Outdoor Christmas Decorating on a Budget

It's that time of year again and many people would love to make their houses look festive for the holidays. Being the type of person who budgets for everything and watches what I spend I have learned many tricks and tips over the years to decorate without spending a lot.

Christmas lights: each year new styles come out and people are constantly replacing lights. Lights are constantly replaced due to a broken or burnt out bulb and people's desire not to have to check bulb by bulb. Check Craiglists in your local area to see who is getting rid of Christmas lights in your area, or check with friends and family. A package of replacement bulbs is roughly 3.00 for a package of ten. These replacement bulbs can be found at more retailers around where the Christmas lights are sold.

Wood cutouts: Plans can be obtained online for free for many types of Christmas cut-outs. The wood used for the cutouts costs approximately 12.00 and can be used to create at least 2 cut-outs that are medium sized. You will need to paint the cut-outs with an outdoor safe paint and to make your cut-outs last longer they should be properly sealed with an outdoor wood sealant.

Wire decorations: If your handy and can manage to sculpt your own outdoor light covered wire sculptors you can obtain wire through most home repair type stores. With a pair of flyers twist the wire into the shapes desires. Trees are one of the easiest to form. You can then use outdoor safe lights to light up your creations connecting them to the wire with zip-ties.

Decorating with pine: Pine branches are easily obtained by taking a trip through the woods and picking up downed branches or talking to Christmas tree farms or salesman's and asking for the branches that have broken off the trees. Use these branches to decorate window ledges, center pieces, or tie them together with twine to make pine garland to decorate around the gutter.