How to Save Money on Christmas
Every year at this time I rejoice because it is my favorite season, fall! I love everything about it except that I begin to feel anxious about money. I love the Holiday season, but stressing about affording the holidays makes me irritable. I work super hard to make the holidays (and multiple birthdays around the same time) special. We all look forward to our traditions and gift giving, but it gets soooo expensive. I want to enjoy this time with my family, not feel stressed out.
Each year, Americans typically spend more than the previous year on the holidays. Last year, Americans spent on average about $1000.00 on Christmas, with over 70% of that being on gifts. That is a lot of money! And we all know that prices have risen dramatically in the last few years. Last year, I read more posts on my frequented FB Mom groups than I ever have before about people desperate to give their families a nice Christmas, but having no wiggle room in the budget. It was heartwarming to see so many people reach out to these families to offer gently used toys or the free turkey that they earned at the grocery store. This year is bound to be worse and I have already started to see these conversations starting up again. In anticipation of the upcoming season, I have put together some ideas for saving money on Christmas.
Make a list
By October, I have usually started making my lists for the people that I plan to by gifts for. This includes family, friends, teachers, neighbors, bus drivers, trash collectors, delivery people, hairdresser, coaches, etc… I also make a list of people that I would like to include on our card list.
Set a budget
Setting a budget is important. Not know what you can actually spend will set you up to accrue debt and no one wants that. I know that I spend most of the budget on our 4 kids. I do my best to make it even between them. I plan the big gifts and then stocking stuffers. My husband and I do not typically exchange gifts. Our birthdays, anniversary and Christmas all fall within 1 month so we usually do something together to celebrate. Some years we don’t do anything. Your budget should include everything from crafts to cookie ingredients to Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner. Laying it all out in black and white can be alarming, but the clarity is enlightening.
Shop online sales
Shopping in stores is fun and festive. I love walking through the mall and feeling the buzz, but it is probably better to window shop with a coffee and then take your spending online. In store, it’s hard to price check. At home you can compare prices and use coupon and cash back sites to knock the price down a bit. It is also great to have your lists ready when sales hit.
Coupons
When planning your holiday meal menus, take inspiration from store circulars and coupons offers. We all have family favorites or traditional meals and many of the ingredients will be on sale around the holidays. This is the best time of year to stock up on canned goods and shelf stable ingredients. It is also a great time to get creative with side dishes. Most stores also offer their loyalty members the opportunity to earn a free turkey or ham by shopping regularly leading up to the holidays. That can free up some space in the meal budget.
Cash Back Apps
Even before you shop, check the cash back apps like Ibotta, Rakuten and Fetch. You can check what offers there are and match them up with sales and coupons. Once you upload your receipt, you can accrue points toward gift cards or cash right back in your pocket.
Homemade gifts
Homemade gifts can be a really nice way to share a holiday tradition or talent with someone else. It could be anything from hand knitted items(blankets, mittens, etc..) to the ingredients for a family recipe (like grandmas famous cookies or homemade vanilla bean extract) to offering a service (babysitting, house or car maintenance, etc…). It’s hard to offer children homemade gifts, so I usually save these gifts for acquaintances, office friends, extended family, etc. This allows me to save money here to be put to better use elsewhere.
Secret Santa
I come from a large family and growing up we always got together at Christmas. The gift giving could get really expensive, so as the family grew it changed to only gifts for the kids, to picking names from a hat. The adults would exchange and the kids would exchange. It cut back on how much each family had to spend, plus it took a lot of holiday gift giving stress off everyone’s shoulders. I’ve done this with family, friends, coworkers and community groups. It’s a really nice way to celebrate the holiday.
Gift Cards
I know gift cards can be controversial. Some people think it’s the ultimate gift and some people think it’s a lazy gift. I think it has more to do with who is receiving the gift. I almost always give a gift card for children’s bday parties. And that is what my kids would rather receive from friends. On the other hand, I like to buy more meaningful gifts to family and friends that I know well, unless they specifically ask for a gift card.
Another thing about gift cards is that they often get put aside and forgotten about. I recommend going though and gathering the ones you may have and check the balances. They can be valuable budget boosters when shopping for others.
Apps like Fetch pay you for your shopping history in the form of gift cards. Simply scan your receipts and you will get points just for the information and possibly additional points for certain items. Those points can be accrued and traded in for gift cards to many popular stores.
Another tip: check your favorite stores for discounts on gift cards come up. Target has a specific window of time around the holidays where they will take 5% off their gift cards. That could mean a cheaper gift card or money for you to make further purchases at a discount. Stores like BJ’s and Costco also have multipacks of gift cards and sometimes they will be priced at a discount.
Box Store Discounts
We all love to support small businesses and I always recommend you do so when you can, but there are times when you have to make the most of what you have and your dollar will likely stretch a bit further at a wholesale club or department store like Target or Walmart. Black Friday is always a great time to hold out for, but the sales have started earlier and earlier these last few years. Keep an eye on your favorite stores and the items on your lists to score great prices.
Sell or trade
Like I mentioned before,I’ve seen an unfortunate uptick in friends/family or group members on my social media asking for help to give their kids a nice Christmas. It’s sad because I think it correlates directly with the state of our economy. It’s touching to see communities rallying to help others. It has also given rise to groups and threads popping up specifically to give away or trade gently used toys and clothes. It might not be “new” but it’s new to your child. Wrapping up a fun toy that happened to be played with before does not matter to your children. Look on Facebook, Craigslist, and your local buy/sell/trade websites.
Save Credit Card Points
Most credit cards have perks targeted toward certain demographics. Cash Back or accrued points that can be traded in for cash or gift cards can be saved all year to put towards purchases made on that credit card. Travel miles or airline mileage can also be a popular perk for people who travel frequently. It could also help pay for holiday travel for yourself or family.
Save money all year
Saving a little at a time can make creating a budget feel more manageable. $10 saved from every biweekly paycheck is $240 at the end of the year. I have set up an automatic draft from our main checking account into a separate account specifically for Christmas/Holidays/Birthdays. The money can always be reached in case of an emergency, but it makes me feel good knowing that I am planning for the purchases all year without having to really dwell on it. I set it and forget it. I have done this for a few years now and it is such a nice feeling to not have to wonder where I’m pulling the money from. It’s one less stressor during a pretty stressful time of year.
I hope this post helped you to brainstorm money saving tips for the holidays. Is there anything you would add? Let us know in the comment section!
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