1. Halloween candy
I decided to buy food allergy-free candy this year for Halloween, so I decided to go simple and stick with suckers. Luckily I found large bags of Dum-Dum suckers (my kids’ favorite) at Target on sale for $8 a bag, so I bought two. **I overestimated how many suckers I would need (each bag contained 300 suckers!) so I still have a bag for next year.
2. DIY Costumes (mostly)
Our trunk or treat theme this year was The Wizard of Oz. We had a lot of fun and saved a lot of money by making most of the costumes and scenery ourselves (my sister made the hot air balloon out of papier mache!) I think the most expensive things were the Wicked Witch’s prosthetic nose/chin and the face paints, but they turned out awesome:)
3. Additional costumes
My kids wanted to be something other than the Wizard of Oz characters for our homeschool co-op’s character day, so I told them they could be something else if their costume stayed under a reasonable amount. Ben had recently purchased a light saber with allowance money, so he decided to borrow a Jedi costume from his aunt to complete his costume (The highlight of his day was having a lightsaber battle with another Jedi at school) Emma decided on being Little Red Riding Hood, so we only had to buy a red cape and used other items we already had to complete her costume.
4. Free doctor’s visit
I had a doctor’s appointment this week and expected to have to pay for it (boo to high deductible insurances) but thanks to medical coding rules it was considered a preventative visit, so it will be covered at 100%. I was very happy with that news:)
5. Low Carb Challenge
I joined a free low carb accountability group on Facebook that will last until New Years. I count this as a frugal thing because: #1 It is free and #2 It will encourage me to stay healthy which in turn will save me health care expenses in the years to come. Here is the link to the information website in case you are interested in the challenge.
What did you do to save money this week??
The Thrifty Educator 