7 Ways To Avoid Overspending During The Holidays
The last three months of the year seem to go by fast due to all of the festivities. From Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, there is much to enjoy and celebrate towards the end of the year. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love buying gifts for people. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and buy a lot, but with being a one-income household we had to cut back quite a bit. Here are 7 ways to avoid overspending during the holidays.
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7 Ways to Avoid Overspending During the Holidays
1. Create A Spreadsheet
Around July or August is when I start planning out who I am getting Christmas gifts for. I write out each person’s name on a piece of paper. Usually this includes family members and friends, but I also include names of neighbors and any charity or extra special gifts like operation Christmas child so I can keep track of what I get each person as well as how much I spend.
As soon as I purchase a gift for someone I write down the item and the price. Another reason I like to write it down on a piece of paper is so I can take the paper with me when I go Christmas shopping. There are a lot of people I need to buy for, so by having the list with me I know who I still need to buy a gift for.
2. 3 Gifts Per Person
My husband is the oldest of 7 kids so just on my husband’s side there are lots of people I need to buy for. I usually buy gifts for around 30 people (easily) and that is a lot! As much as I love giving gifts I have to set a limit so I can afford to get everyone something. My husband and I decided to buy a maximum number of 3 gifts for each person and a budget of about $20-$25 (total). This usually only applies to family members. For neighbors or friends we usually just do 1 gift.
The number and cost of gifts is totally up to you. You may have less or more people you need to buy for. Do what is best for your budget and stick with it.
3. Plan Out What Gifts To Buy
Knowing what to get each person ahead of time saves you a lot of money and time. There are specific gifts I get for certain family members each year because that is usually what they ask for. Here are some examples…
Grandma – Next year’s calendar with this year’s pictures of our family
One of my Aunts – New Movie from this year
Mom – Her favorite chocolates that are only available during the Holidays
Granddad – Mixed nuts or Holiday popcorn
By planning out ahead you can keep an eye out for certain items several months earlier when shopping.
4. Price Match, Buy Online, or Buy Gently Used
Stores like Walmart and Target usually price match items. Sometimes the exact same item can be cheaper online! Simply go to customer service and they can adjust the price for you. Amazon even has a price tracker where you can keep track to see when the best time to buy an item is.
Have you bought anything on Facebook market place or a consignment store? Sometimes people list brand new items on there for much cheaper. My husband and I usually check Facebook market place before we buy in-store or online. We have gotten several brand new or like new items that we wanted or needed and saved a lot of money.
5. Wait For Big Sales Like Black Friday
There are certain items I wait to get until Black Friday or Cyber Monday. My Grandma likes to get the new year’s calendar so I check Shutterfly’s website or other photo companies throughout the year for deals on their customization calendar deals, but usually on Black Friday I can get the ‘buy 1 get 1 half off’ deal, which is perfect because my mom likes to get one too! It might even be a good idea to sign up for companies’ emails so you know when there are sales going on!
6. Set A Budget
As mentioned a little bit above with the number of gifts, setting a budget for each person is key. For family each person gets about a max of $25. If there is an item that a person really wants that is close to $25 we usually do not follow the 3 gifts rule and just do 1 or 2 gifts instead to stick with the budget. The budget is more important than the number of gifts.
For neighbors, co-workers, or church people we try to make things like baked goods to keep the cost down.
7. DIY and Experience Gifts
Other ways you can save money is to buy in bulk, DIY, or give experience gifts. What are some talents and gifts that you have? I’ve given out fill in gift certificates for a free organizing session or a coffee date for my sisters. Think about the other’s love language or what they like to do!
I hope you enjoyed reading about ways to avoid overspending during the holidays and that these tips will help you! Do you have any tips and hacks to save money and stay within budget during the Holiday season?
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Hi Hannah! One thing i’m going to try to do this year is make at least some of our gifts. When Paul and first got married and I wasn’t working, I made snowman families for our relatives out of rice, new sock, and extra fabric beads I had. Not sure what I’m going to do this year. Any ideas?
Hi there! 🙂 Making gifts is a great way to save money and I think it’s more meaningful. What about sugar scrubs? My sister-in-law made some for me last Christmas and I loved it!