Additional Holiday Savings Tips

Last week, we looked at some ideas to keep spending in check during the holiday season.  Several commenters noted that they practice many of these things, from homemade gifts to yearly planning for the holidays.  There are additional suggestions that will help to simplify and keep the holiday planning from getting out of hand:

--Reduce the overall gift-giving — I know that a number of friends that I have raised this with have been relieved to cancel gift exchanges. Not only does this lessen the spending, but also the headaches over shopping and stress over potentially picking the wrong gift.  If you feel that exchanging gifts is important, but you want to limit the expense, look to cap the amount to be spent, so that people aim for meaningful (such as homemade) gifts rather than extravagant items.

–Use the gift giving as a time to obtain practical things – is there something that you would find practically useful that you would like as a Christmas gift? Electronics, kitchen items, and clothes, make great fun and practical gifts.  If there is something you have been longing for, but is non-essential, wait for the Christmas season to receive it.

–Simplify holiday parties — I just attended an event which was simplified into drinks and light appetizers instead of dinner.  It was a fun time with a great chance to catch up with people that I haven’t seen in a while, I didn’t really notice the absence of dinner. Look for opportunities to simplify holiday entertaining such as hosting a brunch instead of dinner, going out for drinks, or having a hands-on craft party, or hosting a pot-luck.  These are all much simpler than an elaborate multi-course dinner.

–Instead of exchanging gifts, make a charitable contribution in someone’s behalf – increasingly, I have friends that spending more time with charitable activities.  See if there’s a way to integrate your philanthropy with gift giving.  I recently had a friend who did not have a wedding registry for household items and instead asked people to donate to her favorite charity.  A very generous idea and no gift wrap or returns to deal with either.

shared at Frugal Friday