Thread: Method to your shopping?

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Ok, this is the first year that I have actually been good and started saving for my Halloween party really early! My budget is $500 and I want to try really hard to stay within budget... especially since I am also saving up for my wedding in 2012.

My first thought was to save all my receipts and add it up at the end of day/week and budget that way but I just think that I will lose them/forget/ just not do it...

Then I thought that I would take out $500 in cash and just use cash whenever I bought something Halloween, but I KNOW I would forget and use the cash for other things and forget and over compensate or something. I also don't really feel safe walking around with that much cash on me.

What I'm debating on now is taking out the money in cash and then a couple of weeks before the party go get everything I need (besides food). This thought made me drool. I could just do one insane weekend of Halloween shopping! It would be awesome! And then any really small things I could pick up later and not count them towards the budget.

I feel like there may be flaws in the last one too... I'm not sure though. What do you guys think?

What is your normal method for shopping each year?

Budget? What is this thing you call a budget??

I tracked my spending on a spreadsheet one year...I'll never do that again.

If you want to stay within budget, then make a list of must have stuff. If it will be available close to your party, WAIT!! If it's no readily availabe buy it sooner. Splurge at the last minute and get those things...this also gives you time to change your mind as to what you want. If you buy early, you'll continue to see stuff on the shelves as Halloween stuff rolls out and your budget will be shot to hell. Patience is a virtue.

Yeah, I stopped keeping track too. I used to put all the halloween purchase receipts into an envelope and tally it at the end... never again!

If you have a specific budget and want to be REALLY good about sticking to it, one thing you could do is get something like a reloadable visa/amex gift card and put a specific amount on it. You'd still need to be careful not to lose it (I think Amex cards are trackable if lost or stolen but there's probably a fee involved for that too).

I try to start picking up new things that I really like as early as they start coming out. I try to get the main thing that really excites me first, and then add to it as I can every year before the season is over. I also buy throughout the year for Halloween, building props and such. I also am not very good at trying to stick to A budget. I do ok most of the time, but not when it comes to Halloween. I just love it too much and I have the mentality that I can NEVER have too much HAlloween ANYTHING! You only live once, so he who dies with the most Halloween stuff....WINS!!!!!!

I wouldn't take out any cash before I needed it.

It's good to make a list of all the necessities... food, drinks, napkins, music, game prizes, last minute decorations (i.e. fresh pumpkins, cornstalks, etc.) Add that all up... even if you have to go to the grocery/liquor store for a dry run for an accurate estimate. A few extra bottles of wine and a few last-minute sandwich platters can add up!

Then, take inventory of what you have on hand. Maybe think of things in new ways. That half-lit string of white Christmas lights will do just fine stuffed into a jack-o-lantern. That old red table cloth will look great swaddled around a scary mask and looking INTO a window. (Replace with a real person in the same mask after everyone has seen the dummy.)

Then figure out your decorating theme (if you have one) and go from there. You can spend the summer checking out thrift stores and yard sales. You'll also have extra time to re-purpose various old stuff or make new things. A can of spray paint can do wonders on old trays, light fixtures, and throw-away furniture.

It might be a good idea to think of your total budget as $400 rather than $500. That way, you will have a little extra money in reserve for that last minute find you just can't resist.

Have a great party! Keep us posted!

Originally Posted by kprimm

I try to start picking up new things that I really like as early as they start coming out. I try to get the main thing that really excites me first, and then add to it as I can every year before the season is over. I also buy throughout the year for Halloween, building props and such. I also am not very good at trying to stick to A budget. I do ok most of the time, but not when it comes to Halloween. I just love it too much and I have the mentality that I can NEVER have too much HAlloween ANYTHING! You only live once, so he who dies with the most Halloween stuff....WINS!!!!!!

Getting the main thing that really excites me... I think this is where I have faultered before... instead of getting something biggish that really excites me and then picking up small things to go with it... hence having more good quality things... I usually stare longingly at things that I love and get a bunch of small things that I like... spending just as much/way more money than I would have if I had just bought the thing that I wanted so much.

Yeah, that is definitely something I need to keep in mind this year.

'You only live once, so he (actually she ) who dies with the most Halloween stuff.... Wins' Thats great!!

Originally Posted by Scatterbrains

Budget? What is this thing you call a budget??

I tracked my spending on a spreadsheet one year...I'll never do that again.

If you want to stay within budget, then make a list of must have stuff. If it will be available close to your party, WAIT!! If it's no readily availabe buy it sooner. Splurge at the last minute and get those things...this also gives you time to change your mind as to what you want. If you buy early, you'll continue to see stuff on the shelves as Halloween stuff rolls out and your budget will be shot to hell. Patience is a virtue.

Lists make me happy.

Good point about more things rolling out on the shelves... if I blew all my budget the first weekend that Spirit opened... I could miss something good.

After halloween is when I grab sales as much as possible. Until about the end of February, I scour the net for deals on props I passed up on but would like to get on sale. Sometimes I have luck. Sometimes I don't. But by March I hold back on any purchases so I have a budget for the new items for the year. I usually grab some of them, but still keep my eyes open for sales on what I may have missed the year prior that I really wanted. It's all about grabbing good sales, verses the product vansihing if you wait too long. But most of my haul is post HW, with a spending hold by March to check out the new goods for the year. That's my typical spending pattern for retail goods.

Dan

I'm with Scatters on this one, I am not sure what a budget is. LOL

I have a pretty strict budget. But it's more a monthly spending thing than a yearly one.

Problem is more that outside things have a way of eating into the Halloween budget.