Saving Money This Holiday Season
It’s never too early to plan for the holiday season. In fact, many people think about things like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s throughout the year, planning family get togethers, menus, and gifts. Planning is one of the most parts of keeping costs down during the holidays, so I thought I would have this post before the November rush, and reprise some ideas from last year:
–For gift giving, try to emphasize quality over quantity, and if possible, aim for a green and frugal gift. If you work in a large office, see if a group of you can convince everyone to suspend some gift giving traditions, and create new ones that most people would find more meaningful and less wasteful. Instead of sending Christmas cards to all clients, send E-cards, and donate the postage money to charity. Or, host a children’s day or volunteer day rather than a day focused gift exchange.
–Homemade gifts are wonderful — including edible and not edible options.
–Pick up things when they are out of season — prices tend to be marked up as Christmas shopping season gets into full gear, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you have a lot of discipline and forward planning, scour for gifts all year long.
–Aim for multi-use items – like dishes. I’ve seen people with a special set of themed dishes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Valentine’s and Halloween. Although one or two items are fun, more themed utensils simply take up storage or cabinet room. Aim for multi-purpose decorations and dishes that can be brought out for multiple holidays or occasions.
–If you are hosting major meals at your house — cut down on your workload and take advantage of the extra hands that will be present and create dishes where helpers can join you in the kitchen. Or, have some meals structured as a potluck or progressive dinner.
–Create a line item in your monthly budget for the holiday season — and begin accumulating for next year 11 months early. This will help to avoid the credit card debt that so many people get into just for the holidays.
I’d love to hear the ideas you are incorporating to keep this holiday season manageable.
shared at Frugal Friday and Works for Me Wednesday
Great tips! I’m trying to remember to pick up white platters and silverplate platters, and the like at yardsales because I can use them year-round.
I checked out the edible gift link and saw the pecan recipe. Looks yummy!
Barb, I do the same with plain platters. The pecans were a big hit last year, both with my friends and with a number of readers. Hope you like them!
I’ve been working on Christmas since April, with the goal of spending $100 on all of our gifts this year. I’m posting on my blog about it, and I think I’ll be able to do it – all 17 people, and nice gifts, too! Starting early and finding great deals, freebies, and alternative ways of acquiring gifts, I’ve got a really good chunk of my gifts completed already!
Saved Quarter, so impressed!
Going to make homemade Vanilla Extract for family members this year – very excited b/c I think its a unique giflt that is homemade! I hope everyone likes it!
Alexis, homemade extract, I love it!
That’s a good idea, putting the holiday season in a budget line. I want to do that next year. We have gifts as a monthly item in the budget, but that gets used for birthdays, christenings, etc.
Stop by and visit sometime over at Free 2 Be Frugal.
Hi niki, thanks for visiting.