How to Save More Money During the Holiday Season
According to the survey from LendingTree, 35% of Americans took on holiday debt in 2022. For those of us trying to live paycheck to paycheck or avoid debt, that number seems insane! Debt just for a couple of days of the year? A day we know will come at the exact same time every single year? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are all days we know are coming and all days we can plan for. These 22 tips will help you learn how to save more money during the holiday season.
Today, I would like to share with you some simple, practical tips for how to save more money during the holiday season. These may make you the weird one of the group or your friends and family may be relieved. With inflation, housing costs, gas prices, and everything being more expensive, let’s not go into more debt in 2024. I’m going to primarily focus on Christmas, as I feel that is where the majority of this debt is originating.
Set Your Budget Early
When you make your yearly budget, set a goal for yourself. For our family, we set about $600 a year. We then divide that by our weekly pay, so 52 weeks. $600/52 weeks=$11.50 weekly. We round up to $12 a week. That gives us about $624 a year for Christmas. Even better if your money sits in a high interest savings account. For most people, $12 a week is much more doable than coming up with $600 all in one month.
If you want to have everything purchased sooner, reduce the amount of weeks you’re saving or up your amount. We buy a majority of our gifts in the fall, but we are still needing money for food and travel right up to Christmas day. This is just what works for our family. Do what works for yours. Have a goal and stick to it. This is my number one strategy for how to save more money during the holiday season.
Stick to Your Budget
Now that you have your budget set, stick to it. It’s just not worth going into debt. 33% of gifts are returned or donated. Can you imagine paying for a gift for years at a high interest rate when the person who received it immediately got rid of it? Seems pretty dumb, right?
Limit Who You’re Buying For
If you’re on a tight budget, you may have to set firm boundaries. Not everyone you know needs a gift. Let’s be honest, not everyone you know wants to really give you a gift either. Be honest, but firm, that you are buying for a certain amount of people.
Just because they’re family, doesn’t mean they need a gift either. We had a set of family members whom we would buy gifts for every year. Year after year, we would give them gifts and they wouldn’t get us anything. Not even our children. So we stopped buying for them. Not to be petty, but why are we spending all this money on their large family and they aren’t returning the sentiment? Not to mention, they didn’t seem very appreciative overall.
It’s Not Tit for Tat
Under that same umbrella, just because someone buys you a gift unexpectedly or spends a fortune on you, doesn’t mean you have to do the same. There are ways to express appreciation and thankfulness without spending money.
Skip the Holiday Wardrobe
Ugly sweater parties are all the rage now. Families spend way too much on matching pajamas. There’s nothing wrong with having a nice holiday shirt that you pull out every year, if you can afford it. If you’re going into debt to meet these fads, that’s where the problem lies. We don’t need 20 Christmas shirts. Most people will be seeing different people at different events, so no need for multiple outfits.
I used to buy holiday outfits for all of my kids to wear one day or for a short time and then they’d grow out of it. Now, unless we get hand me downs from friends, we don’t buy specific holiday outfits. If we do inherit them, we save them in our holiday tote and bring them out for the next child.
Use Gift Cards
Utilizing apps throughout the year like Fetch, iBotta, and fitness incentives through my husband’s insurance, we’re able to accumulate quite a bit of extra change. We use this for gifts and then take the money from our Christmas sinking funds we would have used and put it towards other things. This is a highly effective way to help save more money during the holiday season.
Utilize Cash Back
If you’re doing online shopping, it just makes sense to utilize cash back websites like Rakuten. During this time of year, you can see various stores offering significantly more cash back than any other time of year. If you’re spending the money anyways, might as well get paid back for it.
Group Vs. Individual Gifts
When it comes to buying for families, it may be best to buy a group gift. This doesn’t have to be expensive experiences, it can be as simple as a board game. Or something all the grandkids can use, like a swingset. For my siblings, I like to get them and their significant others date night gift cards. My husband and I also love receiving these as we rarely have the money to eat out.
Don’t Be Afraid of Second Hand or Regifting
I understand that second hand gifts can be taboo, but they don’t have to be. Especially during the holidays, you can usually walk into most thrift stores and find like new or brand new items at a fraction of the cost. My children are getting 75% second hand toys for Christmas from our local consignment sale. Not only did I get them at a discount, but I waited until 50% off day for even steeper deals.
Regifting can also be seen as trashy, but I can’t figure out why. If I am not going to enjoy a gift, but I know someone else will, I love to pass it on. One year, I got a Bath & Body Works gift card. I do not like B&B, I am not a fan of the synthetic fragrances. However; my brothers girlfriend did enjoy their products. I could have gone to the store and gotten her a few things with the gift card or I gave her the card to pick her own products.
These are probably the most important things I do to save more money during the holiday season.
Have a Gift Closet
Having a gift closet has gotten me out of some binds. There’s nothing worse than being invited for a birthday party last minute and having no extra cash for a gift. If I come across a genuinely good deal and nice gift, I will put it in my gift closet. Granted, you must have the extra funds and space for this to be effective. Don’t buy things just to buy them. However; if I come across clearance Barbies, Melissa & Doug Toys, Playdoh, etc I will grab them and keep them for holidays or events. These are classic toys that will get good use.
