This scary economy has many folks terrified at the thought of spending $40 on a Halloween costume, so frugal ghosts and goblins across the country have decided to go with homemade Halloween costumes.  We typically do this in the Frugal Household, although this year my son had to be The Incredible Hulk, so we caved and bought him an inexpensive Halloween costume.  My daughter is more creative, and each year enjoys coming up with her own homemade Halloween costume ideas.  With her help (and a lot of input from my wife) we offer up the following frugal homemade Halloween costumes, along with the supplies needed for each:

Hobo/Bum

• Old tattered clothes with a few holes (maybe some of Dad’s old work clothes)
• An old, beat-up hat
• An old pair of well-scuffed shoes
• Worn canvas sack on a stick over the shoulder carrying belongings

Spa girl (My daughter dressed as a “spa girl” last year)

• Green face paint to simulate a mask
• Towel for head or curlers
• Sleep mask
• Bedroom slippers
• Bath robe
• Pajamas

Nerd

• An old pair of eye glasses with black electrical tape for reinforcement
• Too-small pants (short ones/high risers)
• Shirt tucked in with pocket protector and a handful of pens
• Hair slicked down with gel
• White socks
• Black shoes

Ghost (a frugal Halloween classic!)

• Sheet with holes cut out for the eyes
• White, long sleeve shirt to wear underneath
• White gloves
• white pants, socks and shoes

Hunter/Soldier

• Camouflage clothing
• Dark green (olive) paint for face
• Black face paint for under the eyes
• An old Army belt with canteen
• A green backpack

Scarecrow

• Flannel Shirt
• Overalls/Jeans
• Rope belt
• Wheat straw to stuff under the cuffs of the jeans and shirt
• A straw hat
• Paint a few freckles on face

Present

• Big box wrapped in festive wrapping paper
• Large bow to place on your head
• Cut holes on sides of box for arms, and in the top of the box for your head

Bunch of Grapes (This one reminds me of the old Fruit of the Loom commercials)

• Purple sweatsuit
• Purple balloons pinned to sweatsuit

Chef/Cook

• Tall chef’s hat or hair net
• Apron
• White button down shirt
• Black pants and shoes
• A big pot to collect candy in (with a big wooden spoon)

Kitty cat

• Black clothes
• Black shoes/socks
• White cardboard for the belly
• Tail (can use an old sock or buy one)
• Ears (headband with felt)
• Facepaint for whiskers and nose
• White gloves (optional)

Most of these homemade Halloween costumes can be put together with items from around the house, or for less than $10 by visiting a consignment shop or Dollar Store. However, if you must resort to buying a Halloween costume, check out the deals at BuyCostumes.com!

Photo courtesy of hoyasmeg

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  The summer heat is finally breaking, replaced by crisp days with a cool breeze and a crystal blue sky.  Backyard grills are busy cooking up tailgating meals on Saturday afternoons as friends and families gather to take in a college football game.  The milder temperatures make for a great time to be frugal because there are so many cheap activities to be enjoyed outside of the house.  I’ve included a few of them below, along with a very special frugal activity to mark Museum Day.

• Visit a museum, for free!   Hundreds of museums across the country are celebrating Museum Day 2008 by offering free admission this Saturday, September 27th.  Museums offer a great frugal entertainment option.  We may visit a nearby arts and sciences museum where they have an area dedicated to children’s activities.  Check out this link to find a participating museum near you.

• Plan a picnic.  With the weather finally cooling off around the country it is a great time to plan a picnic at your favorite spot.  Pack up a few homemade sandwiches, some bottled water, and your favorite fruits to enjoy a meal in the great outdoors.  Don’t forget to pack a blanket to sit on, and a frisbee, a kite, or maybe even a football for some post-meal entertainment.

• Go for a bike ride, as a family.  Me and the kids all have our own bike, but my wife does not currently own one.  We would like to change that in the near future, but for now we may have to settle with renting her a bike at a park with a bike trail.  For just a few dollars you can rent a cruising bike all day and explore the trails and the park together as a family.  Don’t forget your helmets, Dads!  Remember, your kids will think they are cool only if you wear them (note, this is only applicable through the preteen years–after that, nothing you do is cool!).

• Host a “Field Day” at home.  One of my kids’ favorite days of the school year is Field Day.  I remember enjoying events like the 100-yard dash and the softball toss.  Why not recreate some of those events at home?  Have a family relay race–kids against parents, or boys against girls.  Find some old potato sacks and have a sack race, or stop by a dollar store and pick up a few hula hoops for a hula hoop contest.

• “Old school” game night.  Today’s kids do not know how to entertain themselves.  Without the help of a video game, a television, or a parent, most kids would be bored out of their minds.  Teach them some “old school” games and compete against them.  Start out with some classics like Simon Says, or Red Light/Green Light.  Then teach them a little Hide and Seek and Freeze Tag.  I remember playing games like these for hours in neighbor’s yards, and even inside on rainy days.

Spending a lot of money is not a requirement for having a lot of fun.  The two most important ingredients for family fun are creativity and togetherness.  As long as we can think up fun stuff to do together we can avoid expensive entertainment such as movies, arcades and amusement parks (which are a lot of fun, too, but in small doses).  Have a great frugal weekend!

Netflix or Blockbuster Total Access?  That is the question.  Or is it?  A new question has emerged in the land of frugal movie watchers.  Are online DVD rental services actually costing more than traditional movie rental services?

