If you're short on cash, but want to spook up your house, here's how you can decorate with materials and things you have lying around. 1. Gather up your supplies. Old pieces of cardboard, colored paper, markers, and glue are some of the things you can use.

Take cardboard and cut out bat shapes (use a stencil if you need to). After you cut them out, use markers or paint to add color. Black bats look great hanging with a bit of fishing wire or string. Make fake tombstones out of cardboard. Just cut out the shape, paint it gray, and write RIP or other sayings on them. They can then be placed in a window, or in a place where they won't get wet.Use yarn or crepe paper to create giant spider webs for windows.Use colored paper to cut out pumpkins, black cats, or other Halloween pictures. These can be placed in windows, or on walls. Recycle old costumes and clothes. Old masks can be used to make life size monsters with just some old clothes and newspapers. Be creative. Using your imagination, you can turn almost any household product into something scary.

Gather all the odds and ends first. Sometimes it helps to see what you have to work with. Keep scraps of fabric and old clothes throughout the year. These will come in handy to make scarecrows or other life size beings. Alternatively, instead of the yarn spider webs, you can purchase bags of "fake webbing" for very little cost, these often include eensy plastic spiders and the occasional glow-in-the-dark ones as well. For a bonus, change out your front porch light with a black light. It gives an extra creepy glow. If you happen to be a gardener, save any dead flowers and plants. Putting out some dead flowers and plants can make your house look haunted (just get rid of all the dead plants after Halloween!) Stick bin-bags to front windows and stick CSI tape to front of the house to make it seem deserted.When using spray paint remember to use it in a well ventilated area.