My kiddo is growing like crazy. I just ordered him a pair of 9 1/2 men’s shoes. He’s 10. It’s strange, because now everyone in the house wears the same size shoes. Buying the shoes made me realize that I really need to spread out my purchases over the year as much as possible, since I don’t have my chunky paycheck coming in anymore. I don’t want to end up having to take clothing and other things out of our emergency fund. One of the things on my agenda to buy is Halloween costumes . I figure if I buy them next month, then I can get the sizes I need without worrying about stores being out of stock. That, and the coolest ones will still be available. If you think buying Halloween costumes in March is bad, consider that I am already starting to prepare gifts for next Christmas. Now that I have the time at home, I can shop for gifts at my leisure and even make some things by hand. Halloween costumes are generally too complex for me to want to sew them myself, though. Pajamas, sure. The costumes I’ll buy. I don’t want them to end up being too scary, you know? Next on the list, buying the Thanksgiving turkey. Just kidding.