Are you you excited about the upcoming holidays and need some ideas when it comes Holiday spending tips?
There is so much excitement and anticipation when the Christmas Holiday Season arrives. Its a time for so many parties, overindulging, and spending way too much. The majority of people get so involved in the spirit of giving during the holidays that eventually ends up leaving them with a Holiday spending hangover.
Most Americans normally overspend during the holiday season, which in quite a few cases results in increased credit card debt going hand-in-hand with that increased waistline from way too much turkey and holiday treats.
The holiday season is stressful enough, so try not to add to the stress by over spending. Stick to your holiday spending budget, providing you have one to stick to. Most of us have great intentions when it comes to the holiday season but for what ever reason we are swept up in all the excitement that our holiday shopping on a budget plan goes down the drain.
I know for a fact that our family went through the scenario when our children were young. We got so caught up in the gift giving spirit that it took us a whole year to pay down our credit cards and then it was Christmas again. It was like being on a hamster wheel because as parents we wanted our children to have the best memories of Christmas. We wanted to give our children everything we didn’t have as children.
We finally managed to step off the Holiday spending hamster wheel and started trying to find ways of how to budget for the holidays. No more Christmas spending hangovers.
10 Holiday Spending Tips That We Found That Helped Our Family
1. First Thing is to Make a Christmas Shopping List.
- Write down how much you are able to to spend on gifts and wrapping this Christmas
- Make a list of who you need to buy a gift for and write it down
- Taking this list with you when shopping will help to eliminate impulse buying and overspending.
- Allow for the cost of decorations and wrapping paper and Greeting cards and don’t forget shipping costs when doing your holiday shopping on a budget. These really do add up fast!
2. Pay for your holiday Christmas gifts with cash.
- This is one tips we personally always use!
- This tip alone will save you plenty of money on your holiday shopping budget.
- It’ is always so much more difficult to spend cash than using your credit card.
- You have to remember if you don’t pay your credit immediately those great discount savings you thought you were getting will end up costing you way more you figure out the credit card interest.
- Also, make sure you avoid all credit card offers and department store credit card offers that promise you a sign up discount. These credit cards more than likely have higher interest rates, and will end up being much more costly in the later on than the promised discount that you received when you signed up for the card in the store.
3. Try To Do Some Of Your Holiday shopping Online This Year.
- Stores offer discounts to online shoppers that aren’t available at your local store.
- Don’t forget when buying online to include the shipping costs. Those shipping costs could really mess up your holiday budget.
- Even if you do not shop online, you could spend some time comparison shopping before heading out to the malls. This tip is always of value.
4. Try Having a Secret Santa Gift Exchange This Christmas
Not sure what it is?
- Place names in a bucket and every person picks one name to buy for. ( works great for a large family)
setting a dollar limit helps with overspending and prevents relatives with small Christmas budgets from feeling bad about not being able to spend a lot of money on a gift.. - If you have a larger family maybe consider a group gift where everyone chips in on one big cool gift.
5. Start Christmas shopping early!
- Shopping early helps you to catch pre-holiday sales, and also to comparison shop which could mean plenty of savings.
- This also helps with impulse shopping, which everyone knows can be really expensive. Another nice benefit of shopping early is getting a break on lower cost shipping charges if you have to mail a Christmas gift.
6. Don’t Wait Till The Last Minute!
- If you wait until the last minute, it can really be expensive because you are much more likely to pay the full cost for the Christmas gift. Not only that you might have to pay an extra cost to ship it so that it gets there in time for Christmas.
7. Make Your Own Holiday Gifts.
- If you are talented, and creative with crafts, or cooking, making your own Christmas gifts can be really special and fun to boot.
- If you’re simply not that creative, then consider giving some of your time.
- do something special for that person on your list. It can be a really personal and very much appreciated gift.
- Offer to baby-sit – Just think about how many parents would love to gift certificate for free babysitting?
8. Shop For Clearance-Priced Christmas Items for The Next Christmas Holiday Year – this year!
- Buy cards and Christmas gift wrapping paper, and Christmas decorations right after Christmas.
- You can get really deep discounts once the holidays are over and most of these items never seem to go out of style. ( I always by my ribbon and wrapping paper at this time and store it.
9. If you are taking a vacation or holiday, book your holiday travel plans early.
- Prices on Airfares, bus tickets and train tickets usually go up quite a bit during the holidays. Making your holiday travel plans early will save you stress and money.
10. Holiday Savings Accounts
- Start a Christmas Holiday Savings Account fund right after Christmas for your next year’s shopping.
- Many banks and credit unions will offer special saving accounts specifically for this exact reason.
- It doesn’t hurt to put away a some money each and every month from now until the next Christmas holiday season.
- You’ll even earn a little bit of interest on your money and you’ll have cash put away to spend when the holidays roll around for your holiday gifts and expenses.
Just type in the Search Box and you’ll get loads of ideas for gifts or decorations!
What can we Help You Find?
Show Me My Deals on Amazon Today
Show Me the 2021 Most Wanted Gifts List