Fall.  One of my absolute favorite times of the year.  This is the time of year (here in Wisconsin) where the humidity finally dies, my hair FINALLY maintains its “bounce” and I can start doing all of my favorite things!  I have found there are so many things to do, it helps if I make a very specific plan to ensure our time and money won’t run out while doing the things we love.  Learning to plan for Fall activities on a budget is super simple and will allow you to enjoy this awesome season completely guilt-free!! 

Fall is the season of cute sweaters, pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, candles smelling of vanilla and pumpkin and crisp fresh air.  In my opinion, this is THE BEST time of the year.

My husband and I have many Fall traditions involving different activities we like to do:  picking apples, cider tasting, getting lost in a corn maze, decorating our home (inside and out), pumpkin carving, gourd picking, picking out the yummiest and coziest fragrances for our home, eating apple cider donuts and having lots of fires at night (with s’mores and snuggles of course!).

With all of these things to do in the Fall, it’s easy to go over budget.  But, to make sure none of your fun is spoiled, I have created The Ultimate Fall Planning Checklist and Budgeting Worksheet.  Scroll to the bottom to download these checklists and worksheets.

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Why Focus on Fall?

If you are like me and have grown up in the Midwest, Fall is just this awesome, magical time.  The air is crisp, there is this intangible energy that picks up and the outdoors become our playground.  

There are a million activities for you to do in October and November!  The struggle is, you only have 6-7 good weekends before everyone switches gears to focus on Christmas.

You can have a blast decorating your home.  

This season change into Fall can be an amazing opportunity to give your home a little facelift.  Focusing on Fall decorations can change the entire look of your home both inside and out. Plus, who doesn’t love shopping for home decor?

It is super easy to go overboard when decorating (I have done this multiple times) which is where my Fall Planning and Budgeting Worksheet will keep you on track to accomplish your decorating and not totally kill your budget.

And, isn’t decorating way more fun when you don’t feel guilty about what you spent on all the cute new decor?

You can enjoy quality time and the outdoors.  

With all the activities to be done outside, Fall is the perfect time to enjoy time with your family.  Simple things to do:

• Apple picking
• Gourd picking
• Go to a pumpkin patch
• Go for a hike with some hot apple cider
• Take a hayrack ride
• Take a drive to look at the changing leaves
• Rake up the leaves (together!)
• Make pumpkin bread
• Carve pumpkins
• Go camping
• Hit up an Oktoberfest event (dust off your lederhosen!)

The list is endless!

One of my absolute favorite things to do is have our family picture taken in preparation for our Christmas card! (yes, I always send one of those out).  This doesn’t have to be overly complicated and you can just incorporate this into a weekend activity you are already doing.

Pin for later for some Fall activity ideas!

You can hone your party planning and hosting skills.  

Fall has two awesome party occasions.  And who doesn’t love a good party?  When October comes rolling in, so does Halloween. This is a fun time for dressing up, having a party and indulging in a bit too much candy.

Mom confession:  I’m secretly super excited for my oldest to get to the age where he will trick-or-treat and I can steal all of his candy.

Halloween requires costumes and candy.  Not super creative with costumes? That’s okay!  Just make sure you budget for what you will need.  And if you happen to buy a few extra bags of candy (just in case, wink. wink.) there will be more for you to enjoy after the trick-or-treaters have come and gone.

Want to be a hostess extraordinaire?  Start small with a Halloween Party and use our Halloween Party Planning Cheat Sheet to plan an awesome party and stay on budget!  From the invites to the party favors, we’ve got you covered!

You can use Halloween as your warm-up for the biggest dinner party of the year………Thanksgiving!  This is the mother of all dinners. I have an insane love for hosting Thanksgiving in my family.

Blame it on my inner planner, but Thanksgiving was meant for me.  The food itself isn’t overly complicated to cook. The hardest part is ensuring it is all hot and ready at mealtime.  After a few years of hosting Thanksgiving, I have perfected my system and can’t wait to share it with you!

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for mastering the timing of it all.  If you need help making sure your Thanksgiving goes off without a hitch check out our Thanksgiving Dinner Timesheet (coming soon!).

Given the size of the meal, this is another one of those Fall things that end up costing more than you think it will.  If you plan your meal and budget for your groceries using our budgeting sheet, you will have no problem staying within budget.

Why Plan & Budget?

You work all week, have the weekend to relax and get caught up, then, Poof!  Before you even relax, it’s already Monday again. Without planning your activities with intention, it’s very likely you won’t get it all done!  And, let’s be honest, there are way too many fun things to do during the Fall season to be missed!

If you are as excited about Fall as I am, planning for your activities should be one of the first things you do.  Figure out what you want to do and how much it will cost you.

Then build it into your monthly budget and put it on your calendar!  This sets the expectation of “we are going to do this activity this weekend,” and gets the whole family on board and excited.  Once it’s budgeted for, you can just enjoy what you are doing.

Having it budgeted takes away any stress about if you can afford to do what you are doing and it will also keep you in line and not spend too much every weekend.

The beauty of Fall is most activities are super cheap because they are outside and some can even be done in your backyard!

How to Plan for Fall Activities on a Budget

Don’t worry!  We’ve got you covered!  Our Fall Planning Checklist will help you organize exactly what activities you want to do and how much you should be budgeting for those.  We have it broken down by month so you can fit things into your schedule and not feel overwhelmed!

I have some examples for you to get you started planning like a boss.

Once you have your activities mapped out it becomes as simple as transferring those expected expenses to your Monthly Budget Forms (if you don’t have those yet, don’t worry!  They are found in the same library as our Fall Planning Worksheets!). This will keep you on budget throughout the whole Fall season.

What about those parties?

To keep you organized for any awesome shindig you may be hosting we have our Halloween Party Planning Worksheet to keep track of everything from invitations, decorations, music, and food to the costumes and party favors.  This worksheet will make sure you have everything you need and that you are staying within budget!

For the ultimate dinner party, we have our Thanksgiving Dinner Worksheet.  This will allow you to think through your dinner from start to finish (place settings, table decor, food, drinks, sending home leftovers, etc.) and help you budget for everything.

Make this Fall your best one yet!  Don’t struggle with fitting in every activity and don’t worry about if it’s budgeted for.  Use our helpful planning checklists and worksheets to give you an amazing Fall season!!

Get instant access to our:

• Fall Planning Checklist

• Budgeting Worksheets

• Halloween Party Planning Worksheet

• Thanksgiving Dinner Worksheet

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I can’t wait to hear how much fun you had this Fall season!  Come back and let me know what your favorite activity was!

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