Money Management

This writer is planning for a budget Halloween this year. Read on to learn how she’s getting it done. 

If you’re planning to raid your savings account to pay for Halloween this year, you’re in good company. Halloween spending is expected to reach a record $12.2 billion in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation. On a per-person basis, that’s $108.24.

Meanwhile, I spent around $200 last Halloween, broken down roughly as follows:

$100 on costumes$50 on decorations$50 on candy

This year, I plan to eke out some savings to the tune of about $100 by making the following changes.

1. I’m only buying inexpensive candy

Last year, my kids insisted that we not put out the same Halloween candy as every other house in the neighborhood. So I went and tried to buy unique candy — and spent more than I had to in the process.

This year, I’m planning to buy a variety pack of miniature chocolates from Costco and call it a day. This 90-ounce variety pack of minis is $22.99 online, so it’ll probably be a few dollars cheaper at my local warehouse club store, since online prices tend to be a bit inflated.

All told, I think I can get away with spending $30 less on candy than I did last year by sticking to a simple mix. We won’t win any awards for best selection, but it’ll get the job done.

2. I’m only buying a few decorations

A lot of the decorations I bought for Halloween last year are still in decent shape. So all I need to do is not add to that collection too much.

I do want to replace some spider webs because those got destroyed last year through repeated wind exposure and door-opening. But all told, I don’t expect to shell out more than $10 on decorations, which means I’m looking at spending $40 less than I did last year.

3. I’m not buying my son a new costume

My middle-school son is at an age where he really doesn’t care about dressing up for Halloween — he’s only in it for the candy. I told him he still has to make an effort and put something special on to roam the neighborhood. But he has no problem wearing the Harry Potter costume I got him last year (even though he’s not really into Harry Potter anymore).

Meanwhile, a new costume might easily cost me around $30 on Amazon. So if I’m not racking up that charge on my credit card, it’s another $30 of savings this year.

Having fun without spending a fortune

Halloween is one of my kids’ favorite holidays — mine too, actually. So it’s a holiday I’m willing to spend money on. But that doesn’t mean I can’t spend more judiciously.

An extra $100 could do a lot for my family — put food on the table, pay the electric bill, or go toward the repairs I just found out my heating system might need. So if I’m able to save $100 on Halloween this year, then it makes sense to do so, especially if I’m still able to pull off a really fun holiday regardless.

If personal finances are tight in your household, then you may want to think about ways to scale back on Halloween. Those could include making your own costumes or doing a swap with neighbors to avoid buying new ones. You could also try having your kids make signs and spooky drawings to put up instead of springing for store-bought decorations.

There are different options to play around with. Gather your kids and make a plan so you’re spending your money on the aspects of Halloween that matter the most — while finding ways to enjoy the holiday on more of a budget.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Many of us avoid checking our bank balances for a host of different reasons. Find out what you can do if you get anxious at the very idea of opening your bank statement. 

If you’re someone who hides from their bank statement each month, you’ve taken a big step just by opening this article. Facing your fears isn’t easy, especially when it comes to money. Read on for five no-shame, no-lecturing steps you can take right now.

How to overcome your financial fears

The first step in overcoming emotional blocks is to banish that horrible word, “should.” You almost certainly know that checking your balance could help make you financially more secure, but there may be practical or emotional factors holding you back. There’s way too much shame attached to money management, and it doesn’t help anything. Remind yourself that it’s OK if you’re not perfect at dealing with cash — most people aren’t.

Not only that, but Vee Weir, Founder and CEO of Vee Frugal Fox, stresses that you are not alone. “77% of Americans experience financial anxiety, and checking your transaction history can contribute to those negative feelings and emotions,” she told us.

1. Try to understand what you are scared of

Think about what is stopping you from opening your bank statement — it might be fear, worry, a lack of confidence, or something else. It will be easier to face whatever’s driving your avoidance if you understand it. Perhaps you are struggling right now and don’t want to face your financial situation. Or maybe you’ve grown up with an idea that money is stressful or difficult to manage.

Be as honest as you can with yourself about those drivers. The process of naming them will make a difference, even more so if you’re able to reflect on how realistic they are. I still carry the instinctual financial worries I had as a student, even though my bank balance is relatively healthy these days. It has taken a conscious effort to shake them off.

