Halloween Safety Tips for Drivers and Trick-or-Treaters

Ghosts, goblins, Transformers, princesses and all kinds of other personas will be out in full force this weekend to celebrate Halloween. Most kids will be trick-or-treating on Sunday evening, but some towns have designated different days and times other than Sunday for trick-or-treating. Here are some safety tips to keep in mind, not just for the kids, but for you as you drive around town this weekend. You’ll want to be particularly careful between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., when most severe collisions occur between vehicles and pedestrians.

Driving Safety Tips:

Don’t text and drive. This is especially important on Halloween, because kids tend to dart across the street unexpectedly. You can’t stop short if you’re not paying attention. Your best bet is to just turn off the phone and park it.

Drive slowly and don’t pass stopped vehicles. They may be dropping off children who have to cross the street.

Yield to pedestrians – especially children. Children get so excited that they don’t always pay attention, even when a grown up tells them to stop or slow down. Watch carefully for children crossing the street.

Use your lights and signals. It is critically important to communicate with other drivers. Use your turn signals. Stop at stop signs. Use your hazard lights if you have to pull over to drop off or pick up kids.


Trick-or-Treating Safety Tips:

Costumes and masks should fit correctly. Otherwise, children may not be able to see through the eye holes in the mask. If costumes are too big, they also pose a tripping hazard for kids who tend to run on Halloween night.

Make them glow in the dark. Have kids wear glow necklaces, reflective tape or something that blinks so they are easily noticeable in the dark.

Teach kids how to cross streets safely. They should look both ways and cross only at corners and crosswalks – not in the middle of the street.

Stay with your kids. Don’t let really young kids go out on their own, even if you trust your neighborhood. Stay with them so you can remind them to walk – not run – and cross the street in the right spots.

Choose Indoor Alternatives. Many churches and community groups host indoor festivals and trick-or-treating. This is always a fun, safe alternative to trick-or-treating outside in the dark.


Most importantly, have fun. Happy Halloween!

The Truth Behind Dealer Incentives

As the 2011 models continue rolling in to local dealerships, we’re starting to see more ads for cash rebates and low dealer financing.  Some of the more popular ones we’ve seen lately are:

-Lease your vehicle for just $199 a month.
-Finance your vehicle as low as 1.9% APR.
-Get $250, $500, or $1,000 cash back.

Automobile manufacturers use incentives like these to lure you in. That doesn’t mean they’re not real, and it doesn’t mean they’re not a good deal. You just need to put your “buyer beware” hat on before you head out to the dealership.

Leasing a vehicle for $199 a month may be a very affordable option for your budget. Just know there’s a balloon payment on the back of that lease. Once your lease is over, you either turn your car in, or you pay the balloon payment, which is usually thousands of dollars. If you turn the vehicle in, you have the option to lease another, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get a lease for the same low monthly payment. If you finance the balloon payment, you may be paying on the car another three to five years. How much more money are you willing to pay on a car you’ve already been driving for several years?

Dealer financing is tempting, as well, but it’s not always as it appears. In most cases, when dealers offer low-rate financing, there are conditions attached. The low rate usually applies to specific models, or for specific terms – usually 36 months or less. If you’re in the market for that specific model, or you can afford to pay off the loan in three years, this could be a good option for you.

Cash back incentives can either stand on their own, or they can be tied to a condition like purchasing a specific model or financing with the dealer. Ask before you get your heart set on a different model.

If you have the choice between cash back or dealer financing, think about taking the cash rebate and financing your vehicle with Neighborhood Credit Union. That puts money back in your pocket and gives you an option for affordable financing. And remember, we’re still offering rates as low as 3.49% APR for up to 72 months, with no payments until 2011, through October 31^st. Click here for more information.

Cheap Eats on Halloween

Halloween is always hectic, making those little minute adjustments so your ghosts and goblins all have the perfect costumes for trick-or-treating. Who wants too cook dinner in the middle of all that excitement?

We have compiled a list of fast food restaurants that offer healthier options for your family, with deals that won’t break the bank. Some even benefit a good cause.

