For many, the holidays don’t bring on a budget crisis. They’ve been spending months (possibly longer) saving money and figuring out how to buy holiday supplies, gifts and food within their budget. If that’s you, we applaud you! However, for many of us who are less organized, the holidays can be a danger zone for overspending and consumption. To help you keep your holiday budget in line, here are five tips going into the holiday rush season.
Lists and Lists and Lists and Lists
Much like Santa is making a list and checking it twice, so should you. However, your list doesn’t need to be about who’s been naughty and who’s been nice (unless you’ve got a red hat and suit that we don’t know about). Holidays are full of enticing displays and impulse purchases. Make a list of what you need to buy for the holidays. Carry it with you. Fight the urge to vary from it. But the best solution is to make a list that’s true-to-life. Make a realistic list of things you’ll need (food for specific events, gifts, extra decorations) and then leave yourself three-to-five extra spots on the list so that you can make impulse purchases if needed but still have limits on how much you can buy.
Use Cash Only
Who loves credit cards? Holiday merchants love credit cards. And there may possibly be some holiday purchases that you need to put on credit cards – but those should be planned purchases. Don’t go out shopping with credit cards in your pockets. Especially during the holidays that may simply be too much temptation. Use cash during the holiday season, and if you can’t afford it in cash then don’t buy it. You’ll be thanking yourself later.
Skip Holiday Sales!
From Black Friday all the way until post-Christmas clearance sales, you’ll be bombarded with extra special discounts and sales on all kinds of items. While it’s true that if you make some strategic decisions these sales can save you money, more often than not holiday sales do exactly what they were designed to do. They trick you into spending more by purchasing things that you didn’t really need (or necessarily want). They make up for in volume what the store or manufacturer may have lost in markup during the main holiday season. It’s okay to take advantage of holiday sales, but it’s not okay to let holiday sales take advantage of you. If you think your will power will be put to the test – just avoid any holiday bin or location marked “sale.”
Keep in Mind that It’s Not a Competition
One of the biggest culprits of the holiday over-spend is the bad habit of getting trapped into the idea that the holidays are somehow a competition. “Who’s got the best holiday lights?” “Whose child got the coolest and most impressive gifts?” “Whose party had the best wine?” The holidays were never intended to be a time of competition – they were supposed to be a time of community, celebration and bringing people together. Embrace that spirit and don’t let yourself get tricked into spending more by falling into the trap of thinking that the holiday season is a time to show up your neighbors!
Plan Ahead
So maybe you’re not one of those people we mentioned at the top of this article who’s been planning ahead for the holidays all year long. That doesn’t mean that you can’t still be a planner. Take advantage of the time that you have left to research, plan, spreadsheet and list out your remaining purchases. The more last-minute you do your shopping and with less direction, the more likely you are to over-spend.
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Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: chlsgraphy
