We have officially entered the Holiday Season. Food, Family, Gifts, and Merriness are coming at us from all angles. But keep yourself from becoming the Grinch by making a plan and checking it twice. End this year enjoying Happy Holidays and a Happy Wallet.
Create a Plan
Ideally, before the turkey even begins to defrost for Thanksgiving, we start to create our holiday spending plan.
Hopefully, if you’re like us, you have been putting a little bit away every month in your Expected Holiday Expenses Account. If so, you already know your holiday budget, wham bam. (Hint, it’s whatever is in the holiday account 😉 ) Step #1 is done!
But if you never got around to it this year, you will need to take a little extra time to go over your finances and create a holiday budget. How much can you actually afford to spend without messing up your ability to pay your bills and build your emergency fund and investments?
This is a very important step for ensuring you have a Happy Holiday and end with a Happy Wallet. Figure out what your budget is BEFORE you create a shopping list.
Going into debt to buy a bunch of holiday gifts is not how you want to show your love.
AFTER we know our budget, we start planning out what types of holiday expenses we plan to have:
- Holiday Meals
- Decorations
- Greeting Cards
- Gifts
- Family Members
- Friends
- Co-Workers
- Teachers
- Etc.
- Special Events
- Parties
- Winter Wonderland Events
Realistically look at your budget and decide
- Where you want to spend
- How you want to spend, and
- Who you want to spend on.
There’s no reason to go all out for things that do not bring you joy and just feel like a drag or excess to-dos.
For someone with little to no money for holiday spending, take that to heart and plan accordingly.
Homemade gifts, experiences together, and just spending time with those you love is always enough.
Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for celebrating the holidays in a financially responsible way.
Save on Holiday Meals
In our family, holidays are all about the food!
But if we went out and bought glamorous, chef-prepared foods every holiday, we’d go broke!
Here are some of the ways we eat ourselves silly, without breaking the bank.
- Shop Holiday Food Sales
- Many grocery stores offer free turkeys or other large items with a minimum purchase, this time of year. Take advantage and stock up if you can. (My mom regularly gets 3-4 free turkeys. By breaking a huge shopping trip into a few smaller ones that meet the spending minimum, she’s able to stockpile her garage freezer for the year)
- Canned and frozen veggies often go for cents, fill your pantry or freezer to last a few months.
- Pick only 1 or 2 big items (like the turkey, ham, or fancy pie) then create less expensive sides to fill the table (candied carrots, garlic mashed potatoes, or the classic green bean casserole)
- Pre-plan meals ahead of time so you can shop weekly sales as your ingredients go on sale and avoid last-minute full-price purchases.
- Remember, Pot-Lucks are your friend. Some people try so hard to create the perfect meal, they spend like crazy to feed everyone. If you have multiple adults coming to your holiday dinner, have everyone bring a pre-determined side dish and/or dessert to spread the cost and the work.
Give Experiences, Not Stuff
Like many people I know with kids, our house seems to be exploding with toys and stuff that loving grandparents and aunties/uncles have gifted.
Commercials are really good at promoting the latest and greatest things, but all that stuff, even if given with love, eventually becomes a real headache for those on the receiving end. (Check out my Beat the Mess article)
In an attempt to not become a “stuff giver,” I always try to give experiences over things:
- Memberships/tickets to the zoo, museum, concert, or local amusement park
- Gift cards to restaurants or stores that I know they love (sorry grandma, 10-year-old Marcus might not be super pumped for a Macy’s gift card, but he could be over the moon for a Nintendo eStore card)
- For parents with young kids, maybe offering a free night of babysitting, or taking the kids to the movies for a few hours would be great!
- Elderly aunts may need some help taking an old shrub out of their yard and enjoy an afternoon of socializing over tea and cookies afterward.
For smaller kids who just want something to hold as a gift, I try to give consumable gifts that are fun to use but don’t leave long-lasting “stuff” all over the house
- Bath paints
- Sidewalk chalk
- Painting/coloring sets
- Playdough
Or there’s always the old “give something useful” even if it may not be the most exciting. “Hello, Socks!” (But make sure you know what they like and include a gift receipt, just in case)
Create Memorable Traditions
Some of our favorite parts of the holiday season cost very little to nothing at all. Create memorable traditions in your household to really help you enjoy the season.
Some of our favorite free/cheap holiday traditions are:
- Decorating as a family- we work together to put up the tree, decorate the house, and cut out paper snowflakes and other hand-made crafts
- Almost every week of December, we all get in the car with cups of hot cocoa and drive around town looking for Christmas Lights
- Attending local community/school holiday performances. High School bands, community dance schools, and lots more always seem to have holiday performances this time of year. Most are totally free and they love having a larger audience (maybe not so much during Covid, but normally)
- Watching holiday movies every night in December- we kinda love The Grinch!
And if you’re the type who loves getting together for holiday parties with friends or family but hate horrible White Elephant gifts, maybe a Make and Share party is more your style:
- Soup- Everyone makes a huge pot of soup/stew at home to share (or cheat and buy at the store if you’re not a cooker and it’s in your budget), then brings their own containers to fill and take home. Dinner for a week!
- Desserts- Everyone makes desserts to share and a container to bring home a variety afterward.
- Mixed Drinks, wine, tea, coffee or beer- Some to enjoy now and some to take home for later
Wrap-Up
Celebrating the holidays should be about spending time with those you love, not spending yourself in debt. Plan your budget, follow your plan, and look to enjoy those special moments that bring you the joy of the season. Happy Holidays, Happy Wallet.