If you include late fees from brick and mortar movie renters it probably isn’t even close, but let’s assume you are a good renter and return those movies well before midnight the day they are due.  Many local movie rental stores now offer 5/$5 deals, like the one mentioned in Debt Defier’s post at The Happy Rock (via MSN Smart Spending).  Debt Defier recently canceled his Netflix plan after analyzing his rental history of the previous months.  Turns out he spent $100 watching 10 movies–that’s $10 a movie!

What is the Lesson Here?

Besides the lesson that often times you can go broke trying to be frugal, there is a lesson in breaking down expenses to individual units.  How much is a “cheap” subscription service really costing you per item of enjoyment?  Would it be cheaper to watch less movies, and buy the ones you really want via eBay?  Maybe.

The lesson from an online DVD rental perspective is that if you are going to sign up for either Netflix or Blockbuster’s Total Access plan, you better be prepared to watch a lot of movies to get your money’s worth.  That’s not a problem in our household, because we cut back to basic cable some months ago and find most television program boring.

One of the benefits of the Blockbuster Total Access plan is that you can return movies to the local store and check out a new one, limiting the wait time to turn around movies.  For every movie you rent each month you are effectively driving down your per movie costs.  Netflix has started offering movies on demand, a feature that allows you to download movies to your computer as part of your membership.  With this feature, the only additional wait time is the amount of time it takes your internet connection to download the large files.

Online movie rentals can be a frugal entertainment option, but as Debt Defier found out, you certainly have to keep close tabs on your expenses, all the way down to each DVD rented.  For some, the compulsion to get the most out of the deal could lead to increased movie/television viewing, which could be detrimental in other ways.  My advice?  Give one of the services a try, and if you find yourself not taking advantage of the memberships, cancel it or put it on hold for a while.

Sometimes you just need to get away.  A change of scenery, a different routine, and some quality, uninterrupted time with loved ones can work wonders when you are feeling stressed.  Unfortunately, the demands of work and school often interrupt the best laid plans for week-long vacations, so we decided this year to end summer with a short day trip.

The great thing about day trips is that a short ride can often reveal fun things to do in your own backyard (well, close enough).  No expensive overnight hotel charges are required, and to keep things frugal you can even take along food to save on expenses.

This was the only time I actually feared for the condition of our car’s exterior.

Last weekend we ventured out a couple hours to a wild animal park that lets visitors drive thru and feed the animals from your car.  We planned a trip to the zoo this summer, but my wife’s ankle is still a little bothersome, so the idea of driving around to look at the animals seemed like the next best thing.  We surfed around online to find ticket prices, and unfortunately there were no discounts for online or advanced orders.  The morning of the trip my wife packed up a cooler with a few sandwiches, bottles of water and enough snacks to keep us far away from McDonalds drive-thru windows.  The park’s website indicated they had picnic tables and even a covered shelter so we opted for the picnic as opposed to the restaurant adjacent to their gift store (can you say $7 hamburgers?).

Amazing creatures, and surprisingly gentle when fed by hand.

The ride over was easier than we imagined and the kids had a blast seeing the various animals in their natural habitat.  It’s not every day you can lower your window and feed a giraffe!  The cost of the tickets, the food (for the animals), and the gas there and back totaled less than $100.  Considering we would spend nearly as much on dinner and a movie for a family of four I thought this seemed like a reasonable expense.  We probably shaved $30 off that total by bringing our own lunch.  We also saved a bit of money by driving our own vehicle, rather than renting a zebra-painted rental for an extra $15.  Of course, this is one benefit of driving an older vehicle.  I didn’t see too many shiny BMWs weaving through the thousand-pound bulls smearing slobber and mud all over their windows.

We arrived home Saturday evening and gave our car a good washing!  Our dog didn’t seem to happy with the scents she was detecting and probably wondered where the heck we had been all afternoon.  A fun time was had by all, and it was definitely a “do-over.”  The short trip also gave us some ideas on how to save on future “frugal safaris.”  Here are a few of our ideas:

• Pack a picnic lunch.  Call ahead and make sure it is acceptable to bring in your own food in a small cooler.  Some places frown on this, but many zoos and animal parks are open to picnics-even providing picnic tables or shelters.  If the place you are planning to visit does not allow outside food, try to grab a bite before entering, or pack a lunch and eat it in the car on the way (we call these “rolling picnics”).

• Buy tickets in advance if possible.  Some places offer discounts for online purchases, or purchases in advance of the day you are visiting. Even if you don’t get a discount, it is usually worth ordering tickets ahead of time and saving yourselves some time by not having to wait in line to buy tickets.

• Stock up on hand sanitizer!  I probably should have listed this one first, especially for zoo trips and safari rides.  Animals are cute and cuddly, but they are dirty creatures out in the wild (the white rhino we saw was actually brown from laying in the dirt all day).  Before unpacking the picnic be sure everyone lathers up with some hand sanitizer–the next best thing to soap and water.

• Fill up in your home town.  Often times gas stations in tourist destinations (or near major attractions) charge a premium over other stations.  It’s a good idea to fill up the tank before starting out for your destination, and holding off until you are well away from any tourist areas before topping off for the ride home.

• Don’t forget a camera, and extra film or batteries.  Seems funny to recommend bringing film–I doubt many people use film cameras anymore.  If you have a digital camera, be sure your memory card has plenty of room and you have a backup set of batteries.

Enjoy the safari!  And whatever you do, don’t watch Jurassic Park the night before your trip!