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8 Ways to Save on Halloween

September 26, 2016 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Halloween is fun for kids of all ages, including adults who are kids at heart. However, what isn’t so fun is the hefty price tag that often comes along with the fun-filled day. In fact, a “new poll from the National Retail Federation projects that Halloween revelers will spend. . .an average of $82.93 per shopper” (USA Today) this year. That’s more frightful than the Halloween decorations that may cover your yard. Use these tips to help you save on Halloween spending this season so you can still have a fun Halloween without breaking the bank.

Halloween Decorations

8 Tips to save on halloween — Save on Halloween Spending

There are plenty of ways to get Halloween decorations for a fraction of the cost. My favorite way is to buy Halloween decorations at yard sales. (In fact, that’s how I buy all of my decorations!) Or, if you have patience and would like to buy new, you can check out the clearance sales after Halloween is over. That’s how I bought a good supply of Halloween and fall-themed towels, at more than 75% off.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes bought new can cost anywhere from $25 to upwards of $100 for fancier costumes. Yikes! We have three kids, so to spend that kind of money on costumes is not practical. Instead, we employ a variety of strategies to save on costumes.

Homemade

My son went as a knight one year. We found the vest at Goodwill for $5. We pared that with black pants and a white shirt that he already had. Then he made a shield out of cardboard from a large box and covered it in tin foil and put a design on it. He actually wore that costume for two years in a row.

Bought on discount

Our girls typically like fancier costumes, so we tend to buy them immediately after Halloween is over at a steep discount. Our favorite stores to shop are Disney and Gymboree. I can find cute Gymboree Halloween costumes for less than $10 immediately after Halloween.

Use what you already have

Another idea is to use what you already have. If your son has a baseball uniform, why not go as a baseball player? If your daughter is taking ballet class, why not go as a ballerina?

Halloween Candy

If you live in a subdivision, you likely get a lot of trick-or-treaters. The price of candy can really add up, but it doesn’t have to.

Buy the candy at a warehouse store

If you’re a member of Sam’s Club or Costco, you can buy candy in bulk for less than your local grocery store chain sells it.

Buy cheaper candy

You don’t have to buy expensive candy for trick-or-treaters. Instead, buy cheaper candy like suckers, Smarties, and candies like that.

Have a limit

Set a budget for how much you want to spend on candy and limit your purchase to that amount. When you run out, turn off your outdoor light and don’t answer the door anymore.

Halloween is a fun-filled holiday. You can still be festive without spending a fortune.

What are your favorite tips for saving on Halloween décor, costumes, and treats?

Frugal Tools and Strategies to Help Busy Families Get Organized

March 14, 2016 By MelissaB 1 Comment

If you’re like most families, you’re busy. You spend too much time in your car running from activity to activity, and you spend too much money buying food out on the nights you don’t have time to cook. Your house may be in a state of perpetual chaos.

This upcoming year, especially February through May, my family will be very busy. To make sure that we remain organized, I’ve started using several tools and strategies. Even though we’ll be busy, I plan to still have time to make food at home, keep the house clean, and maintain my budget.

Tools I Plan To Use

Motivated Moms. Motivated Moms is an app or PDF file of a list of weekly chores meant to keep your home tidy. I love that they think of tasks I always forget like clip the kids’ fingernails and clean the toaster in addition to more basic chores like vacuum the livingroom, etc.

I bought the entire year PDF for $6. The chores for each day will be assigned to me and my kids based on level of difficulty. Between the four of us, I’m sure we can knock out the chores for each day in 20 minutes or less working together.

Subscribe to eMeals. For busy families, eMeals can literally save you hundreds of dollars. For just $69 for a 12 month subscription, which averages $5.75 a month, you’ll get a custom meal plan for the week as well as a grocery list for all of the items you’ll need. eMeals has 20 different meal plans to choose from including Paula Deen, slow cooker, Paleo, and many others. Just choose the one that works best for your family. Best of all, most meals are never repeated, so you get variety all year long!

Strategies I Plan to Use

In addition to the tools mentioned above, I plan to implement a few strategies to stay organized.

