Category Archives: holiday spending tips

Surviving the Holidays – Concentrate on Spending Less and Enjoying More

Posted on December 13, 2011 by admin

One reason the holidays have become so stressful is the emphasis on the one-size fits all mentality we are all expected to live up to.  We are all supposed to love doing the same holiday things – all supposed to have enough money to buy presents for everyone on our list. To relieve some of the stress on you and your budget this year, spend your time doing things you enjoy instead of fighting for bargains at the mall.  If it is baking cookies, making gifts or decorations with the kids, do; if it is not, don’t and, most importantly, don’t stress.  No one is putting as much pressure on you as you are putting upon yourself.  The guilt about “what is expected” that makes busy parents throw money at the problem when they can’t live up to their expectations. If you do not have time or do not enjoy doing some of the expected Christmas activities yet you want your children to experience them, look for an alternative way to accomplish this.  Possibly a grandmother, an aunt or even a babysitter that does this sort of thing all of the time is available. You might be surprised how willing an elderly neighbor or friend from church might be to spend time with you and your children teaching them the basics of baking.  Visits to a nursing home to find someone to teach your child to crochet, knit, or make a birdhouse might end up bringing purpose to a person’s life and giving you the satisfaction of having brought a little holiday cheer to another person’s life. Spend quality time with your children teaching them the importance of giving rather than receiving.  Dedicate an hour to make cards or draw pictures for everyone on their list –especially those not expecting to receive many visitors.  The holidays are one of the worst for people who suffer from depression, and it is surprising how much difference such a small gesture can make. Also, ask yourself: is it really necessary to have every inch of your property covered in lights?  If you find it fun to do, then do it.  If it is eating into your budget or adding to your stress, don’t.  There are plenty of free things to do at Christmas that don’t take as much time or cause as much stress.  Spending one night looking at other people’s lighting is much less stressful – and far less expensive – than spending every weekend leading up to Christmas replacing fuses and strings that burn out. Now back to the spending part.  How many times have you said or heard someone else say that kids end up playing with things that don’t cost a lot leaving the expensive toys on the sideline?  With younger children, this is often too true.  There is absolutely no reason to overspend them. With older children, it’s a little harder but maybe it’s time they start learning one of life’s most important lessons: you don’t always get what you want. As for the adults on your list? They’re adults that feel the same kind of pressures you are. They won’t miss the lame “Forever Lazy” gift of the season this year. It time to own up to the fact that this is something you are doing to yourself.  Take time to enjoy the holidays more this year by spending less money on things that’ll soon be forgotten and spending more time with the important people in your life. Continue reading →

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Christmas Survival Guide – Making a Holiday List and Checking It Twice

Posted on December 3, 2011 by admin

One of the things that make holidays stressful is worrying about getting everything done, forgetting a gift, and spending money we know we don’t have.  It is too easy to go about gift and food buying without a plan and have to backtrack for exchanges because we didn’t know the right size for our impulse buy or we forgot to a certain ingredient in the recipe we planned to make. One key to being more efficient with your time and freeing your mind from worry is to make a holiday list.  Once something makes it on “The List”, the nagging concern of forgetting that particular item is gone forever and will not be a recurring worry churning in your mind and blocking more constructive thoughts, like how to save money on your gift buying.  The List will also give you a great feeling of satisfaction and control as items are checked off and you see the list dwindling down to nothing. In an earlier article, I suggested making a budget and designating how much you could reasonably afford to spend for each of the different categories of gift buying, food, decorating, travel, and parties.  However, as you find out in making out the holiday list—planning is one thing—implementing it is all together different.  The idiom “the devil is in the details” is actually very true. Figuring out exactly how you are going to accomplish buying all of the food and the presents with the money you planned in the first step depends on how well you construct your list.  Without a holiday list, you’ll certainly waste time and money on gasoline, backtracking as you go randomly from store to store. Save time and money by planning out your purchases at home by browsing through store ads, catalogs and even merchants’ websites.  With all of the resources available on the internet – gift guides, money saving recipes and crafting ideas, you’ll get great ideas on how much your purchases will cost along with ideas of ways to cut costs.  You can also do price comparisons and research the pros and cons of particular products so that you don’t end up buying the “dud” of the season that everyone has to exchange.  Before ordering on line or from a catalog, however, be sure to take into consideration the difference in prices in shipping versus the gas it will take to go to the store to pick it up. For many major retailers you can get the best of both worlds by picking your item out on line but saving on shipping by picking your item up at the store. Now is the time to take stock of all the ingredients you will need for the food you plan to make, find out the sizes of those you plan to buy clothing for and map out your shopping route based on the location of each of the stores. Prioritize your list and start buying for the most important people in your life first—your children, your spouse, your parents—before you decide to overspend on a gift for your co-workers. Beware of the kinds of “eye candy” that retailers use to entice you to bust your budget and pull out “ye olde” credit card.  Having a plan and a list (along with a pair of blinders) will go a long way towards making both your holidays and more importantly your credit card balance less stressful in the months to come. Continue reading →

