What IS a mummy’s favorite type of music?  Wrap music – of course!

Now, you have to be OK with these lunchbox notes not printing perfectly square.  They will require a little bit of hand trimming with scissors since my computer was giving me fits trying to get them in straight.  It is totally worth it though!

Halloween Lunchbox Jokes

To get your very own printable Halloween lunchbox notes for your kiddos just click here for the pdf.

Do you have a favorite back to school joke or tradition?  If so, please share in the comments!

 

 

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Printable Halloween Lunchbox Notes Using Halloween Jokes is a post by Coupons Are Great

We are all so busy and there is nothing better than putting dinner together in the crock pot so there is something warm and healthy to come home to at night.  Forget the last minute fuss and mess in the kitchen.  Start using your slow cooker!

Photo Credit: Fix it and Forget It Blog

How does Pumpkin Black-Bean Turkey Chili sound?  This recipe was shared  Brett at This Mama Loves Her Bargains and is deliciously perfect for Halloween Night to warm all the trick-or-treaters….or any time in the fall! Prep time should be about 20 minutes and will cook for seven hours and yield about 10-12 servings.

A quintessential fall meal!! Pair with buttermilk biscuits or some cornbread and you are good to go!!

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1½ tsp. dried oregano
• 1½-2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 2 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2½ cups chopped cooked turkey (or same amount cooked ground turkey)
• 16-oz. can pumpkin (frozen or pureed steamed is fine as well, they are just a bit more liquidy)
• 14½-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups chicken broth

Instructions

1. Sauté onions, yellow pepper, and garlic in oil in skillet for 8 minutes, or until soft.
2. Stir in oregano, cumin, and chili powder. Cook 1 minute. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients.
4. Cover. Cook on Low 7-8 hours.

Are you in need of a slow cooker or crock pot for this recipe? Amazon may be the place for you to shop!  Check out this 6 Quart Manual Portable Crock Pot or step things up a little with the 6 Quart Programmable Crock Pot.  If slow cooking is your jam, the deluxe 6-1/2 Quart Programmable Touch Screen Slow Cooker looks awesome.  And let’s not forget about how popular the Instapot is!

Want more recipes? Check out this slow cooker cookbook with more than 400 recipes!

 If you love saving money, and who doesn’t, check out these deals and freebies that will save you even more!  Be sure to subscribe to Coupons Are Great so you don’t miss out on great deals, fun freebies, crafts, and more. 

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Black-Bean Turkey: Sounds Delish! is a post by Coupons Are Great

Ghost Hair Bow Materials

• Scissors
• Glue Gun (super glue works as well)
• Ribbon – White (thin or thick), black (thin), and a favorite color (thin)
• Lighter
• Googley eyes
• Hair Clips – you can also get these at beauty supply stores

Ghost Hair Bow Tutorial

Start this project by covering the hair clip with black ribbon.  Use the lighter to lightly burn the edges of the ribbon before you glue it to the hair clip.  The photo below is merely an example.  You certainly can cover the clip in green ribbon.  I chose black ribbon to cover my clip.

Cut the three pieces of thick white ribbon approximately 2 inches in length.  Glue the white pieces of ribbon together.  Using a lighter lightly burn the edges of the ribbon to prevent fraying.

Using the accent color ribbon, make a small bow to glue onto the top of the ghosts head.  You can add a sparkle if you have any (because most things are better with glitter and sparkles).  Be sure to seal the ends of that ribbon as well.

Glue some googley eyes to your ghost and it is complete!

Glue the fully finished ghost onto the ribbon wrapped hair clip.

Aren’t these ghost bows a great addition to your September and October?  I am sure these will be accessories for my girls for the next few weeks.  The googley eyes is what makes them the most exciting in our house!

If you are looking for more hair bow tutorials check out this Butterfly Hair Clip tutorial and this Ladybug Hair Bow Tutorial.

We love crafting!  Be sure to check out our Craft Posts for more ways to create fun, frugal crafts and projects at your house!

