As the end of the “Don’t Go Over in October” challenge approaches, I’m left reflecting on what I’ve learned from the experience. Not surprisingly, I’ve learned that I could have been doing a lot more to curb my spending and that I still have a few bad money habits to break.
I’ve been posting my insights here each week, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there is one important thread that ties it all together - creativity. Creative people are going to be naturally better at saving their money and still enjoying life than those who aren’t.
Is this because creative types must learn to make due in notoriously low-paying fields where the term ‘starving artist’ is a job description? Is it because they are just better at thinking outside of the box or because they’re more inclined to be do-it-yourselfers?
I believe the
11 traits of creative people outlined by CopyBlogger point to the reasons why creative types are able to effectively save money without compromising their quality of life.
What better time to discuss the theory than Halloween?
Halloween – Separating the Creative from the Costlier Clichés
Putting together a Halloween costume in general is a testament to your creativity. However, on the one night where anything goes, many people take the easy, often more expensive, route. They choose the store-bought cliché costumes that are packaged up with everything you need and don’t require much thought to put together.
But convenience comes at a cost. Not only do you run the risk of someone else showing up in your costume, but you’re also almost certain to pay more than you would have if you’d just made your own costume.
Halloween is when the tight-budgeted creative types come out of the woodwork to show what they’re really made of. Fans of The Office are sure to remember how this creative vs. cliché costume scenario played out on one of their Halloween episodes.
Want a real world example? My freshman year, a few girlfriends were tight on cash, but they weren’t about to let that stop them from having awesome costumes. Using nothing more than jeans they already owned, tube tops, pieces of cardboard painted black, and Mardi Gras beads, they became a hilarious version of Girls Gone Wild. Total cost was about $10 each, but the originality was priceless.