The average person spends over $700 on gifts alone during the holiday season, and I’m sure some families spend much more than that. $6 billion of holiday decorations were purchased in 2012. The amount spent on holiday dinners can be very high as well. Here are ways for you to avoid holiday debt:
Determine how much you will spend on the holidays.
The first thing that you need to do is create a realistic holiday budget for you to stick to. Determine how much you will spend on everything, and compare it to last year’s spending to see if you can do any better. Also, when you total your expected spending, you may be shocked when you see the number tallied up. Hopefully this will help you control your spending since you will be thinking about it more.
Save up during the year.
If you have a hard time saving up for holidays in the month or two before they occur, then you might want to try saving up for the holidays to avoid holiday debt throughout the whole year. This way, it doesn’t seem as hard to save because you can stretch it out over 12 months. Saving $500 over a 12 month period is not nearly as scary as trying to find an extra $500 in your budget in the months of November or December.
Pull names instead of giving every person a gift.
Do you find yourself giving gifts to several different people? You might want to suggest pulling names out of a hat and each person only having to buy one gift, instead of having to buy gifts for each and every single person. This will make your gift more thoughtful and will make it easier on everyone. It’s still just as fun but will allow you to save money.
Shop throughout the year.
If you have a hard time saving up during the year and not touching your holiday funds, then you might even try shopping throughout the year. This of course will only work if you know that the person will not change their mind with what they want. This can be difficult with most gifts, but for some it can be done. Shopping throughout the year also enables you to find the best price as most items will go on sale over the period of a year.
Create a list.
Before you go out and buy anything, make sure you have a list. Know exactly what you are buying, shop at the stores that carry the most bang for your buck, and don’t stray from your list.
When shopping, leave your credit card at home.
If you are not good with controlling yourself when you are shopping, then you should leave your credit card at home. Maybe try the envelope method and keep your holiday fund in an envelope and only spend that amount. Usually having cash and being limited to it can help a person control their spending as you will think about every dollar that you spend.
Have a potluck.
If you are having a holiday dinner, then you may want to think about hosting a potluck to save some money. Everyone loves a good potluck. It’s not that much work for each person (or family) to create one dish, instead if one person creating a full meal for multiple people.
