a few tips I gathered from others having the same issues:

• Spray with a clear coat of spray paint
• cayenne pepper sprinkled on top (however rain washes this away)
• Spray daily with diluted bleach water (this worked really well for me, until I broke the spray bottle on like day 3 🤦‍♀️)
• Rabbit scram (google it)
• Vicks vapor rub