Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are coming up fast and will be here before we know it. I don't do Halloween, but for Thanksgiving I always shop a little early and wait for the big holiday sale for certain things like baked goods. Same with Christmas. But I always shop for before Christmas time, not to mention online. I always budget too, x amount for Thanksgiving, x amount for Christmas. What do you guys do to save money for the holiday seasons?
I'm a single mother and only buy gifts for my daughter, so I just order what she wants on Amazon and use gift cards that I earn on sites like Swagbucks to pay for part of the cost of my Amazon order. One year, gift cards from rewards sites that I earned in my free time basically paid for all her Christmas gifts.
I'm really bad around the holidays. They are my favorite time of the year and all rational thought disappears because I am blinded by the lights and glitter and the holiday music makes me not think straight. I try to stick with no more than $100 per gift and I also will research online before I buy a gift in store to make sure that I can't get a better price from a website. I shop the holiday friends and family sales and also cut out any purchases for myself around the holidays so I don't blow through all of my money.
For Halloween, be creative — make your own costumes. For Christmas and other holidays that might require you decorate the house a bit, opt not buy fancy stuff from the stores. Use what's available to decorate your house or online [Christmas] clip art. And the Christmas tree . . . why get yourself a new one when you could buy an artificial Christmas tree and use it for year after year? For entertainment, borrow DVDs from friends.
I usually buy sale items for gifts on holidays. This is the only way where I can save up a lot since I have plenty of relatives to be given for.
I find that making lists helps, because if you blindly buy gifts you will always find that there are some people who end up with things they don't need whereas others will end up with far too much and it will turn into a waste of money. Think about things before you buy them. Think about whether the kids REALLY need 40 presents each on the big day, or whether they would be happy with just a few things to open. I often see parents buying lots because they feel as though they should, but genuinely the children don't care and often don't notice. Something like a DVD that costs £10 can be cast aside as a small present whereas a £1 colouring book could provide hours of entertainment! Just be careful, and don't go overboard with your gifts this year.
IT's hard to save money during those days. Usually I don't save during Holiday season, I save up for Holiday season. I tend to save money every year just for the holidays so when the time comes I don't have to worry about overspending and stuff since I got it all planned out.
I'm not really a Holiday person I just tend to stay at home every holiday. Except for Christmas and the gifts I don't really spend that much money on Holidays but I would suggest you save some money beforehand so that you won't have to worry about it when the holiday season kicks in.
Saving money during the whole Christmas season can be very difficult and many people have put themselves in debt because of it. I believe that in order to save money it is best that at least a month before you make a plan as to what you will be spending and why you feel you need to spend. Let someone else in on you plan to save so that they remind when they see you going off track.
I think the best way to save money around the holiday is to shop throughout the year. I often make the mistake of shopping at the last minute only to spend much more money trying to cram all my shopping into one. Shopping sporadically throughout the year is equivalent to buying one piece at a time. For example, shopping in June for a Christmas gift frees that money up in December. Overall, I say spend now and save later especially when you have it to spare. In addition, you can buy your Turkey in September and save yourself in Nov.
I save money on holiday season by not making a shopping of the things that I will need for that season, right after the season has ended and months before that season. This is the time that there are a lot of sales and that the prices drop in significant amounts. What I shop are goods that won't expire yet, that would still last without being touched, monitored and used until the holiday and gifts and items that I would give.
I save by planning as much as I can and finding the best sales possible. I have lots to give presents to in my family because we have a big family and I know because of this I need to employ a lot of tactics just so I don't end up spending all of my money on gifts for others. I tend to shop mostly online in the recent years but if I have to go out and get presents I try and just eat at home and bring some snacks and bottled water with me so I don't end up spending a lot on meals at the mall because I know I'd rather just spend that extra bit of cash on buying some items that are on sale.
I like to purchase things right after the holiday season and just hold onto them until the next year. I do this with decorations, wrapping paper, and gifts. It saves a lot of headaches in the end and I am not scrambling to get money together to purchase gifts. I find that when you are feel stressed out and rushed, you tend to buy things just to buy them without putting much thought into it.
Here in Hawaii we have weekly ads from stores like CVS, Walgreens, Safeway and local supermarkets like Foodland, Times, Marukai Wholesale Mart & Don Quiote that makes the holiday season really economical. I plan my menu and gifts with the sales. I found this past Thanksgiving an 8" no sugar added apple pie for just $5! Walmart stores has great prices to and sales which helps a whole lot for many things we need for holidays and everyday living.
The only way I know that we save money during Christmas season is by cooking our own special food. You know, special dishes are expensive here and you can only order by bulk, that is good for at least 10 people. Since we buy all the gifts we give away, there may not be enough money for the food budget. Christmas is my sister's birthday too so we bring food to their house for a sort of reunion.
To save money, I only buy gifts for those people that gave me gifts, so that's not really a bad way to save money, right? Aside from that I just accumulate money in my wallet from my online earnings and I will allot a portion of it for gifts to others and a gift to myself.
I am blessed to be frugal, hahaha. Ladies and Gentlemen, I think many can agree that the purpose of Christmas and Thanksgiving has been lost. Yes, the gifts are nice but really the reconnection is what matters most. As a single mother of one child it becomes difficult around the holidays. In our house this year, my daughter suggested we make everyone gifts. We took a trip to the Dollar Tree and got a couple odd's and ends to help decorate. Stopped at Walmart for a Wreath for $2.00, yarn, and other odds and ends that are relatively inexpensive there. While at Walmart we bought a $2.50 wooden bird house, 6 bottles of acrylic paint ( .50 each) and Window Clings (.98) Went to Dollar Tree we bought varied brushes and a ceramic pony. 2 Christmas presents painted and bejeweled with lots of love for under $10 and 1 hour of our time.
Sticking to a list is definitely important as is setting a price per person spent. There are a lot of great apps you can also use to get some money back. For example Ibotta, Shopkick and receipt pal. With Ibotta you earn money back for certain products you buy. For example a bottle of wine you may earn $1.00 back. Likewise Shopkick gives you kicks for walking into store and spending money at participating stores. Finally receipt pal allows you to earn gift cards for simply scanning your receipts. These little things all add up to help save money, especially during the holidays.