2. Take away some of the pressure

One reason that opening your bank statement can be scary is that it comes with a lot of baggage. It is all too easy to squish all of your financial chores into one big lump and shut it away in a mental cabinet. The trouble is that when you open that cabinet, you start to feel like you have to tackle everything at once.

Opening your bank statement doesn’t mean you immediately have to change your spending habits or make a budget or become a financial guru overnight. It isn’t about making any changes just yet, it is about knowing where you stand and (hopefully) starting to feel more in control.

3. See if you can switch the chip

I have had periods in my life when I avoided my finances. In fact, I wound up paying fees because I didn’t want to open my bank statements. Top banks have significantly reduced their overdraft fees in recent years, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says some still charge as much as $37. I probably paid over $100 in overdraft fees when I was in my 20s — and more in credit card interest and a fine for paying my taxes late.

An even bigger driver? I changed the narrative. I told myself that it is empowering to open my bank statements and manage my money. When I felt the desire to run away and hide, I told myself I’d feel happier and less anxious if I put myself in the driver’s seat and took action. And I started a list of all the ways that managing my money made me feel good. It worked. These days, I feel much more anxious if I don’t know exactly how much money I have in my checking account.

4. Give yourself a reward

Mary Poppins had it right when she said a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. See if you can connect financial chores with something fun. For example, you might have a glass of wine or watch an episode of your favorite TV series when you look at your bank balance.

If you have a friend you trust, ask if they’ll sit with you while you look at your statement and then do something fun together afterwards. If you’re a couple, perhaps this is something you can do together. It doesn’t have to be expensive — it’s more about recognizing your achievements and finding ways to celebrate them.

5. Make it a habit

When you’ve overcome that anxiety once, the trick is to keep it going. Weir says, “Making this a daily habit, like putting on deodorant, will allow you to know what’s going on with your money and you’ll have one less thing to ruminate about.”

She points out that you can make it manageable by checking in every day. “I find that setting aside five minutes a day to check over my bank accounts resolves this anxiety,” she said. “You can do anything for five minutes each day. Five minutes is just 8% of one hour.”

Take a deep breath and open that statement

Many of us may have financial fears, and the right way to address them depends on your personality. If you can’t bring yourself to open your bank statement right now, set a time and date in your calendar. If you get paid regularly, you might opt to look online the day after payday when your balance will likely be at its healthiest.

The fact that you’ve read to the end of this article shows you’re serious about conquering your fears. The next step is to take action.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Emma Newbery has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Buying a house isn’t right for everyone at all times. Learn when you should opt to rent instead. 

Buying a house can be a smart financial move in some circumstances. According to the National Association of Realtors, homeowners have as much as 40 times the wealth of renters, and the forced savings that comes from having to pay a mortgage lender and build equity is one of the reasons why that’s the case.

But you do make a huge commitment when you buy a house and agree to pay a mortgage for decades — and it’s not the right choice for everyone to purchase property. In fact, here are four situations when you absolutely would not want to move forward with a home purchase.

1. If you’re planning on moving soon

If you are planning on relocating in the near future, it makes no sense to buy a house. That’s because of all the transaction costs you end up incurring.

Typically, you have to pay closing costs of around 2% to 5% of the value of your loan when you buy a home. And when you sell a home, you also have to pay closing costs — which could include a real estate commission of 6% split between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent.

These costs can be huge. Let’s say you buy a $400,000 house and sell it a year later for $412,000, which is a reasonable amount to expect your home to appreciate. Here’s what that would look like.

You would lose around $37,080.00 in the course of selling. That’s a lot of money to be out. You don’t want this to happen, so it’s best to make sure you’re going to own your home for at least five years or so. This maximizes the chances it will go up enough in value that you can at least break even and ideally make a little bit of a profit.