Taco Cabana – Benefiting Sick Children

Contribute $1 to St. Jude Children’s Hospital at participating Taco Cabanas and receive a Tac-O-Treat coupon book for five free bean and cheese burritos. Coupon books will sell through October 31, and coupons will be valid through November.

Chipotle – Benefiting Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

Come in after 6pm on Halloween dressed as a horrifying processed food product and you’ll get  a burrito, bowl, salad, or an order of tacos filled with freshly cooked, naturally raised ingredients for only $2.

Wendy’s – Benefiting Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

Pay $1 for a trick-or-treat gift book that includes five Frosty Jr. coupons.

Wendy’s – Pick Two for $4.99

Pair any half-size salad with one of seven other food or drink items for an affordable meal. Choose from 28 different combinations.

Subway - $5 Footlongs

Subway has eight or 10 of its foot long sandwiches available for $5. Split them among family members for an inexpensive, light meal. Subway will build a sandwich with different toppings on each half of the sandwich if you want to share it with someone else.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

COBRA or Short-Term Health Insurance?

Affordable health insurance isn’t always easy to find, especially if you’ve been laid off. If you were on an employer-sponsored health plan, you most likely weren’t paying nearly as much as they want you to pay for COBRA coverage. COBRA enables you to continue your insurance coverage, uninterrupted, up to 18 months. However, it can be very costly.

If you were laid off, a recent federal law mandates the employer who laid you off to pay 65 percent of your insurance coverage. You pay the other 35 percent. If coverage is $1,000 a month, you’ll pay $350, and the company will pay $650.

If you leave a company voluntarily, but your new employer requires a waiting period before issuing you insurance, COBRA gets a lot more expensive. By law, the company you left can charge you up to 102 percent of their cost to continue insuring you. The extra two percent is for administrative fees. If the company pays $1,000 a month, they can charge you $1,200 for COBRA.

Another alternative to COBRA is short-term health insurance. More and more insurance providers are offering short-term plans to individuals and families at a more affordable rate than the full cost of COBRA. It may not always cover everything your COBRA plan does, but it may be enough to get by until you find another job or get through your employer’s waiting period. You can find short-term health plans that cover an entire family for $500 or less a month. However, many of those plans limit coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

For example, if you have high blood pressure and have been treated for it within the last five years, your short-term insurance provider may not cover any treatment for blood pressure. The good news is that pre-existing conditions no longer apply to children, thanks to a law that took effect in September.

COBRA and short-term healthcare both serve an important purpose, and it’s up to every family to decide which option is better. If your family is plagued with pre-existing conditions, COBRA may be your only option. Short-term providers may consider your family too high of a health risk to insure at all. By law, COBRA has to cover anyone who was eligible for coverage under an employer-sponsored health plan.

If you decide to forgo all health insurance, there is something important to keep in mind. If you go without insurance for more than 63 days, and you have a pre-existing condition, the insurance plan at your next job can make you wait up to two years before you are eligible for coverage.

If you are denied short-term insurance because of a pre-existing condition, it may be in your best interest to find the money for COBRA. Another option is a combination package. Pay the COBRA for anyone in your family with a pre-existing condition, and get less expensive short-term coverage for children and anyone else in your family with no pre-existing condition. Just don’t let your coverage lapse more than 63 days.

Save Money on Groceries WITHOUT Clipping Coupons

You’ve heard some of the excuses before. In fact, you’ve probably used some of them: I don’t have time to clip coupons; I don’t get the paper; I can’t ever find coupons for the things we use at home.

There are definite advantages to shopping with coupons, but that’s not the only way to save money at the grocery store. Just ask Joyce. She saved $95.41 at Tom Thumb this week, and she had absolutely no coupons.

“I shopped the sales,” she said. “You can save a ton of money by buying things when they are on sale instead of waiting until you need them.”

For example, fresh boneless, skinless chicken breast was buy one package, get one free. The normal price was $3 per pound, which is pretty expensive for chicken. Getting a second package free knocked the price down to $1.50 per pound. Joyce bought four packages, separated each piece of meat and froze them individually. She won’t need to buy chicken for several months.

“Some people won’t do this because they think it’s too much work to wrap all that chicken individually,” she said. “It takes me less than 15 minutes, and I can cut the meat to whatever size I need it to be if I want to.”

