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Flu season is almost here, in all its coughing, wheezing, sniffling and sneezing glory.

To prepare for the ickiest time of the year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend everyone get a flu vaccine by the end of the October. The flu = FOMO, so be sure to pencil in a time to get vaccinated, ASAP.

If you’re insured, your primary doctor or workplace will likely offer a free flu vaccination, but so do popular retailers. Many big chains even sweeten that shot for you with incentives like discounts or coupons. Consider it an award for #adulting.

Medical drama is no fun (aside from “Grey’s Anatomy,” of course), and nothing makes me sick to my stomach more than the thought of my health insurance claim getting denied. Bearing the burden of big bills is awful enough, but doing it when you’re sick? Ick.

Good news though: You have options. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) gives policyholders the right to appeal denied health insurance claims if their insurer refuses to pay. Here are the steps you need to take if you get stuck with a denied claim.

Let’s start from the beginning of this saga, shall we?

So, your health insurance claim got denied.

If you’re thinking “um, wait why??” it could be for a number of reasons.

According to HealthCare.gov, your health plan might deny a claim because:

When it comes to bad credit, there’s no Olivia Pope to swoop in and save you if your score is low!

If you want to raise your credit score, you’ll need to break out the popcorn and wine yourself and work out a long-term strategy for rehabbing your credit.

Watch Those Credit Card Balances

One major factor in your credit score is how much revolving credit you have versus how much you’re actually using. The smaller that percentage is, the better it is for your credit rating.

The optimum limit is 30 percent or lower across your total credit allotment.

To put it simply, pay down your balances, and keep those balances low.

Eliminate Nuisance Balances Where You Can

If you have small nuisance balances just sort of hanging around with no purpose, it’s best to pay them down in full, if possible. Then, you can focus on just using one go-to card, instead of having multiple cards with balances.

What really sends shivers down my spine has nothing to do with haunted houses or spooky skeletons…

It’s overspending.

Halloween marks the unofficial start to the season of spending. And between the devilish decor, creepy costumes, candy, candy and more candy, you could find yourself in a downward spiral toward a busted budget before saying “boo.” The real witching hour? When that credit card bill is due. Ugh.

So, how much are American consumers really spending on Halloween? Turns out, the overall price of fright isn’t exactly frugal.

The price of fright

We crunched the numbers out there from some of our favorite spooky stores—Target, Party City, Amazon, Kmart, Spirit Halloween Store and Halloween Express—to determine exactly what the price of fright is this year in comparison to 2016.