Get up early. I really don’t like getting up early, but doing so let’s me get some of my freelance work done and also gives me time to exercise. If I exercise early in the morning, I know it will get done. If I wait until the evening, I almost never exercise.

Make freezer meals. In the upcoming months, we’ll have three days a week where we will be gone all day, only coming home in time for dinner. I’ve already started making freezer meals. On the three busy days a week, I’ll simply put the freezer meals in the slow cooker. We’ll come home to a hot cooked meal, eliminating the dinner scramble. On the other days, I’ll use eMeals’ meal suggestions.

If you don’t have a full day to devote to a freezer cooking session, just double the meals you are making for the next two weeks or so and put one half in the freezer.

Make a schedule and stick to it. I plan to make a schedule I can stick to and follow it. That will help me manage my time. For instance, I do one load of laundry a day; I’ll start it when I get up at 5 a.m. so it’s done before the day gets too busy.

Keep a regular sleep schedule. When people get busy, they tend to skimp on sleep. I plan on going to bed no later than 10 p.m. so I’ll be able to get up at 5 a.m. I know skimping on sleep will ultimately make me less productive as the days go on.

Do you have a busy schedule? If so, what tools and strategies do you use to stay organized and resist the temptation to spend money on conveniences?

Even More Ways to Save on Groceries

January 4, 2016 By MelissaB 5 Comments

Besides your mortgage, your grocery bill may be your next largest expense. Of course, you usually can’t alter your mortgage payment, but with some planning and strategizing, you can alter the amount you spend at the grocery store and save on groceries.

A few months ago, I wrote about the techniques we’re using to keep our grocery bill low for our family of 5 (spending approximately $500 to $600 per month even with food intolerances to gluten, dairy, and corn). We’ve learned a few more strategies to lower our grocery bill that I thought I’d share with you, especially since it seems like the price of grocery is on the rise again.

Stop by the grocery store whenever you’re driving by. I know the “experts” say to go in the grocery store as little as possible. Many of them recommend shopping just every two weeks or once a month. However, if you’re a disciplined shopper, I recommend stopping by the store every time you drive by. Why? I only buy eggs on clearance for .99 a dozen. I also buy organic chicken when it is close to its sell by date and marked down by 50% or more. If I stop by the store whenever I drive by (every couple of days, usually), I have a better chance of finding these deals. If nothing is on clearance, I simply leave empty-handed. I don’t buy eggs or meat if they’re not on sale, or ideally, on clearance.

Don’t just take sandwiches for lunch. My husband packs his lunch every day. However, he never packs a sandwich. Instead, whenever I see clearance chicken fajita meat, sausage, or other meats, I buy those. He cooks something up on Sunday, like three sausages I found on clearance, and then he brings some every day along with a grain, veggies, and a fruit or two. His flexibility and willingness to move beyond sandwiches and my bargain shopping skills mean he saves a lot when packing his lunch.

Consider having a separate meat budget. I just learned about this technique, and I plan to start utilizing it. Say you have $500 a month for groceries. The idea is that you set aside a certain amount, maybe $50 or $100 a month, solely for meat. The rest you spend on your other groceries. If you’re able to save up $500 or $600 in the meat fund, you might buy a ¼ side of beef, which you’ll likely get at a much cheaper price than at the grocery store. Then, you eat that meat and start saving again for your next bulk purchase of meat. Eventually, you’ll have a deep freezer full of healthy, lower cost meat direct from the farmer.

Slowly buy in bulk. I have consciously started buying in bulk to lower our grocery costs. I’ve had to do this slowly because we don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the budget. Gluten free oats cost $2 a pound, and that’s when they’re on sale! Instead, I bought a 50 pound bag of gluten free oats for $61. That is $1.22 a pound, which is cheaper than I could ever buy them at the store. Then, I bought a 25 pound bag of pinto beans for $12.50, or .50 a pound, which is again cheaper than the rock bottom price I can get at the store. Just remember when buying in bulk not to buy items you really don’t want to use or won’t be able to finish before they get stale.

What are your favorite techniques to lower your grocery bill?