Drinks were another great bargain. Tom Thumb was offering a special deal: buy two 12-packs of Dr. Pepper Products and get three additional 12-packs free. The regular price was $4.99 per

12-pack. The special offer knocked that price down to $1.99 per twelve pack.

“This is how much the store brand usually costs. I got name brand soda for the store brand price. We’re having a party at our house next month, so I stocked up now,” she said.

Joyce even fed another family at a discounted price. Tom Thumb was offering a special deal on pasta and sauce: buy two jars of spaghetti sauce and get two boxes of pasta free. The sauce was already on sale from its original price, so she saved $.89 cents on each jar, plus $1.50 per box of pasta.

“It was our turn to bring a meal to friends with a sick child, so I grabbed a bag of frozen meatballs, also on sale, and made them spaghetti and meatballs. I fed their family of five for next to nothing,” said Joyce.

She offers these tips for saving money without coupons:

• Plan ahead. Buy things when they are on sale, not when you’re out of them.
• Know your prices. Be sure the sale prices at one store are not above the regular prices at a cheaper grocery store.
• Take 15 minutes to read store circulars either online or when they come in the mail so you can determine where you’ll get the most savings on a given week.
• Don’t assume it’s not on sale if it’s not in the circular. Most stores offer a lot of unadvertised specials.

Shopping with coupons could save you even more, but you can still save a fortune by shopping smart and shopping sales.

Pumpkin Patches You Can Visit for Free

Pumpkin patches have a been a Fall tradition since the first time cartoon legend Charles Schwartz had Linus sitting in one all night, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Today’s pumpkin patches have evolved, offering all kinds of fun adults and kids alike. Here is a list of several pumpkin patches in North Texas where you can have fun and create memories without creating a huge dent in your budget.

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Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch – Flower Mound
Admission and all activities are free, including: hay bale maze, bounce house, inflatable slide and obstacle course, face painting, hay ride, pump patch train and playground equipment. Please bring some cans of food to support area food banks.­­­
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Pumpkins on the Prairie – Frisco (Grace Avenue UMC)

Pumpkins on the Prairie celebrates its 8th year of fun and festivities for families and friends! Everyone can pick their own pumpkins. Children will also enjoy playing in the bounce house, running through the hay maze and playing games in the "Kid's Patch!" There also are lots of picture taking opportunities and family-fun hayrides!

Extra special activities are planned for the weekends, including the Great Pumpkin Launcher and face painting, pumpkin carving, craft show and even family movie nights. Be sure to check out the "Special Events" page for full details on some of the fun activities planned. Parking, admission and games are FREE!

Monday - Friday:  1:00 pm - 8:00 pm (or sunset)
Saturday/*Sunday:  9:00 am - 8:00 pm (or sunset) - activities do not begin until noon on Sunday

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Landscape Nursery Source – Rockwall

Bring your family to enjoy Rockwall’s largest hay maze. Visit the Three little Pigs house built out of hay. Listen to a story being read every Saturday at noon. Color a seasonal color sheet. Watch a seasonal video. Rake pictures with the giant spider, pumpkin and pig hay bales. This pumpkin patch offers two locations, but most of the activities will take place at the Hwy 66 location.

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Pumpkin Village - Flower Mound
October 1st – 31st
 

Free Admission Free Parking Free Hay rides Free Bounce Houses Free Inflatable Slide Free Hay Pyramid Free Petting Zoo (feed is $2 per cup)

Pony Rides ($3) Ferris Wheel ($) Carousel Swing ($3) Barrel Train ($3) Free Bounce Houses Punkin Chunkin ($1) Refreshments (cost varies) Picnic area available

Pumpkin Patches Worth Paying For

There are some things in life worth paying for. Creating memories may be one of them for you. Last week, we gave you a list of free pumpkin patches in the area. This week, we have a list of more places for you to create Fall traditions with your loved ones. These cost money, but we think they’re worth paying for, if you have some room in your budget.