Ghost Hair Bow Tutorial is a post by Coupons Are Great

Making #mummydogs is easy.  Have I already mentioned that?

Ingredients

• 1 can Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
• 1 package hot dogs

Steps

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles.
• Firmly press perforations to seal (better than what you see in the photo below).
• Cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces.
• Wrap each hotdog with the crescent dough.  It should look like mummy bandages stretching over the hotdog.  Be sure to leave a spot for the face (that’s fun to add “eyes” with mustard or ketchup after it has baked)
• Place onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 13-17 minutes or until golden brown.

You can spice this lunch or dinner up with CHEESE, salt, honey mustard dipping sauce, or by using a bratwurst instead of a hotdog.  If finger foods are more your thing, buy the tiny hotdogs and use those instead.  They make a very fun appetizer!

This recipe is great for larger Halloween parties, or simply at home with your kids to bring some excitement to the days leading up to Halloween.

We made these for lunch yesterday and my girls wanted them for dinner too.  I will have to make more so they can add them to their lunches too.

Which Halloween recipe are you going to try this year?

 If you love saving money, and who doesn’t, check out these deals and freebies that will save you even more!  Be sure to subscribe to Coupons Are Great so you don’t miss out on great deals, fun freebies, crafts, and more. 

Easy Halloween Food: Mummy Dogs Recipe is a post by Coupons Are Great

Materials Needed to Make a Pool Noodle Pumpkin Craft

• Pool Noodle – cheap is good!  Use the one you have in the garage if you don’t feel like purchasing a new pool noodle.
• Cutting Board and Knife
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Scrapbooking paper, card stock, or construction paper (some fun Halloween scrapbook paper turns this into a super cute craft!)
• Glue
• Tape

Directions

• Measure the pool noodle to the desired length.  Mark on the front and the back so you get a straight line for the cut.  ** See the Pool Noodle Firecracker post for additional photos of this step **
• Draw a line around the pool noodle.  I used a sewing measuring tape to do this, but you can also use your card stock too!
• Cut the pool noodle on the cutting board with a knife.  Hopefully you have a straight piece still.  If not, it will only truly bug you if you are a perfectionist.
• Cut the paper to the wrap around the pool noodle.
• Trace the pool noodle  end onto a scrap of paper and cut out the circular shape.
• Tape (or glue)  the paper and the circle to the pool noodle.  No one is going to see the back of my craft so I opted for tape.
• To create a stem, wrap a scrap of brown paper around a pencil to create a circular shape.  Glue at the the desired circumference and glue to the top of the pumpkin.
• Using green scrap paper, cut thin strips and wrap around a pencil to create vines.  Cut leaves if desired.  Adhere to the top of the pumpkin.

Add literature to this Halloween craft.  I recommend the following books.  It should be noted that we are HUGE Curious George and Bearenstain Bear fans.

• The Curious Little Witch
• The Berenstain Bears and the Haunted House
• Curious George Goes to a Costume Party

See also

Ghost Hair Bow Tutorial

Glitter Pumpkin Tutorial Using a Dollar Tree Pumpkin and Elmer’s Glue

14

Pumpkin Craft: Pool Noodle Pumpkin is a post by Coupons Are Great

Steps to Paying Off Debt

We live in a world when debt is considered normal.  Almost everyone you know has  credit card debt, a mortgage, or a car payment.  You can pay cash for those things with careful and deliberate planing.   It’s kind of crazy to think that our grandparents or great grandparents lived through the Great Depression when credit card debt wasn’t even a “thing.”

Determine What You Owe

The first step to paying off debt to know where you stand. You don’t want to pay bills as they arrive in your mailbox without knowing precisely how much you owe for all of your bills.

You want to organize your debt. You can do it with a pen and paper or use a tool on your computer like Excel, where you can create a spreadsheet. You want to know several things about your debt:

• The current total amount due
• The available credit
• The minimum payment due
• The percentage rate you’re being charged. (* This one may surprise you since credit card rates change frequently).

