How to Stay on a Budget for Holiday Spending
It’s the last full week of October, and you’re embracing the spirit of the Halloween/Fall season at full blast. In the middle of watching Hocus Pocus for the nth time this week, the sound of sleigh bells emerge from your television (or let’s be honest, your computer) speakers and you see a holiday themed commercial while you are mid sip of your pumpkin spiced latte. The thought pops into your head that Christmas is just around the corner. Panic ensues as you think of your growing gift list, holiday parties to attend, potlucks to bring food to, and what this series of festive affairs could do to your wallet.
If just thinking about holiday spending gets you stressed out, you are not alone. The truth is that nearly half of people feel stressed out by money during the holiday season. With Christmas sales being advertised earlier and earlier every year, it seems impossible to not have the holidays on the brain past the first week of November. This has a domino effect, and makes many people feel the need to start holiday spending early as well. The problem is that this early arrival isn’t built into many people’s budget.
If you’re looking to do Christmas on a budget this year without blowing your budget, we’ve prepared a few pointers to keep you in the green this season.
Start putting aside small amounts of money now
One of the easiest ways to make sure that you stay on budget during the holidays is to start setting aside small amount of money specifically for buying gifts. Make this a negligible amount, like $50. It’s small enough that you won’t miss it, but also big enough that if you set that aside every paycheck from now until Christmas you will have a decent holiday budget to pay off your holiday bills.
Trim down your shopping list
Do you really need to get a gift for your Grandma Rachel’s best friend Louise? Just because she wished you a happy birthday on Facebook this year doesn’t mean that you need to add her to your gift list. The moral of this story is, trim down who you are shopping for this year. While it’s rooted in thoughtfulness, there are other ways to express your appreciation for people beyond buying them gifts.
Stick to your core: mom, dad, brother, sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, and anyone else you consider your “nuclear family” . For a close group of friends, suggest the idea of a secret santa within your friend group. That way everyone still gets something and you get to avoid having to buy 8 different things for 8 different people.
Plan out your gift list and research
Santa Claus had the right idea when it came to “making a list and checking it twice”. All jokes aside, plan out who you are buying for and what you plan to buy for them. Need ideas? Online gift idea curators, like Gyftful seem like a great place to start. From there, do your research. Instead of going into the first store you know has this item, shop around for the item and look for the best deal. I know this is more work than you’d probably like but in the long run it will save you so much more money than if you just made the impulse buy the first time you saw it.
Get your shopping in before Black Friday
While Black Friday is unofficially dubbed the queen of all holiday sales, times are changing. With the growth of online shopping and people looking to get their holiday spending out of the way earlier and earlier, retailers have picked up and run great sales and discounts prior to the day after Thanksgiving.
Depending on what you’re buying, try and use those before Black Friday sales to your advantage. Our advice, if you’re looking to buy popular electronics like TVs, smartphones, computers, cameras, etc. wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Anything else, scope out those early November deals and get as much shopping done before December as you can. That way you can sit back and enjoy the season.
Limit how much you shop for yourself
This one is maybe the toughest tip of them all. With all the sales from now until the end of the year it’s hard to see something that you like for yourself on sales and not buy it. Try your best to resist temptation. Ask yourself if you really need completely new Christmas decorations this year, or another black coat to add to your collection.
It’s true that some deals are just too good to pass up. If you are a person that struggles with this, plan ahead. Give yourself a “me budget” during the holiday season. Give yourself $50-$100 to spend on yourself. If you give yourself a set amount of the start, you’re less likely to overspend. Also think about the Christmas money you’ll get this year and how you can spend it after the holidays.
The countdown to the holiday is on. Happy budgeting!