Giddy to get your ghoul on this Halloween? It doesn’t take blood money to get a head-turning cheap Halloween costume. These homemade costume ideas won’t just save you money; they might win you a chunk of that costume contest cash!

Sure, making your own Halloween costume is the frugal way to be frightening; but it can also score points for creativity when you walk into a room of guys donning expensively generic celebrity facemasks. You don’t have to have an attic brimming with old garb to pull off a cheap costume; check out your local Salvation Army or Goodwill store for everything you’ll need.

Sheets are for more than ghosts. Don an old sheet for myriad effects. It’s a toga, burqa, loin cloth, and robe all in one. Tear up pieces of several old sheets and pin them together to create a haggard look perfect for going as a vagrant, bum, vagabond, scoundrel, old hag…well, you get the idea.

Your own clothes go a long way. Wear all black and you can be any number of figures like a priest or a thief. Gray sweats with the right make-up can make you any number of animals including a mouse, a bunny, or an elephant. Think you got your Tom Cruise down? Half-decent impersonations can make up for donning everyday clothes in the style of your favorite celeb.

Use props. The right costume jewelry, pair of oversized glasses, or flavor flav clock around your neck can make a costume, even if you’re wearing little else. Dig in the attic or thrift store for the one piece that will make your get-up stand out.

You can make up for shabby attire with creativity. Some examples? Graduate: Don flip flops, a college sweatshirt, and a will work for food sign. Unemployed puppet: Wear whatever you want with a hat that has strings and handles attached. Walk around with the strings dragging. Cast away: muss up your hair and wear cut-off shorts with a wrinkled business shirt. Carry a coconut for good measure. Here are some even better creative costume ideas than I could come up with.

Make Your Own Make Up

Why drop dough on a tube of fake blood you’ll trash tomorrow? If you have some basic foodstuffs around you can make your own costume makeup.

Combine 4 parts cornstarch and 2 parts vegetable shortening and add food coloring to dye. For the best results, clean and dry your face first, apply a super thin layer of moisturizing cream and cornstarch second, and lastly apply the makeup.

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If you’re truly serious about blowing away the costume competition, Elegantly Frugal Costumes will give you the secrets to pro-quality do-it-yourself disguises.

It’s another Saturday night, and those free weekend wireless minutes are coming in handy as you make plans with your friends. The only problem: your lawyer and trust-fund friends want to follow up a four-star meal with a night of skipping velvet ropes (and outrageous covers). What do you do when your friends’ idea of a night out will cost your whole entertainment budget for the month? [...]

In the movie Boiler Room, Ben Affleck’s character spouts out that “Whoever said money doesn’t buy happiness doesn’t [expletive] have any.” Maybe, maybe not. But more than we often admit, money and psychology are inseparably fused.

For most, the act of spending money brings temporary gratification. The key to responsible spending is to avoid becoming “addicted” to this feeling. I’m not suggested everybody with a bit of credit card debt is a compulsive shopper, but I think we have all caved in a little to this universal human weakness.

In theory, the act of buying something should be a balance between the pleasure we get from owning something new and the “pain” we feel from parting with our money. But in the electronic age, the feeling of parting with money is no longer immediate. When you pay with a credit, or even a debit, card, the realization of spent money doesn’t come until the end of the month.

That’s why it’s a good idea to record every transaction, even when paying with plastic. Keeping a running total of your purchases will remind you of how much you’re spending, and create mental obstacles for your impulses that may want to spend more than you should. Why?

Throughout college my motto was “financial ignorance is bliss.” I charged and charged and just ignored my credit card balances each month – as long as I had enough to make the minimum, I didn’t care. But as soon as I began to look at the mounting debts on those statements, it became harder to spend. When I was thinking about my debt, I could be cheap. The only problem was I could easily put it all out of my mind days later.

As I now work to permanently change my habits, I still find it hard to read every statement carefully – after all, it’s not a pretty picture. But the more keenly aware I am of my monthly budget and my long-term goals – every day – the easier it gets to spend less.

On the flip side, I have known people so frugal that every penny they spent hurt. I am pretty sure I will never get to that point, nor do I want to get there. After all, if you can not enjoy something, why buy it at all?