Get your total by adding all of your debt – including credit cards, money you owe to family or friends, medical bills, tuition, etc. Don’t let yourself guess at these numbers – either look at your current statement or better yet, call for a current balance in case you’ve charged more since the last one was mailed out.

Make it a point to stop spending on your lines of credit that day. You want the arrow pointing down, not up in terms of what you owe to creditors and lenders. Pay cash for things from this point on.

You will also need to write down your current monthly bills that aren’t based on revolving credit. This could include things such as:

• Electric bill
• Water bill
• Cable TV
• Internet Service
• Phone bill

Write down other monthly expenses including:

• Gas
• Groceries
• Haircuts
• Clothing
• Gym membership

This helps you see what exactly where your money goes each month. It might shock you to see it all laid out in front of you – especially if you’re used to juggling bills and living paycheck to paycheck.

Decide How You Want to Pay Things Off

There are two lines of thought in approaching how you should pay off debt. Both are considered the snowball method.  Snowball means you start small and end up on a roll, making bigger payments.

The first snowball method is widely approved by financial experts. It involves you going to that list of debt that you created and listing it in order of highest to lowest interest rate.  Using this method you will pay off the card with the highest interest rate first, which saves you money in the long-run because you’re no longer paying that high rate. This is sound advice, but there’s another train of thought you might want to consider.

The second snowball method starts similarly. List your debt in order of highest amount to lowest amount due.  Pay no attention to interest (this is the area that took my husband and I awhile to wrap our heads around) and start paying off your lowest amount of debt first.  (Then you work up your list until you have paid off your biggest amount of debt last.

Both ideas are good – only you can decide which approach better suits you. If you want to cheer yourself on and celebrate each milestone, then option #2 might work better for you.

If finances are of utmost importance, then you might want the first option – because you can celebrate the money you’re saving in interest. But pick a plan and then move forward.

Create a Family Budget and Stick to It

Without a family budget, you won’t make much progress in how you pay off your debt – no matter which option you choose. You know how dieting is all about calories in – calories out? Well money is the same.  You want to spend less than you earn. Just as you listed your debt so that you could see it all spelled out for you, you have to do the same with your family income and expenses.

Write down what you earn and what your spouse earns. Pool all sources, including child support or alimony if you’re divorced. Add up the incoming monies and compare it to the debt that you have in regards to minimum payments.

You want to add everything – school fees or activities, birthday parties, Christmas, and fun things you do as a family. You might need to go back through past statements to see what you’ve spent on discretionary items.

You’re going to want to start building up a bit of a buffer or an emergency fund. You don’t want to spend every last cent that you make.  There will always be a financial emergency that eats into your planning…so plan for it!

If you realize that you have too many bills all piling up at one time of the month, you can contact your lenders and ask for a new due date or billing cycle. This can help if you and your spouse get paid twice monthly, or weekly rather than one monthly payment.

As you start to get debt paid off, it’s important that you update your monthly budget to adjust for things you’ve paid off or paid down – or when you have more money coming in.

See more about Creating a Budget.

Figure Out How You Can Earn More and Spend Less

When you’re serious about debt reduction, you have to feel the belt tighten when it comes to spending money– or else you’re not doing everything you can to get out of debt fast enough!

Here are some things you can do to cut costs and save more money that you can put towards old debt:

• Get rid of unnecessary expenditures.

For example, do you really need the newspaper? Can you go online and read the news or watch it on TV instead? How about bottled water delivered to your doorstep – is it a luxury you can do without temporarily?

Do you have a landline and a cell phone bill? Would it be possible to get rid of your landline phone service and just go with a cell phone for the time being? If so, that’s one less payment each month.

• Cut back on existing packages.

Cable TV is a budget buster. You might spend hundreds of dollars getting tons of movie channels and special packages for sports and entertainment. Cut back to a basic plan. If you need to, invest in a Netflix account for much less than you would a cable TV package.

If you can bundle things to save money, do it. For example, you might have your phone, cable TV and Internet service all with different companies. You can save money by bundling it with one provider.