2. If it’s a stretch to afford the monthly payments

You also don’t want to buy a home if covering the monthly costs would be a stretch. If your total housing costs will exceed around 25% to 30% of your income, you should not move forward with buying that property. Otherwise, you could devote so much of your money to housing that you can’t afford:

Retirement savingsSaving for college for your kidsSaving for big purchases and vacationsMaintaining a healthy emergency fundCovering routine bills and having money left over for a little fun

3. If you have no emergency savings

If you do not have emergency savings, buying a house is a bad idea. That’s the case for a few reasons:

You could struggle to make your mortgage payments if you lose your job or your income goes down at all. This could mean risking foreclosure.You could end up deferring necessary maintenance if you can’t afford to fix little issues that creep up at the house.You could go into debt for major repairs like a roof or new air conditioner if something big goes wrong.

You should aim to have at least three to six months of emergency savings before buying a house, so you don’t find yourself facing a financial crisis.

4. If you aren’t ready to take on the responsibilities of upkeep

Finally, you need to know that it takes time to take care of a house. You need to deal with tasks like snow removal (in cold climates), gutter cleaning, storm prep, changing furnace air filters, mowing the lawn, and making any necessary repairs. All of this takes time, money, and effort.

If you spot any of these four signs you shouldn’t buy a home in yourself, don’t be discouraged. There’s nothing wrong with continuing to rent for a while until your life or financial circumstances change and you truly become ready to be a homeowner.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
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I love live music. But read on to see why I rarely go to concerts these days. 

I’ve been to hundreds of concerts since my teenage years. And during my 20s, going to concerts was something I prioritized, so much so that I intentionally kept my essential bills as low as possible to free up the money to do that.

But these days, I don’t go to 20 or more concerts a year. Quite the contrary — I think I’ve seen one live show since the start of 2023, and I don’t currently have tickets to any other act.

Part of cutting back on concerts has to do with the fact that I have kids and therefore can’t easily just set off for an evening. But the reasons I’ve cut back on concerts are mostly financial. Here’s specifically why my concert-going days have been whittled down.

1. Prices are higher

At the risk of sounding like the oldest person on the planet, there was a time when I could spend $40 or $50 on tickets to see a band I liked. These days, I find that it takes a minimum of $100 to get into a show, and that’s usually for the seats in the back. So unless it’s a band I really love, I can’t justify that sort of credit card charge.

An April survey from Insuranks found that the average concert ticket costs $113. Ouch. That’s what I might spend on a week’s worth of groceries at Costco.

2. The fees are obnoxiously high

Services like Ticketmaster, which are hard to avoid, are notorious for charging ridiculously high fees on top of inflated concert ticket prices. And it bothers me to pay those fees because I don’t feel like the convenience of getting to order my tickets online is enough to justify them — especially since you can order just about anything online these days.

Last year, The Hustle analyzed fees on 40 tickets to recent concerts, and it found that the average fee came to about 28% of a ticket’s face value. So for a $113 concert ticket, that’s about an additional $32.

3. Living in the suburbs has made it more expensive to get to shows

When I lived in New York City, I could easily walk or take a train to a major concert venue without spending more than a couple of dollars. Nowadays, getting into the city is a costly endeavor. I either have to pay for a train trip, which, in my neck of the woods, is around $40, or I have to drive into the city and cover the cost of parking, which might easily be $40 or more.

Even when I go to see a show somewhere in New Jersey (which is where I live), I often have to pay a hefty parking lot fee, and there’s also gas to think about. Since it’s hard to find bargain tickets anywhere, the expense of getting to and from venues tends to seal the deal and keep me from seeing live shows.

When the cost just isn’t worth it

All told, seeing concerts has gotten a lot more expensive than what I’m used to. And to me, the value just isn’t there. I’ll make an exception for my favorite bands. But if it’s not an act I’m super eager to see, I’ll just stay home.

If money is tight in your world, you may want to take a similar approach and limit yourself to concerts you really want to go to. You can also ask for concert tickets as holiday or birthday gifts. And while I’m not a fan of them at all, you should know that Ticketmaster sells gift cards, so asking for one of those the next time people need gift ideas for you could open the door to seeing more live shows.

Of course, if you like live music but don’t like credit card debt, a happy medium may be to look into local bands playing at bars and restaurants in your area. You may not even have to pay a cover to see acts like that (though it’s always nice to tip). That way, you can get your fill of concerts without breaking the bank.

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We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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