Skip the Holiday Photo Shoot or Christmas Cards
Being a photographer, I used to think we needed family photos every few months. After expanding our family to almost double what it used to be and our wallets growing tighter, I realized, it’s not necessary. Most people take nice family photos throughout the year that never even get displayed, let alone used in any capacity. Along with this is Christmas cards. I personally still give out Christmas cards. I only have to mail a few, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting money on stamps or envelopes. We prefer to give these out to church friends, neighbors, service workers, etc. with a small treat. This says, we love and appreciate you without spending a fortune.
Skip the White Elephant
I know White Elephant parties can be fun and the gifts tend to be hilarious, but what usually happens after? These gifts are generally not used, then donated or trashed. Instead of making the gifts the game, try a Secret Santa, Gift Swap, or a Bake Off and add in other games into the party.
Make Wish Lists
Throughout the year, I keep wish lists on Amazon. Anytime my children or husband express interest in a gift, I add it to their wish list. Same for me, if I see something I know I would use or love, it goes on my list. Then, as deals and consignment sales come around, I refer back to my list. This is also helpful for grandparents who need gift ideas. We also keep these for camping or home supplies. This gives people options, so you don’t know exactly what you’re getting.
Minimize Holiday Decorations
Holiday decor can be so fun. It can also be expensive. If you’re going into debt to decorate (Clark W. Griswold), now is the time to stop. If you have no decor, thrift stores are a great place to pick up a few items. Add a piece every year or so. Limit yourself to how much you’re willing to keep. If you don’t have room in your home and have to pay to keep the items stored, that is just a waste of money.
If you enjoy holiday decorations, but don’t want to store or pay a lot, learn How to Make Easy Homemade Christmas Decorations!
Find Free Holiday Activities
There are so many fun events this time of year. It’s easier than ever to find free events thanks to social media. Most cities put on parades, visiting Santa, tree lighting, light displays, even some that give out free gifts to children.
Here’s a list with 50+ Cheap Holiday Activity ideas!
Create Your Own Traditions
In conjunction to finding free events, create your own. Ever seen the Polar Express? Many local train depots will have a Polar Express event. You have hot chocolate, visit Santa, and take a train ride. This comes at a steep cost and is usually sold out well in advance.
We created our own Polar Express. Once a year, a week or two before Christmas, we print golden tickets, play the Polar Express song, pack popcorn and hot chocolate, and load up the children in the mini van. We visit free light displays in the area. My kids love when I print scavenger checklists to see who can spot all the different yard displays. Our family has so much fun and all for the price of gas.
Giving Vs. Receiving
Instead of putting the focus on getting, put it on giving. We love filling a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. In the past, we let each child do one, but we just did not have the funds this year. Instead, we did one boy box and one girl box. This allowed us to give more quality items to each child as well.
It doesn’t have to cost anything though. We also love having The Giving Manger. You read the book and then, as you perform each act of giving, you add one piece of straw into the manger. You can do your own form without having to purchase the kit, but we have had it for many years now and it is always so fun to pull out each year.
Secret Santa
Secret Santa is a great way for large families or large groups of people to participate in gift giving without having to buy for everyone. Instead of buying 20 small gifts, you buy one, nice, meaningful gift. Less consumption and more thoughtfulness.
Holiday Meal Plan
Over 70 billion pounds of food hits the landfills each year. 70 billion! The top contributor being Thanksgiving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to bring a couple of items and both are barely eaten. Not because I didn’t do a good job preparing them, but just because there is too much food. My family hates wasting food, so we will take all leftovers and utilize them in some form, but most don’t! Avoid the food waste. Stick to a meal plan, use food calculators, do whatever you need to to minimize waste this year. Not only is it a waste of resources, it’s a waste of money.
Experiences Vs. Physical Gifts
When I first started asking for experiences vs physical gifts for my children, you wouldn’t believe the backlash. “Experiences are way more expensive than toys.” They don’t have to be. I’m not asking for Disney World tickets here. My idea of experiences is something the whole family can use throughout the year or even just taking the child out for a park day. Some experience gifts don’t have to cost anything.
Handmade Gifts
Handmade gifts are my favorite to give and receive. So much thought, effort, and usually time goes into handmade gifts. Whether that be making treats from scratch or using your talents to create keepsakes, I would much rather have something someone poured their heart into than clicking a button and having it sent to their front door.
Check out my list of handmade gifts
Practical Stocking Stuffers
Every year I think I am done with gift buying and then I remember the stocking stuffers. Stockings have become quite practical around our household. New underwear, new toothbrushes, favorite snacks and candy all fall under the stocking stuffer category. You may think that sounds lame, but my children love getting an electric toothbrush with their favorite character or a favorite snack just for them.
Skip the Expensive Gingerbread House Kits
We started making our own gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, icing, candy, and small toys we have on hand or from the dollar store. Learn How to Make a Gingerbread House Out of Graham Crackers.
