HAPPY MONDAY, everyone! It is DECEMBER! Excuse me – but HOW ON EARTH is it the last month of the year? I started the year barely into my second trimester of pregnancy and am ending it with the most perfect angel baby. Parenthood is the BEST. 10/10 recommend. BUT. With parenthood comes this crazy pressure to make every Christmas absolutely magical (yes – even when they’re only 6 months old). My parents did it for me – and I know I want the holidays to be totally perfect for Jack, too. That being said, it can be really hard to make this huge elaborate celebration while sticking to a budget. You have food costs, decorations, gifts, trips to see Santa, holiday vacations…if you aren’t careful you will TOTALLY blow all your savings this time of year. Here are some easy ways to stay financially responsible this holiday season while still creating amazing memories. Let’s dive into this.
How To Be Financially Responsible This Holiday Season (Tips + Tricks to NOT Going Overboard)
Set a budget.
This is very important right off the bat. What can you feasibly spend this holiday season without putting yourself into financial distress? Adam and I always have a set limit for each other and we try really hard not to go over that. Now, we also have a set limit for what we spend on Jack, too. We try to keep it as minimal as we can without sacrificing getting each other something we will love.
Pay in cash.
This is the BEST tip I can give you. It has a few advantages. 1. you won’t be tempted to spend more than you have because you CAN’T. Once the cash is gone, it’s gone. That’s it. No “I’ll just add this on and you’ll barely notice”. Don’t even take your cards with you shopping. Just bring the cash. 2. it keeps you from seeing what you are buying each other if you have a joint account with your partner! I always hated buying gifts and then praying Adam wouldn’t look at the statement and see what I got him. This totally prevents that.
IF you prefer to shop online, make a separate bank account for holiday spending specifically. Once the money is out in that account, no more gift buying!
Start early.
I like to start thinking about gifts and shopping around September with the hope that by early December I’m already done shopping. I like to spread my spending out so that I’m not taking a big hit in my bank account all at one time. It is more manageable and you don’t have that post-holiday scramble to pay off those cards.
Take advantage of holiday sales.
I am a Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping QUEEN. I do a big bulk of my shopping this time of year and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I make a list of all the things I want to buy before hand and what their original prices are. THEN I wait for them to go on sale and make a list of what will be discounted and their new sale price.
I do this strategically because SOMETIMES stores will mark up their original prices and then you aren’t actually getting as much of a discount at all. So just be aware of that!
Opt for family gifts instead of individual gifts.
Adam and I try to do this if we are exchanging gifts with a lot of people. Instead of exchanging them with individual people, we will just do one family gift! It’s still cute and everyone feels included and loved.
Choose one holiday a year to buy decorations for.
This is what I’ve had to do. Every year, I pick a different holiday to get decorations for so that I’m not trying to buy them all at one time. My goal is that over the course of the next few years, I have a full house of pretty decor. BUT while we are in the middle of having babies, working and renovating parts of our home, we just don’t have it in the budget to get new decorations for each holiday every year. This works really well for us and I don’t go insane in Home Goods.
Plan for 1-3 little activities a season.
We like to do one thing each weekend! We do this for October and December. In December, we try to plan things like: pictures with Santa, sleigh ride through the Christmas lights in the park, and a gift exchange with friends. This way we aren’t spending TONS of money doing like 15 activities. We pick our favorite ones and just do those! We still make memories and have wonderful pictures but we don’t break the bank.
I hope this little guide helps everyone stay on track this holiday season. I know how overwhelming it can seem when you are trying to buy gifts for everyone you love, plus decorate, plus take part in all the activities. With a little planning, you can make sure you have a wonderful holiday season without breaking your bank.
The gifts aren’t what this holiday is about anyways! How do you save money around the holiday season?!
