If you loved this post, please share!



100









146 Shares

The Holiday season is fast approaching… Well, actually it’s already here! Now that Thanksgiving has passed, our full attention is turned toward the holidays. In fact, my family just spent all weekend getting our Christmas trees and decorating the house! But my favorite part about this time of year is shopping for others and giving gifts that they’ll love! However, I’ don’t want to break the bank or the budget, so I’m very careful about how much I spend. Today, I’ve decided to put together a few tips to help keep your holiday spending in check this season!

1. Set a Total Spending Limit

If you’ve read my post that details how to create a budget, you’ll know how important it is to set goals and then stick to those goals. For the holidays, you need to take a hard look at your budget, see what cash is available, and determine how much you’ll be able to spend this season.

And no, that doesn’t mean pushing back your car payment a couple weeks or delaying other bills. You should only be spending extra money that you have in your budget, and please please please do not put these gifts on a credit card.

Maybe you won’t go out to eat as much this month, or your grocery budget can get lowered since you’ll be eating with family, etc. The key is to find extra money in your budget that you can reallocate toward gift-giving!

2. Who Will You Buy Gifts For?

Now, you’ve got to narrow down exactly who you plan to buy gifts for.

Immediate family like your spouse and children.

Parents.

Siblings.

Nieces/Nephews.

Friends.

Etc….

You have to choose where you want to focus your gift giving efforts and who you plan to buy gifts for.

Just make sure to be realistic about who you plan to buy for based on the available budget that you’ve determined. You can’t be buying things for everyone under the sun if you’ve only got $50 extra in your budget right?

3. Set Individual Spending Limits

So, you’ve got your total spending limit figured out and you know how much you can afford to pay in cash for all of the people you need to buy gifts for.

That’s a great start!

Everyone’s situation is a little different, so this part is going to look different for everyone.

List everyone out that you plan to buy gifts for on a sheet of paper in order based on who you plan to spend the most amount on.

For example, let’s say my list has my wife and her gift for me, my kids, our parents, our siblings, and our nieces/nephews. Again, your list might look different and my list will be a little different than this, but this is just an example.

Here is what my list would look like:

Child #1 Child #2 Child #3 Child #4 Child #5 Wife Me My Mom My Dad My Step-dad My Step-mom Wife’s Dad Wife’s Mom Niece #1 Niece #2 Niece #3 Nephew#1 Nephew #2 Sister Brother #1 Brother #2 Wife’s Sister

Now, that may seem like a pretty big list once I list them all out, and that’s part of the reason it’s important to do this.

Now we can begin to figure out how much of the budget will go toward each individual to come to the total amount that we budgeted in the beginning.

Once you have that figured out, you’re ready to start shopping.

4. Keeping the Holiday Spending in Check

Once you start shopping, you may find that it is difficult to stick to your budget. Maybe you find the perfect gift, but it’s just outside of the budget that you’ve set for that individual.

This is where you can go to work finding coupon codes and using sites like Ebates to help you get cash back so that you can fit the purchase into your allocated budget.

Maybe when you were doing your list, you found that you only have a few dollars left to spend on multiple people! One thing you can do to save money is to bake cookies or other delicious treats that your friends and family will love. We’ve given away some of our homemade strawberry jam before as well and people loved it!

Your gifts don’t always need to cost a lot, as long as they are thoughtful and from the heart.

5. Give the Gift of Time

Perhaps funds are low and you don’t have room in the budget to buy gifts for everyone on your list.

That’s ok!

We’ve all been there!

Instead, think about giving your time to those people.

Give your parents a visit and spend some quality time with them playing games or watching football!

Take your best friend and their dogs out for a walk and enjoy the weather! Unless you’re in Michigan like me and buried under snow. This one is probably better reserved for those Southern states.

Take the kids out for a fun sledding trip or a snowball fight!

The people that love you and care about you would like nothing more than to spend valuable time with you. Make the most of it!

6. Do Not Put Yourself in Other People’s Shoes

I’ll end with this one because it’s something that a lot of people get caught up in.

Keeping up with the Jones’ holiday style if you will…

You hear stories of people at work receiving these elaborate gifts from people or planning on giving a car to their spouse for Christmas. You see it on commercials all the time this time of year.

Don’t get envious of these people and their gifts.

Their situation is not the same as yours.

Maybe they’ve got more money in their budget for gifts, and that’s ok.

Maybe they are in debt up to their eyeballs and your financial situation is much healthier than theirs.

The point is that you do not know what their situation is.

Make your decisions and base your holiday spending on your situation.

Don’t look at it through the eyes of someone else.

Final Thoughts

Here are some other helpful articles to help keep your holiday spending in check:

How to Save 30% or More on Christmas Presents – Your Money Geek

How to Set a Christmas Budget You’ll Actually Stick To – Melissa Blevins

Ways to Save Money on Gifts for Family and Friends – Millennial Money Man

Healthy Holiday Tips for a Fun and Festive Season – MikedUp

I’d also love to know what you all are doing to curb your spending this holiday season.

Let me know in the comments below!

Cheers,

Real Money Robert