• Save on electricity and water.

Make sure you and everyone in your family) understands the importance of shutting off lights and conserving electricity for your monthly bills. Same with water usage – don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth, and don’t do small loads of dishes and laundry – wait until you have a full load.

• Quit eating out.

Eating out at restaurants doesn’t help you stick to a budget. It might help you save time stopping by for fast food, but it can wreak havoc on your pocketbook and monthly budget.

• See who is charging you more.

If you have credit cards that are charging you annual fees, you can request that those be waived. Otherwise, you might want to shop elsewhere for a different line of credit with no fee.

You also want to check things like your bank accounts to see if they’re charging you a monthly fee for using their service. There are some banks that will do away with this charge to keep you as a customer.

• Make a meal plan.

People who shop without a list tend to spend more than people who make a weekly meal plan and budget for their families. Shop based on whatever coupons your local store is offering in the weekly paper.

Make sure you pack lunches instead of eating out at work. As Dave Ramsey says, you can live on beans and rice while you’re paying off your debt if you’re serious about it.

• Look for cheaper forms of entertainment.

Don’t have an official date night out every weekend where you’re shelling out for an expensive dinner and a movie. Instead, invite other couples over and have game night at your house with snacks and wine!

Once you have seen how you can spend less, look at how you can earn more! Whether you get a second job, host garage sales, sign up for programs where you host parties and earn money, or make money working from home online – you can put all that extra dough toward your old debt.

See more Budget Busters.

Once You Get Out of Debt, Stay There!

The most important thing to remember is that once you start digging your way out of debt, you can’t fall back into the old trap a second time (or third of fourth). Some people find spending is a hard habit to break.

When you pay off your debt, you might find it hard to see all of that available credit and try to resists the urge to charge your cards up again. Don’t do it!  Try to save up the cash and spend cash instead of using your credit card.

Save up an emergency fund that covers at least 3 months’ worth of your necessary payments. That way, you’re covered in case you have an issue that lasts longer than a few days off work – or an emergency pops up that you weren’t prepared for.

Good luck paying off debt and staying there.  You CAN do it!  We used to have quite a bit of debt, but we snowballed our way out of it and have changed our spending habits.

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Paying Off Debt and Reaching Financially Indepence is a post by Coupons Are Great

What is Geocaching

Geocaching is a scavenger hunt filled with technology.  Carefully placed caches are hidden all over the world in areas ranging from cities to forest trails.  These caches are hidden very well, but you should not need a shovel to retrieve it.  Each cache has a “log” where the finder can sign or initial that the cache has been found.  The size of the hidden caches range from micro to much larger.  For beginner geocachers it is not recommended that you find one of those first.  There is a give and take system in some geocaches as people leave treasures in the box for the next person to take (if desired).  You take a treasure and leave another in its place.

Geocaches are rated on two different criteria…difficulty to find and terrain.  Easy to find geocaches are registered as a 1. These are good for beginners and small children.  A rating of 5 is for pure crazy people who like a big challenge.  You will find the rating on the Geocaching website.

Geocaching with Kids

Time and time again I have mentioned just how awesome being part of a running group is.  A few weeks ago the friend I was running with told me that her family started geocaching right before they went on vacation and she said that it made their road trip much less stressful.  Say what?!?!?  She also said that it was a great way to get the kids out of the house and having fun.  I was instantly intrigued.  Despite the fact that during the hot hours we may melt when we go outside I want to have summer fun outside with my girls.  Could geocaching add that much excitement to our summer?  Please note: this post contains affiliate links.

My First Geocaching Attempt

Being frugal (this site is called Coupons Are Great after all) I decided that I would just download the free version of the Geocaching app.  We were at a park and I checked the app.  Low and behold there was a geocache near us!!!  Knowing nothing about geocaching we went on our way.  The free geocaching app does an alright job explaining things for newbies, but it is far from perfect.  We ended up not finding our first geocache.  I thought my girls were going to be devastated and never want to go on this treasure hunt again.  I was wrong!  The next morning Little Sister (age 5) said “Mommy, all I dreamed about last night was geoMAPPING.  Can we go again?  I want to find a prize!”  Just remember, you may not always be successful, but there is always the next geocache to find!

