How to Lower Your Holiday Spending and Stay on Budget
Who doesn’t love Christmas? It’s the best time of year. It can be the most expensive time of year…if you let it. With decorations, gifts, food, entertainment, and everything that goes along with the holiday season, it’s an opportunity to
I enjoy most getting together with family and friends for a glass of red wine and some hot wings and other appy’s at some of my favorite restaurants here and south of the border.
Before I get ahead of myself, even though I love Christmas and the winter season a crazy amount. Holiday spending can quickly add up and soon you’ve run through your holiday budget leaving you feeling stressed and perhaps overwhelmed on where you’re going to find the money to buy “those” other gifts.
Holiday spending has increase year-over-year since 2008. According to the National Retail Federation, people in the US spend on average $997.73 on gifts and the holidays (2022).
Spending can quickly add up when your buying Christmas decorations, gifts, food, and more. Plus, if you travel like I do then your holiday spending could be significantly higher than $993 dollars.
As a result, some families end up putting Christmas presents and other holiday items on their credit cards. Some even take out small loans of $3,000, $5,000 or $10,000…with the latter a bit more than I’d call a small loan. When I worked in a bank years before going to college, I’d see people coming in around December to take out loans – all to buy presents.
Have you opened up your credit card statement only to see a number you didn’t expect? What about logging in online to view your credit statement, seeing an amount that will take you many months to pay off? I have. Both have happened. Talk about super stressful.
While sticking to a holiday budget might seem impossible at times, I know that you can do it. Waking up to New Years day without any credit card debt, presents paid all in cash, what a glorious feeling that would be – right?
Continue reading below for some ideas of how to still enjoy the holidays while having a Christmas budget to stay on track of your holiday spending and prevent debt.
Create and stick to a Christmas budget.
It’s a fun time of year and the idea of a creating a Christmas budget can seem both daunting and bah humbug. Creating a Christmas budget will help you analyze your spending in advance, decide who to buy for and track all purchases.
You should look at how much total you spent last year. If you can’t remember, take a good guess. Presents can make up the bulk of spending, followed by food and decorations, and possibly add a little buffer just in case you go over your holiday budget.
Some of the things you may want to add to your Christmas budget are:
- Gifts
- Food
- Décor
- Gift wrap
- Cards
- Activities
- Charity
- Other
Without a Christmas budget, the end of the year can put a huge financial strain on your finances.
Earn extra money for your Christmas spending
Ever since I started my journey to pay off debt from my accident, I’ve looked for ways to make extra money online. In one year, I earned $19,550 from earning extra money online teaching kids English.
You may want to look at other ways to make extra money for your Christmas budget if you want to spend more money than you have saved.
Some of my reasons for making extra money to add to the Christmas budget have included last minute travel plans, fun activities not originally planned, help provide Christmas gifts to children locally in my community, and simply wanting to do more Christmas baking…especially with rising food prices this year.
There are a ton of ways to make additional money to have extra money for your Christmas shopping. You could do surveys with User Interviews, offer to babysit for friends, clean homes (everyone likes there house to be clean for when company comes over), become an Uber driver, work overtime, or get paid to read books, and more.
Shop early to stretch your Christmas budget
You may be thinking it’s only mid-November. You might be asking/saying, is it really time to start thinking about Christmas again? Since my accident, I have a new motto in life, and it goes like this: always be prepared for things at least 60 days in advance.
After my accident, things like cleaning, working, making meals, and pretty much anything took four to five times longer. The one way I found to keep my sanity and get things done meant creating systems including a 5-minute budget sheet.
It also meant getting ready for Christmas early. One of the ways is to shop early for Christmas. The earlier you start shopping, the more money you are likely to save. When someone is short on time, they are more likely to buy things someone doesn’t need just so they can have a present.
If you like deals or savings money, then try Black Friday specials. Black Friday deals seem to start as early as the beginning of November.
Buy inexpensive wrapping paper
Instead of buying $4 or $5 rolls of wrapping paper, $7-10 on an assortment of bows, and tape, try Walmart’s $.98 wrapping paper.
I know this might be difficult for some since it’s already November, but starting today is better than waiting till after Black Friday. I used to shop at Dollar Tree for these items but with things going up to $1.25, buying at Walmart for your wrapping paper is less.
Other years, I’ve gone to the thrift stores like Goodwill to pick up wrapping paper, bows and an assortment of Christmas stuff in January.
Find the best deals
Being able to shop online has given you the opportunity to check prices, compare products and determine where to buy it right from your living room. The first Christmas after my accident, I didn’t have much money. Before starting any Christmas shopping, I made a point to shop around to see who had the best prices. I saved over $800 by price comparison, loading up on Black Friday deals, and planning in advance who I was buying for and what the item was.
You can find the best Christmas deals to be mindful of your Christmas budget by:
- Finding coupon codes
- Shopping online (price comparison)
- Using cash back websites
- Buying discounted gift cards
Do you use a Christmas budget planner or spreadsheet? How do you feel about Christmas and Holiday shopping?