Looking for ideas to get the most out of your weekend without spending a dime? Here are some ideas. A bit cheesy, but nevertheless a reminder that the best things in life really are free.

1. Drink icy cold water on a hot day
2. Watch the sunrise
3. Pick out cloud shapes
4. Call a loved one
5. Catch up with your best friend
6. Read a good (library) book
7. Play cards (not poker!)
8. Visit an animal shelter
9. Take a nap in the park
10. Park at the end of a runway and watch the planes take off
11. Volunteer
12. Sing along to the radio
13. Walk around a lake
14. Sleep under the stars
15. Sketch something, or just doodle
16. Write a letter
17. People watch
18. Play catch
19. Climb a mountain
20. Write a budget!

As I mentioned in my living on $10 a day post, how much you spend on food can vary dramatically. Here are some of the ways I save on food without turning to ramen, beans and water, etc.

Use Your Freezer – Just because you can’t finish an entire loaf of bread by yourself before it starts sprouting green fuzz doesn’t mean you have to waste bread every week. Freeze half of each loaf you buy; a couple of slices defrost quickly in the microwave. Try toasting them if they get soggy.

Cook for the Week – Throwing together one course salads or casseroles can provide several dinners and lunches for one person. Investing a few dollars in some plastic containers will save you hundreds over time if you eat all your leftovers before buying more food.

Embrace Cheap Staples – Eggs and beans are good sources of protein that cost substantially less than meat. Build more meals around these staples.

Buy Produce Locally – It is tempting to sacrifice the quality of your diet to save a few bucks. True, processed foods tend to be cheaper than whole grains and vegetables, but the health consequences are scary. Whenever possible, shop for produce at local farmer’s markets or stands. Not only is the produce fresher, but you will save because you are eliminating the grocery store’s mark-ups.

Eat Ethnically – Many recipes from other parts of the world are tasty and filling yet inexpensive. Indian curry dishes, Asian stir fries, and Mexican burritos are great examples of satisfying dishes that won’t break the bank.

Do It Yourself – As a rule, the more you cook yourself, the more you can save. Pancakes, breads, and sauces are all examples of items to whip up and freeze for later consumption.

To take the most advantage of these tips, make sure “Don’t dine out, stupid!” is already your mantra and that you’re taking full advantage of coupons and other savings programs at your grocery store!

Think you could live with just ten dollars of disposable income per day? It sounds scary if you’re used to enjoying life, but it is not only possible, the ten dollar a day rule is practical, too.

You have heard the argument before, but it’s the little things that we purchase every day that add up and have potentially crippling long-term effects on our finances. That means the coffee, soda, candy, and cigarettes need to go. Some estimates argue that by giving up your daily coffee (or simply by making it at home) and investing $2 – $3 a day you can retire with an additional $25,000. Not too bad! But your caffiene fix is only the first place you can cut back.

Watch What You Eat

For most people eating out is the single biggest drain on disposabe income. And it’s not just fine dining that drains your wallet; daily pastries and sandwhiches can be a culprit. Aim for packing your breakfast and lunch and cooking at home as much as possible. When you do splurge on a nice meal, skip the appetizers and desert, limit your drinks, and get a doggie bag for the leftovers. Make both cooking and frugal dining a habit and you could save a couple thousand each year.

Spend Nothing Days

We take it for granted that because we have money in our pockets and because there are so many things for sale that spending money should just be a part of our daily lives, no questions asked. But little could be farther from the truth. Aside from weekly or monthly errands to get groceries, fill your gas tank, or replenish your medicine cabinet, why do you need to spend money? With a little planning it can be easy to designate one or more days of the week as “no spend days” and get in the habit of not parting with a single cent. If you set a daily spending limit (like ten dollars a day), no spend days are a necessity if you want to make larger purchases on the weekend, say.

Cool Off

Hanging onto your money is not easy. In fact, there are millions of people spending millions of dollars every day to persuade you to part with your money. Frightening, isn’t it? So the next time you are tempted to buy something that you know you don’t “need”, force yourself to wait three days and then come back. While you are waiting to buy, ask yourself three questions: 1. Can I afford this purchase now, without sacrificing more important needs and without paying interest? 2. What long term value will this item deliver? 3. Have I done my homework (ie, am I getting the best product of its kind at the best available value?