The Great Pumpkin Festival at the Dallas Arboretum

September 18 - November 14

See the Storybook Pumpkin Village – the only Pumpkin Village in the World. It has four walk-through houses made completely of pumpkins. Each house represents a children’s book that features pumpkins in the story.  The houses are surrounded by thousands of pumpkins and decorative gourds, as well as the Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch, where you purchase pumpkins.

The Great Pumpkin Hunt: Think you can find all of the different varieties of pumpkins? Try your luck with the Great Pumpkin Hunt! Print it out and bring it with you on your visit!

Admission to the Arboretum is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7 for children ages 3-12. Parking is $7. Use this coupon for buy one, get one free adult admission on Wednesdays.


Owens Farm – Richardson

September 25 – October 31

Search for the perfect pumpkin, romp on bales of hay, see and feed animals and take a hay ride. Owens Farm is one of the most popular pumpkin patches in the area, so plan accordingly.

Weekday Admission: - $6.00, includes a small pumpkin, animal feed, hay ride and roaming around the farm and museum.

Weekend Admission: - $7.00, includes hot dog, animal feed, hay ride and roaming around the farm and museum. Pumpkins are available for purchase.


Big Orange Pumpkin Farm – Celina

• Petting Farm - spend time feeding and learning about the animals on a farm
• Hayride - catch the spirit of the fall on our tractor towed hay wagon
• Spider Hay Bale, Roping Pen, Hay Stacks, and plenty of room to run and climb
• Pumpkin Farm - pick your own pumpkin from the patch
• Come see the goats and scale the goat bridge
• 2 acre catch and release pond

Weekdays - $7 per person. Price includes hay ride, feed for the animals, and a small or mid-sized pumpkin.

Weekends - $7 per person. Price includes hay ride, feed for animals, and a hot dog. Drinks and snacks are sold separately. Pumpkins are sold individually by size.

School Groups - $6 per person.

Discount Admission to the Texas State Fair

For some Texas residents, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, we’re not talking about Christmas. We’re talking about the Texas State Fair, also known as the fried food capital of Texas. The fair opened on September 30 and will run through Sunday, October 17. Here are some tips and deals for saving money at the fair this year.

FREE Admission
Bring a ticket stub from a Cinemark movie theater and get free admission every Thursday. The offer does NOT specify a required date on the stub.

Anyone age 60 and over gets free admission every Thursday.

Get free admission for two adults and up to four children with a paid membership to the Museum of Science and Nature. This deal usually pays for itself with a family membership, if you take the family to the fair once and take them to the museum once. The museum membership is good for an entire year.

Discounted Admission

• Order advance general admission tickets on the state fair website to save $2 per adult and $1 per child or senior citizen.
• Kroger is selling advance general admission tickets for $14 (a $1 savings) and season passes for $29.95 (a $10 savings). The season pass includes a one-day companion ticket good Monday through Friday, and one Cinemark movie ticket that can be used Sunday through Thursday on non-pass restricted movies. The movie pass expires October 31. A season pass gives you unlimited admission to the state fair through October 17.
• Kroger also has a DART combo ticket for $16. It includes general admission and one round trip ticket on DART. That’s a potential savings of $19. You’re saving $3 on your DART ticket and you’re not paying $15 to park at the fair grounds.
• On Tuesdays, pay just $3 for admission when you bring an empty Dr. Pepper can.
• Bring three cans of food on Wednesdays, and admission is only $2. Food will be donated to area food banks.
• Admission is just $4 on Thursdays when you bring an empty 20-oz. Coca Cola product.
• Get 1/2-price admission and 1/2-price rides after 5pm on Fridays when you print and present a coupon from radio Station KISS FM.
• Pay $5 after 5 p.m., any day of the week, when you bring an empty Dr. Pepper can.
• Get $3 off general admission, any day of the week, when you present an original label from any Wolf Brand Chili product. 
• McDonald’s is distributing coupons for $4 off general admission and a free child admission on its tray liners and food bags.

Rides
Tuesdays are the best night to go to the fair if you plan to spend money on rides. They are usually five coupons or less on Tuesdays (down from eight or 10 every other night of the week), and admission is only $3 with an empty Dr. Pepper can.

Coupons
Coupons at the Texas State Fair NEVER EXPIRE!!! You must purchase them for rides and food, you can save leftover tickets for next year.