VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Halloween can certainly be a frightening time of year, especially if you’re using your credit card.

Last year alone, Canadians spent $1.5 billion on the holiday, making it the fourth busiest holiday shopping season of the year.

The average Canadian family shells out about $300 on Halloween.

Jeff Schwartz with the Consolidated Credit Counselling Services of Canada says there are easy ways to save money.

“Coupons are the biggest thing right now and everybody is talking about them,” he says. “It’s always a good idea to see if there are coupons out there for candy and you can perhaps save a ton of money on candy if you do it that way.”

Schwartz says you can also buy cheap or reuse old costumes as spending on new costumes can get out of hand.

” I told a friend of mine [one time] what I was looking for in a costume for myself and she found it and picked it up for me and it was 20 per cent of what I thought I was going to have to spend.”

But Schwartz’s best tip of all — buy everything on sale November 1st for the following year.