New sites are surfacing allowing budget-conscious bibliophiles to swap books, movies, and more through the mail rather than buying them. This is an awesome money-saver for avid readers that don’t have time to drop by the library. My old friends at SmartMoney picked some of the top sites in a recent article.

Frugal Reader, Bookins, Title Trader, and PaperBackSwap are all sites that let you post books you have to trade and request books you want from others. So far the sites are free, allowing you request credits based on the number of books you send out. Membership fees may be added as the sites grow, and some already offer premium memberships for readers wanting to request more books than they share.

Peerflix and My DVD Trades offer similar services for DVDs.

When shipping books, USPS Media Mail rates, starting at just $1.59, are a great value.

All my life I have lived among the American upper-middle class, but I never had the money to actually count myself in this group. But of course I tried. It was a classic case of keeping up with the Jones’, and unfortunately, the more I tried to keep up, the poorer I became. Don’t get me wrong; living among rich people isn’t so bad. It beats living the ghetto – but the more people around you have – the easier it is to think you need more. Which is exactly what happened to me.

Born one of the nation’s wealthiest regions, west of Boston, I attended an expensive private college with the help of loans and financial aid. When I arrived I found that many of my classmates not only didn’t have to worry about paying tuition, they were living like royalty on trust funds. With all that free money, it amazes me they bothered to study! And of course I wanted to live their life, too.

With the help of new credit cards pouring into my campus mailbox by the truckload, I started furnishing my dorm room, buying new clothes, and taking my girlfriend to expensive dinners and to hotels. I picked up bar tabs for my friends. I even dropped $4,000 on flying lessons. After all, it was 1999-2000, and even English majors were getting $75,000 dot.com jobs after graduation. Even if I racked up debt, I thought, I could pay it off after a few months of work.

Boy was I stupid. Today my college credit card debt is an enormous hindrance to my financial future, but one good thing may have come out of it. I have learned to love living with less.

Basically, I can list here what I own: My car, a computer, a camera, an iPod, two guitars, a sofabed, a desk, and my clothes. Really, that’s it. I rent my room and use everything else that my roommates own, and I’m thinking about ditching one guitar and the camera (the iPod was a gift, so I will keep it). And if I didn’t work in the boondocks, you can bet I’d lose the car.

A friend with a lot of stuff told me the other day that I live like a monk. Maybe it’s true, but there is probably a reason monks get rid of possessions along the road to enlightenment. With less things to care for and worry about loosing there is more time (and more money) to enjoy life. Of course, unless you want to be homeless, nomadic, or a monk, we might not be able to get by with nothing. But here are a few pointers for unloading possessions without turning your life upside-down.

Possession Triage: Take a day to go through your belongings one by one and determine the last time you used each one. If it was less than 6 months – get rid of it! If you are hanging onto large items for sentimental reasons but don’t use them, consider selling them anyway. You will always have the memory, and chances are somebody else can use the item more than you can. Another rule: If you have to pay to store something, you don’t need it. Clean out that storage space and save your money. Remember that you can rent or borrow almost anything, anytime!

Organize: Get everything you do own into easily accessible places. If you can access it easily, what are the chances you will actually use it?

Sell, Donate, or Trash: You can purge anything you own in these three ways. Hold a yard sale for smaller items, or sell bigger ticket items on eBay or a community marketplace like Craigslist. Donate clothes to charities. Some will even take furniture in good condition. Toss anything else!!

Improvise: Use plastic storage containers instead of dressers. Hang wall shelving yourself instead of bookcases. Speaking of books, go to the library and rent videos instead of buying! Many items have multiple uses. A sofa can be your bed. An eating table can be your desk. A storage chest can be a coffee table. But then again, what do you have to store?

Take Care: Make the things you do own last and last by taking care of them. Remember, the less you buy, the higher quality things you can buy.

An artlice from Sunday’s Boston Globe (story) got me thinking about the principle of consumption smoothing for the first time since I took Econ 101 about seven years ago. If I remember correctly, it basically states that after reaching a certain age or point in life, our the things we need to buy begin to taper off until they reach a constant annual level. [...]