It’s October once again, and probably the first thing that comes to our minds is – Halloween! As soon as the month started, you would have probably started preparing for your Halloween costumes, treats and party. You want this year’s Halloween celebration to be better than last year, and more and more awesome each year, and that entails a lot of planning, preparation, and shopping, which means yes, expenses.

So before you start splurging on your Halloween tradition, consider these few guidelines and tips that may save you a couple of precious dollars. October is not only about Halloween. It’s also a great time to do some shopping on other stuff that may be on big discounts and sales. Just be smart and alert for these kinds of bargains so you can save yourself from unnecessary expenses which could have saved you from a lot of money.

Halloween Items

While November 1 may be the best time to shop for Halloween costumes, some stores offer the best sales and discounts for Halloween stuff one week before the holiday, some even on the day of the celebration itself. A lot of big stores like Toys R Us for example, give away unbelievable coupons to the lucky customers. If you want to buy online, some websites like Groupon and KGB Deals offer amazing deals even up to the middle of the month. This is primarily to clear their shelves of all their stocks as soon as the occasion ends to make way for new.

Just like the costumes, the prices of Halloween decorations go down substantially right after Halloween celebration ends. The occasion may be over but shopping for off-season items is the best way to get the lowest prices, where you can get from 50% to even 90% discounts. That’s a lot of savings and early preparation for next year’s party.

When it comes to pumpkins, they may be a little more expensive this year because of Hurricane Irene which destroyed a lot of pumpkin patches along the East Coast. But this doesn’t mean that you’ll skip on this tradition. Your kids may be very sad and you won’t be able to live with the guilt. So you may be forced to fish out a few more dollars for your traditional gourd, but be creative instead and instead of carving the pumpkins which makes them useless afterwards, try painting them so you can still roast them after and even freeze the puree for Thanksgiving.

Winter Clothes

The weather may start getting chilly and you may be planning on starting your winter clothes shopping, but the biggest sales don’t come until January. But if you really need to buy, November is an ideal time wherein you can get up to 40% discount. Big retailers such as Old Navy, Banana Republic, Leiv’s and more are known to give worthy sales even for current-season items.

Denim

September may be the best time to buy denim where you get the biggest discounts, but some notable stores like Aeropostale and Gap also offer sales on October to sell all their items during the back-to-school season. Black Friday is also a great time to shop for denim wherein shops will give amazing discounts to clear their shelves of remaining stocks.

Lingerie

Lingerie is seen to be a big seller during this time, and even more so around November and December. Panties could sell for as low as $2, and bras as cheap as $5. Famous intimate apparel companies like Victoria’s Secret and Frederick’s of Hollywood are known to give away as much as 50% off on certain items.

Toys

You may be planning on starting your Christmas shopping for your kids this early because of some tempting discounts from big retailers such as Toys R Us, but it isn’t until December when the real sales start. Retailer magnates such as Walmart and Amazon battle it out with the biggest price drops that will make you want to buy the whole store.

Garden Tools

Good news for the green thumbs since gardening items, patio sets and other garden tools are on unbelievable discounts at this time of the year. Fixing up your garden may not be on your to-do list right now, but with these kind of sales, you may want to put it up on your priority list.

Electronics

If you’ve been planning to buy that 55″ LCD HDTV for the longest time, you may be tempted to buy during this time since TVs are seen to drop in prices substantially in October. But if you want the best deals, wait for November and December wherein you might just get that dream TV of yours – at the biggest discount!

When it comes to laptops, the 15″ “lappy” was seen as a bestseller at this time. “Ultrabook laptops” are also said to be released at this time by some notable companies. But if you want to have more choices, November offers the best deals on laptops in all categories.