Don’t let the holidays be a season of overspending!
As crazy as it sounds, it is already October which means we are entering the holiday season, so today, I’m making sure we are ready for all the spending that tends to come with all of the festivities.
Living in LA where there are no seasons, the holidays have always crept up on me with no warning. It would be mid to late November before I realize I haven’t thought about presents, and I definitely haven’t put much thought into budgeting for the holidays. Plus, my family has fall and winter birthdays, which means even more gifting during the holiday season! This always means I’m scrambling at the last second to get gifts and I’m more prone to overspending. My goal is to be more proactive this year, so if you want to join me in being smart about holiday shopping, here are the things we need to keep in mind.
Step number one, as I’m sure you won’t be surprised is my favorite: budgeting. How much do we have available to spend over the holidays?
According to a Gallup poll from November of 2019, Americans expected to spend an average of $942 on holiday gifts, with almost 40% saying they would spend $1,000 or more. Whatever your budget is, before doing anything else, we need to figure out how much money we have available to spend over the holidays in addition to our usual living expenses.
The next step is to figure out what this money is getting spent on. This could be travel, including expenses like overpriced airport meals, charitable giving, and gifts – which includes shipping costs, holiday cards, wrapping paper and, if you’re shopping in person, gas money and parking costs.
Personally, I always forget how expensive cards can get, so for acquaintances or work-related cards, I’ve been using cards from a packaged bundle that I bought at CVS a couple years ago and still have stored with the rest of my documents, which means I only spend about a dollar per card instead of $5. Of course, if you’re creative, you can also make your own gifts and cards which would also help you save money!
This step includes making a list of everyone you need to get a gift for. Family members, friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, roommates, and your office’s Secret Santa exchange.
Another cost that adds up over the holiday is the events. Of course, 2020 is probably going to be a little bit different…but there’s always an increase in gatherings over the holidays which might mean spending additional money on food, beverage, decorations and new clothing as well as tickets for events like pumpkin picking, holiday movie watching, or New Year’s Eve festivities.
Take a second to think back to your last couple holidays to make sure you’re not forgetting anyone that you need to get a gift for, or a holiday tradition that always ends up being more expensive than you think it’s going to be.
Now that we have the total amount of money we have available and all the different things that this money has to go toward, it’s time to start allocating the money! How much do we need to spend on travel? How many gifts do we need to get? Maybe this means realizing that we need to cut back on ordering take out over the next couple months so that we can have some more money to spare for the holidays. By writing it all out and planning ahead of time, we can make sure we’re not scrambling at the last minute for gifts we forgot about and won’t need to charge the credit card and create expensive debt.
Having a budget and a shopping list helps us cut back on any emotional or impulse spending which generally leads to overspending. Plus, there are plenty of discounts and sales that happen before Black Friday, so you can start keeping an eye out for good deals and start looking for coupons instead of feeling pressured to get all of your holiday shopping done at once.
According to a Gallup poll from November of 2019, Americans expected to spend an average of $942 on holiday gifts, with almost 40% saying they would spend $1,000 or more. Don't let the holidays be the season of overspending!
It’s also okay to not buy extravagant gifts – or even gifts at all! You can prioritize your gift recipients so that maybe some people just get a card. You could also organize a Secret Santa with friends so that you only need to buy one gift instead of a gift for everyone. I know some people who have pooled money with their siblings to get a joint gift for their parents as well. I really do believe that a small, thoughtful gift is worth so much more than an expensive gift that they’ll never use. At the end of the day, if you are able to give a thoughtful note and your time to your loved ones, that’s what’s important during the holidays, right?
Okay. I’ll stop being sappy. One last thing I should mention: I, personally, am not into Halloween, but for those of you celebrating spooky season, don’t forget to factor in Halloween decor and costumes into your budget! And if you’re allocating some of your budget to candy corn, I am totally judging you.
I know this all sounds like a lot of tedious lists (and it sort of is), but planning ahead for the holidays means that you won’t forget anyone, won’t be scrambling at the last minute to shop during the holiday madness, and most importantly, won’t need to go into debt! Especially with everything happening in 2020, we need to all make sure that we’re spending our money wisely, have money saved for emergencies, and not creating unnecessary financial stress during a time that’s supposed to be fun.