Oprah Winfrey just devoted an entire show to the best money lessons you can teach your kids in these troubling economic times. The show featured tips on how to tell overindulged children that the spending needs to stop—-NOW.
Financial guru Suze “tell-it-like-it-is” Orman was back scolding Oprah’s chosen families about how their reckless spending helped drive our economy straight into the dumpster. Though, as I watched the program I wondered how much of Orman’s advice was falling on deaf ears.
After all, while Orman was chastising parents for overindulging their kids, the National Retail Federation was releasing information they gathered from a recent poll of Americans, which revealed that people are planning to spend more on Halloween items this year than last.
According to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the average consumer plans to spend $66.54 on the holiday, up from $64.82 last year. The survey also found that total Halloween spending for 2008 is estimated to reach $5.77 billion.
BILLION!
That’s a whole lotta fun-sized candy bars.
I wonder what Suze Orman has to say about that? Have your kids wear old sheets for costumes? Raid the candy dishes at local banks and barber shops and hand that out instead of spending money on your own lollipops and licorice?
Speaking to news reporters about the survey results the President and CEO of the National Retail Federation explained that consumers, who have been anxious over the state of the economy, might be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun.
“Plus,” the bigwig noted, “you can’t disappoint the kids, now can you?”
Spoken like a true anti-Orman.
According to the survey, this year, consumers will spend an average of $24.17 on Halloween costumes (including costumes for adults, children, and pets); $20.39 on Halloween candy; $18.25 on Halloween decorations; and $3.73 on Halloween greeting cards.
So, how much have you already forked out for holiday supplies? Have you considered recycling a Halloween costume to save money? As a kid I dressed up as Mr. Do-Bee from “Romper Room” three Halloweens in a row (my mom simply made adjustments along the way) not because I had to; rather, I just liked the costume. I doubt I could get my own daughter to do the same now. How about you?
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