On the cheap

OUTDOOR DECOR

I love to change my outdoor decor for every holiday. For instance, I use Valentine's decor for the month of February. For March, I decorate for St. Patrick's Day. Then of course, it's Easter.

But changing decor every month or so can get expensive, and I tend to be pretty frugal. One way I have been able to get some major impact for my front decor - besides changing my door wreath - is to change the pillows on my two chairs.

If you've ever purchased outdoor pillows, you know they can be really expensive. Even the less costly ones are more than I want to spend. Plus, I don't have the room to store pillows I'm not using.

So I came up with a cheap and easy way to change out my pillows for the different holidays. I buy two cheap placemats - usually at Big Lots. They have placemats for every occasion and usually in several different patterns. So, I have been able to find coordinating placemats for every holiday.

Most of the time, I buy fabric placemats, but I have also bought plastic placemats for the summer. The fabric ones are good if you're only going to leave them out for a month at a time. They don't have a chance to fade as they would if they were out for a longer period.

On the back of the placemat, I pull the back fabric out and cut a line down the middle. That allows me to put a pillow insert into it. Once I am finished with that holiday, I pull the inserts out and put them in another set of placemats. I don't have to have a lot of room to store the placemats I'm not using.

This is the current set I have on my chairs. I wanted something that would go from Christmas through January, and I had a woodland theme outside for Christmas.



INDOOR SCENT

I love burning candles in my house for the fragrance. Just recently, however, I discovered that I had melted a spot on my microwave by burning a candle. So, I needed to come up with other options.

I know that Scentsy products are popular and I've looked at them but didn't want to spend the money. So, when a co-worker told me about a cheap alternative, I jumped on it.

She told me to buy a cheap warmer like you use for coffee. I found one at Big Lots for $5. Then, you need a small glass jar. I found one in my refrigerator and cleaned it out. Instead of buying the more expensive Scentsy bars, she told me to go to Walmart and look for the Better Homes and Garden scented wax cubes. They're $2 for 2.5 oz (6 cubes). Then you put the cubes in the glass jar and place it on the warmer. My whole house smells delicious right now. I've got Vanilla Caramel Spice on and Blueberry Muffins waiting in the wings.