Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season and many people start their holiday by serving a delicious Thanksgiving dinner and end it by shopping. Unfortunately, an expensive Thanksgiving weekend means less money left over for the weeks ahead. Like most expenses, there are quite a few ways to keep costs down, and as usual, the most important one is to plan ahead. To help trim the fat from your Thanksgiving weekend budget, I am pleased to announce the release of MMI’s latest free eBook—Thrifty Thanksgiving.

When thinking about holiday spending, most people typically fast-forward to December’s big budget busting holidays. However, it pays to think thrifty all season long—starting with Thanksgiving. While a turkey alone might not tip your financial scale, holiday food, travel, decorations, and entertainment can really add up. Thankfully, Thrifty Thanksgiving includes a lot of ideas to help you trim the fat from your Thanksgiving budget. In addition to ideas on how to stretch your dinner and budget, Thrifty Thanksgiving covers:

-Step-by-step instructions for decorating on a dime
-5 ways to keep tradition
-5 ways to break tradition
-Travel tips
-Tips for staying in the black on Black Friday
-How to make the most of leftovers
-Ways to incorporate “thanks” into your Thanksgiving

Thrifty Thanksgiving also offers a holiday checklist to help you organize your plans. After all, a little planning can help you enjoy and tasteful and thrifty Thanksgiving.

The Thrifty Thanksgiving eBook can be downloaded for free by visiting http://Thanksgiving/MoneyManagement.org.

The fourth annual Regiftable.com story contest is underway! Regifters from around the nation are invited to share their regifting stories and videos for a chance to win prizes valued up to $500.

Regifable.com is a forum for all things regifting, including an archive of more than 1,000 consumer stories running the gamut from the heartwarming to the horrifying. In addition to this year’s regifting story contest, the site also offers a cool game (nope, I am not going to reveal Regifting Robin’s secret!), regifting facts, personalized gift certificates, free eCards, regifting party rules, a song to rewrap by, and much more.

We created Regiftable.com to give people a fun way to learn more about regifting, and to start the conversation on a topic many people are reluctant to discuss—holiday spending and financial worries. Holiday gifting this year may be particularly difficult as economic stressors continue to stretch family budgets.

Halloween provides an opportunity to look outrageous. And while it may be fun to go incognito, to it is important not to lose your head. After all, with an average wig costing $20, Halloween expenses can quickly become unsettling.

While the total amount spent on Halloween has fallen from last year, it is still considered one of the most costly holidays. The National Retail Federation predicts that consumers will spend $4.75 billion on Halloween this year. However, you don’t have to spend a lot to enjoy Halloween. Following are some tips to make sure your budget stays intact this holiday season.

Make a plan. If you’re hosting a party or partaking in local Halloween events such as haunted houses, set aside cash in advance. Consider shopping with a list when purchasing party supplies and Halloween goodies, then commit to sticking to it. This is not a time to rack up credit card bills when Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner.

Reuse and Recycle. Halloween costumes generally consume the biggest part of Halloween budgets. If your child still likes last year’s Spiderman costume, let him go as the superhero again this year. Or, ask another parent if their child would be willing to trade costumes for one night. Borrow accessories from your friends and family members. Don’t forget to check garage sales and second-hand stores for gently used attire. (I got my daughter the most amazing vampire dress at Goodwill yesterday for $5.99!!)

Be a smart shopper. Skip the full size candy bars—they are expensive and the kids get too much candy already! Buy in bulk to assure that you’re ready for all those pint-size monsters coming to your door.

Do it yourself. Skip the party stores’ elaborate Halloween decorations for your house and yard and make your own decorations. You can create ghosts to hang in the window with string, glue, and waxed paper. For more inexpensive decorating tips, check-out FamilyFun.com.

Make the most of it. Why limit the fun to just one night? Halloween costumes make fun dress-up clothes any time of the year. And, according to Hershey’s, you can store chocolate for up to a year. Saving collected candy to disburse throughout the year will save money and stomachaches. Keep uncarved pumpkins around for a while—they are perfect fall decorations.

While saving money is great, safety is one area where you don’t want to skimp. At a minimum, children should wear clothing with reflective markings or tape and carry a flashlight.