Halloween is right around the corner. While the stores seem to like to skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and shoot right to Christmas (in September!), the majority of us like to embrace each holiday as it comes.
Halloween is one of those holidays that is fun for both kids and adults. However, it can also be an expensive holiday, if you’re not careful. Kids’ costumes alone can run upwards of $50. Here are some ways you can enjoy the holiday and get a little Halloween spirit for less:
Costumes
Costumes don’t have to cost a fortune. Using these tactics, you can get what you need for less than a Benjamin (or a Ulysses, as the case may be).
1. Shop resale stores.
National chains like Once Upon a Child or Goodwill have plenty of costumes for $10 or less. At our local Once Upon a Child, costumes were about $6.50 each. That beats paying $25 or more.
2. Put out the word.
Let your friends and family know you’re looking for a costume. When my son was 18 months old, we borrowed an adorable, homemade Robin Hood costume. We paid nothing, and my son received many compliments while trick or treating.
3. Check Craigslist.
Many parents also listed outgrown costumes on Craigslist. Remember, you’re free to negotiate on Craigslist, so you may be able to haggle for a lower price.
4. Make your own.
Pinterest is filled with adorable costumes for both those who sew and those who don’t. You might be able to make a costume from items you have around the house or that you can buy cheaply. Don’t forget that items can do double duty. If your son has a fireman raincoat, there’s no reason that can’t be a costume. Does your child have skeleton pajamas? Great, there’s a costume. Does your daughter take ballet? Her recital costume or her dance leotard and tutu can be her costume.
How to Decorate on a Budget
Part of the fun of Halloween is not only dressing up the kids, but dressing up your home. If you go all out, decorating your home can be pricey, but it doesn’t have to be. Try these tips.
1. Buy on clearance.
As soon as Halloween is over, go to the stores. You’ll find Halloween decor on sale for 50 to 80% off. Now is the time to buy decorations for next year. The same is true for next year’s Halloween costumes.
2. Pinterest to the rescue again.
Pinterest (Beating Broke on Pinterest) has tons of low cost decor suggestions. I saw a cute pumpkin decoration for a table top that used old canning jar bands. If you have those around, your decoration is free. You can also have the kids create Halloween themed crafts and decorate the house that way.
Halloween is a fabulous holiday for kids and adults. Decorating and dressing up can be so much fun, but it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. By using these techniques and taking advantage of the many frugal crafts and ideas on the web, you can have a great Halloween while keeping your hard earned money where it belongs, in your wallet.
Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.
Ever since TLC decided that it would make for good reality television to follow around a bunch of folks who use coupons and dub them “Extreme Couponers”, there’s been a ton of talk about the people on the show, and people like them. People who spend hours each day clipping coupons and then checking them against store fliers all so they can create spreadsheets and action plans on how to best use the coupons in order to pay the least amount of money for whatever it is that they are buying.
So far, I’ve avoided talking about these people. I figure it’s about time that I make my thoughts known. What kind of personal finance site would Beating Broke be if we didn’t talk about one of the hottest topics in the personal finance world. My immediate take upon watching an episode of the show was that the people on it are a bit OCD. I like my money, and I’d rather not part with it if I don’t have to, but not so badly that I’m going to buy several hundred tubes of toothpaste. Or several hundred of anything for that matter. I also don’t buy the “I saved $xxx” argument. If you hadn’t gone to the store in the first place, you would have saved every penny you spent.
Coupons can play a somewhat important role in your shopping. But, it doesn’t have to be as overwhelming as all that. My wife, for instance, is on a coupon train that she joined through Swapmamas. Every week or so, she gets a big envelope that’s bursting at the seam with coupons that the person who sent them to her just couldn’t use. She’ll sort through them while we’re watching T.V. or lying in bed at the end of the day. She carries the ones she keeps in a nice little accordion pocket organizer that she bought for that reason, then sends the rest off to the next person on the train. When we go shopping, we try to make a list and she’ll take 10-15 minutes to flip through the coupons to see if we have any sams club coupons or similar that we can use. We don’t get results like the folks on that show, but it’s not out of the ordinary to save anywhere from 5% to 20% on any given trip. On stuff we were going to buy anyways.
Extreme couponing has become a bit of a fad. People are watching shows like the one on TLC and thinking they can do the same thing. Some of them are going to less than honest means to achieve those goals and are stealing papers from dispensers just to get to the valuable coupons in the inserts. When you have to steal to save your money, you really need to draw that line and get some help. Done right, couponing can be something that is hardly intrusive at all, and that can save you some money. Done right, it can become a bit of a lifestyle.
Some say they just don’t have the time to use coupons, but I think they have a somewhat distorted view of the time involved. It doesn’t have to be time consuming, and the returns can be rewarding. Give it a try. Next thing you know, you’ll be buying two of those Sunday papers.
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
One of the tried and true tenets of personal finance is frugality. Either through penny-pinching and coupon clipping, or through budgets and smart spending, we aim for frugality. We choose to be frugal either because we have high debt loads, or because we just want to save some money for some purchase. In short, we’re reacting to a scarcity of some resource. In the case of many of us, that resource is money.
Through scarcity, we find ways to make things last longer, or stretch further. We find ways to turn something raw into something useful. Scarcity teaches us to be resourceful; not only with our money, but with our food, clothing, supplies, our whole world.
But, sometimes we get so wrapped up in embracing scarcity, and learning from it, that we forget to also embrace abundance.
Sometimes we even participate in abundance, but only because we claim that it’s the scarcity that’s the driving force of our action.
Today, forget scarcity. Embrace abundance.
Just for a day. (I think you’ll want to do so longer, but start with a day.)
Embrace the things in your life that are abundant. Embrace the abundant opportunity to partake in the last few days of summer and go to the park. Swing. Play with your children. Or pets. Or friends.
Embrace the abundant knowledge that you have in your local library, or through services like PaperbackSwap, and learn something. Read a book. (Even if it’s strictly for pleasure.)
Embrace the abundant joy that you have in your family. Break out the cards or board games and enjoy their company. (Even the one who’s ruthless at Monopoly. )
It doesn’t matter what it is. But, don’t do it because of scarcity. Do it because there’s something in abundance that you want to enjoy.
What do you have in your life that is overflowing in abundance? Embrace it.
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