Tips for Geocaching with Kids

• Sign up for an account at Geocaching.com
• Spend time browsing on the computer for Geocaches in your area.  There are 2,108,878 active geocaches and over 5 million geocachers worldwide.
• Note the “Last found” date.  Don’t waste your time searching for a geocache that hasn’t been found in months (especially if you are new to this).
• Scroll down to see if there are photos.  Those are a big help!  When you and your kids know exactly what you are looking for there are approximately 500,000 questions less coming from them.  Be forewarned, there will still be approximately 1.5 million questions asked during your first few hunts.
• Pack a small bag with quarter machine type toys (silly bands, plastic animals, baseball cards) and take it with you.  Some geocaches have a give/take system where you can exchange treasures.
• If you are going to a park or anywhere suburban wear pants and tennis shoes.  
• Once you are ready to actually find your first geocache download the app for your phone.  I downloaded the free version (I am frugal, what can I say).  My husband was frustrated with the free version so he ponied up the $9.99 for the paid version.  I have no affiliation with this company.  The free app definitely lacks compared to the paid app.  The upgrade is definitely worth it if you will be geocaching in the future.  
• Have fun!  Remember if you don’t find your first geocache that there is always next time.

Geocaches come in different sizes.  There are micro ones….and I am terrified to hunt for one of those.  The ones we have found were “medium” sized and they were difficult to find!  I can’t imagine looking for something really small.  I have confidence that as we get better at this we will work our way up to a micro cache.  I would never, ever think to pick up a rock geocache (like the photo above).  Those are some super advanced skills!

My girls are hooked on geocaching.  They are constantly asking me to use the app on my phone to see if there are any nearby.  I am so excited that we have a fun, frugal family activity.  I am looking forward to a few summer road trips where we can geocache at rest stops along the way to our destination.

Once you get the hang of geocaching you may want to make your own.  This Geocache kit is a great place to start!

Check out more Activities for Kids and Craft posts for more inspiration this summer!

Frugal Summer Fun: Geocaching with Kids is a post by Coupons Are Great

How to Make Glitter Pumpkins

1. Print the word that you are glittering.  Choose different fonts and font sizes.  Hold these print outs up to your pumpkin so you can determine which one you like the best.

2.  Cut the letters out and trace them onto the pumpkin.  You could also trace over the paper and push semi-deeply into the pumpkin.  You will be able to see the lines when you are done tracing.

3. Using a 1:1 glue and water mixture (or Modge Podge) to create a thin glue paste.  I think Elmer’s glue works best for making a thin glue.

4.  Paint the glue onto the pumpkin letters that you stenciled on  to your pumpkin.  I chose to do one letter at a time since I am a messy crafter.

5. Glitter the glue!  Make sure there is a piece of paper under your project so that you can clean up and reuse the glitter easily.

6.  Allow the glue and glitter to dry.  While you are letting it dry you can make sure that your letters are even.  If they need more glue & glitter you can go over the glitter that is already there.  If you wash and dry your paint brush you can use it to brush off flakes of unruly glitter.  With your finger nail you will be able to scrape/push the glue and glitter as well.

If you are looking for more Halloween Crafts check out the following:
Ghost Hair Bow Tutorial
Halloween Crafts from Tulle Wands to Egg Carton Spiders
DIY Halloween Apothecary Jars

Do YOU have a favorite DIY Halloween Craft?

We love crafting!  Be sure to check out our Craft Posts for more ways to create fun, frugal crafts and projects at your house!