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Controlling Christmas Spending – Budgeting Your Time and Your Money

Posted on December 1, 2011 by admin

We spread ourselves and our pocketbook so thin with our Christmas spending that it leads to a lot of unneeded stress on ourselves and our budget. We do not plan to go over budget; it just happens one last gift and impulse buy at a time. That’s just it. We do not plan. Parties, traveling, gift buying, decorating, baking and cooking—all of these take time and money to achieve. Sit down and realistically plan what Christmas spending is and is not doable before you commit yourself or your money to doing anything else. First determine your overall budget; how much spendable income after paying the bills each month plus anything you managed to put aside for Christmas spending do you have?  Divide this figure by what percentage you plan to spend in each of the major categories: Presents, parties, decorating, travel, charities and food—and then find creative ways to stick to it. Review the list and determine where you can cut back or come up with an alternative strategy.  Determine what is and is not more important: an extra string of lights, having a party or a nice Christmas meal?  Instead of springing for everything on the menu, is there a way you can delegate some of the cost and cooking time to others? Would your favorite charity be just as happy with a gift of your time later in the year as a lump sum you can ill afford during the holidays?  Do you really need yet another Christmas sweater or Christmas tie to add to the growing number hanging in your closet that you only wear once a year? Know that unless you take steps to prevent it now, fully 25 percent of your Christmas spending will be eaten up by non-gift related expenditures for decorating, greeting cards, parties and clothing.  Do you automatically pick up more wrapping paper and ribbon before checking your stash leftover from the year before?  Are you a sucker for this year’s latest Christmas decoration?  Do you go out shopping for gifts or food blindly buying without having a plan or a clue as to how much you can reasonably expect to be able to pay for without bringing out the credit cards? The last thing you want to do is to be paying for your lack of planning next year by paying high interest on credit cards.  Back to the plan: can’t afford to send Christmas cards?  Don’t send them, cut your list or find a cheaper alternative.  Surely, there is someone on your gift-giving list that would welcome the chance to cut back on their own list that you can come to some kind of money saving agreement with.  Is there anyway to get creative with your gift buying by either utilizing your own talents or even a friend’s talents for performing duties you can do in exchange? That is the purpose of having a plan—determining what Christmas spending you realistically are able to afford, what you are willing to pass up in order to be able to spend in areas that are more important to you and then finding a creative way to achieve your goals of a debt and guilt free holiday without stress. In future articles, I will be discussing ways to take the stress out of managing your time and your money by Making a List and Checking it Twice, Concentrate on Spending Less and Enjoying More, Make a Game Out of Finding Ways to Save Money on Holiday Spending and How to Recognize and Avoid Holiday Scams. Continue reading →

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Surviving the Holidays: How to Limit Holiday Spending and Stress

Posted on November 24, 2011 by admin

For far too many people, the holidays have become a time of stress instead of the Norman Rockwell picture of family togetherness that we like to imagine.  The reasons for this incongruity have to do with the stress on our time, our finances and our inability to wrap our minds around the ideal versus the reality. After constant bombardment with idyllic images of what the media and marketers proclaim the holidays should be, our own limitations in time, money, and energy prevent us from achieving the same heart warming image, no matter how far in debt we go. How do we survive the holidays?  The answer begins with being realistic about our finances and our limitations.  To avoid the land mines of holiday spending, overeating and overexerting yourself, it pays to have a plan. Budget Your Time and Your Money Parties, traveling, gift buying, decorating, baking and cooking—all of these take time and money to achieve.  Sit down and realistically plan what is and is not doable before you commit yourself or your money to doing anything else. Making a List and Checking it Twice! The key to freeing your mind from worrying you will forget someone or something is to make a list.  Once on “The List”, that nagging concern that you will forget that particular thing needing doing is forever gone and will not be a recurring worry that keeps churning repeatedly in your mind. Concentrate on Less Holiday Spending and More Holiday Enjoying Instead of spending what free time you have frantically fighting for bargains at the mall, spend your time doing things you enjoy doing.  If you enjoy baking cookies, making gifts or decorations with the kids, make time to do these activities; avoid those activities you don’t enjoy, it’s ok. Make it a Game to Find Ways to Save Money on Holiday Spending Have fun finding ways to save money on holiday spending.  Depending on your particular talents, this may include making your own Christmas presents or scanning the internet for the best deals, the best money saving recipes or decorations.  Consider trading gift certificates from a friend to buy presents.  Often the best gift that you can give someone is your time.  Giving the gift of babysitting, tax preparation or a car wash is a way to connect with friends and relative after the holidays are long forgotten. Planning for Next Year Remember what you liked and disliked during the holidays and resolve not to put yourself in that position again next year.  The day after the holidays end is the best time of year to get bargains on just about anything holiday related and the best time of year to start saving money for next year.  Now is the time to start splitting up your Christmas purchases to a year round buying plan instead of squeezing everything into one month’s budget. In the next few articles, I will be exploring these Tips on Surviving the Holidays as well as How to Recognize and Avoid Holiday Scams . Continue reading →

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