Avoid wrecking your $$$ this holiday season
How to keep the holidays from absolutely laying waste to your household budget.
“The holiday season always seems to completely wreck my budget. Any recommendations about how to handle gift giving?”
Quick Answer
Not to brag, but I had 90% of my Christmas list handled before Halloween.
No, I’m not kidding.
Frankly, I love gift giving. It’s my love language and it gives me a lot of pleasure to find the perfect present for someone. We also celebrate Christmas with my in-laws at Thanksgiving because that’s the holiday we spend with them, so we are forced to handle all the Christmas presents for that side of the family by the fourth Thursday of November.
That aside, my three best strategies to avoid wrecking our budget at the holidays is to:
Start a “gift giving” savings account (or bucket within your savings account) early. Like in January of the next year early if you want! Or at least a few months ahead of time.
Cash flow gift giving: Start shopping early and buy one or two presents a month in the lead up so it’s easier to cash flow.
Use credit card rewards: I save up all the rewards on two of my cash back credit cards all year long just to subsidize my gift-giving budget at Christmas. Between two cards, we’ll have over $500 in cash back rewards to use towards gift giving, which really helps ease the impact on our household budget.
Detailed Answer (aka a few more ideas)
‘Tis the season to advocate for yourself.
One problem with the holiday season is the sheer number of opportunities for gift giving. It’s important you start to narrow down your list, especially if you’re going through life changes like getting married and now buying for in-laws or you got a niece or nephew or you had a kid and want to redirect funds towards spoiling your children.
First, set a budget. How much are you able and willing to spend on gifts in total this holiday season?
Second, let me give you permission to opt out of gift giving that you simply don’t want to do. Office Secret Santa for instance or gifting to a majority of your friends.
Third, be like Kris Kringle. Make a list and then check it twice several times to determine if everyone on that list really needs/deserve/will reciprocate gift giving?
Once you have that list, it’s time to assign everyone a price tag.
Yes, I know it sounds ruthless, but you have a budget and it only goes so far. Assigning a price tag on how much each person gets will make it easier to focus your shopping and cash flow your purchases. You can also suggest price limits to friends and family.
Speaking of price limits, it’s also okay to pitch doing Secret Santa (or insert your preferred term here) instead of having to buy a gift for each person in a family or group of friends. We switched over to doing Sibling Secret Santa with my husband’s siblings a few years ago and it’s not only better for everyone’s wallets, we set a price limit of $50, but it’s also a really fun tradition and we make a big fuss.
Don’t forget about the gift of time. It sounds hokey, but quality time is sometimes what a loved one really craves. Consider ways in which you can provide quality time and make memories, even if it’s cheap or entirely free.