Glitter Pumpkin Tutorial Using a Dollar Tree Pumpkin and Elmer’s Glue is a post by Coupons Are Great

The photos above include tissue (think Kleenex) ghosts tied with ribbon and glue on to black paper.  There is a yellow circle moon and a blue bat in the photo.  There are two Candy Corn Construction Paper Popsicles that were just fun to make.  The ghost is glued on to a piece of construction paper and then painted with shaving cream which was left to dry.  It made a fun three-dimensional object.  Using paper plates we created both a pumpkin and a ghost.

All of the crafts above were so easy to make for my girls who were toddler and preschool age at the time.  With construction paper found at the Dollar Tree, using craft store coupons, or even purchased on Amazon you are able to create fun projects that you can pull out year after year.

If you are looking for more Halloween Crafts check out the following:
Ghost Hair Bow Tutorial
Halloween Crafts for Kids – Egg Carton Spider and Frankenstein Monster Box
Halloween Crafts from Tulle Wands to Egg Carton Spiders
DIY Halloween Apothecary Jars
Glitter Pumpkins Using Dollar Tree Carvable Pumpkins
Halloween Crafts: Soda Bottle Ghosts
Pumpkin Craft: Pool Noodle Pumpkin

This post contains affiliate links. Coupons Are Great is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that allows associates to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to their website.  Read my disclosure policy here.

Easy Halloween Crafts Using Construction Paper is a post by Coupons Are Great

Things We Do Not Spend Money On

Books – When you know how to find free books at Amazon to add to your digital collection you don’t need to buy them!  Add a library membership to your wallet and you don’t need to buy books (which will be outdated in a few years anyway).

Coffee – Expensive and specialty coffees seriously add up over time.  We don’t need to spend money on a crazy habit like daily coffees.  It helps that I am allergic to coffee (true story) and my husband drinks it on occasion only.

Cable TV/Satellite – There are a billion tv channels and no matter how many you have, nothing good is on any of them.  Instead of paying a bajillion dollars on cable tv/satellite use your dollars for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox.  For the occasional sports game that you need to see live, head to a local sports bar.  See if your local library has a digital service for movies (and books too).

Car Washes – When you wash your car at home you are saving money on the car wash and potentially the tip as well.  All you need is a bucket, sponge, and a little bit of soap.  It’s good to be outside and great to have a sparkly clean car.  (I admit, when there is a ton of pollen on my car…I do take it to the car wash then.  I am allergic to almost all the trees in Georgia, and I try not to touch carloads of it).

Dry Cleaning – If you have an iron chances are high that you do not need to have your clothes dry cleaned.  A little bit of reading and Wool-Lite and your clothes will turn out great.  If you want to feel like your clothes have been dry cleaned buy a can of starch.  We have a fabric steamer that works GREAT and has taken the place of ironing for the past year.

Oil Changes – Whenever an oil change occurs it seems like the workers find at least one other issue with your car, despite your records that show you just changed *that* nine months ago.  Doing your oil changes at home really is cheaper than taking your car in.  Several auto parts stores will dispose of your used oil for free.  Always check your favorite cash back shopping apps to see if there is a rebate for your oil or oil filter (ours pops up on Ibotta from time to time).

Parking – Paying for parking astounds me. There are often really great parking lots within an incredibly short walking distance.  If you have to walk a few extra steps, chances are that your body will not yell at you. Walk to save those dollars.  Or drive around and find a cheaper parking lot if you absolutely have to pay for parking.

Warranties – Cashiers and cash registers at the stores really want you to purchase the extended warranty.  Just yesterday we were prompted to buy a 2-year warranty on a $10 item.  REALLY?  That’s just crazy talk.  We pay with our AmEx card for all electronics, which extends the warranty for free.  Often you can find an aftermarket warranty for much cheaper.  For electronic devices try SquareTrade.

Which categories have you found to be budget breakers in your house?

Check out these Ways I Save for more budgeting inspiration.

 If you love saving money, and who doesn’t, check out these deals and freebies that will save you even more!  Be sure to subscribe to Coupons Are Great so you don’t miss out on great deals, fun freebies, crafts, and more. 

Budget Busters – Things We Do Not Spend Money On is a post by Coupons Are Great