Though Santa Claus has already made his list and checked it twice, many of us have only begun to tackle our own giving lists. And for some, the lists don’t manifest themselves until Christmas Eve. Either way, there’s still time to implement some strategies to keep your spending reasonable, or perhaps to plan some changes for next year.
We polled our staff and came up with a short-list of tips and tricks for smart spending and saving over the holidays.
- Take a page out of Santa’s book – keep a list. Write down who you are buying gifts for and how much money you have budgeted for each person. Most importantly, don’t stray from that list.
- Plan an annual Secret Santa gift exchange that includes a cap on how much participants can spend. Each person draws a name and only buys a gift for that one person. Take it a step further with rules on what kinds of gifts you can exchange. Perhaps you’re only allowed to re-gift, and the sillier the gift the better!
- Purchase gifts just for the kids in your family.
- Consider buying gifts throughout the year. There is no better time to buy gifts or holiday decor for the next year than during the end-of-season sales.
- Put aside savings from each pay cheque. For example, if you save $40 per month over 12 months you’ll have $480 saved up by the time December rolls around.
- Don’t purchase gifts for the ‘what-ifs’. You know the ones – the last minute purchases that you make just in case someone drops by unannounced with gifts in hand. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of not reciprocating, do some extra Christmas baking and pop it into the freezer so that it’s ready if needed. And if you don’t give it away, who doesn’t like a tasty reminder of the holidays in February?!
- Create memories rather than debt. The holidays are the perfect time to spend quality time together. Volunteer, spend time in the great outdoors, play board games or create a holiday movie extravaganza at home.
Do you have any to add to this list? We’d love to hear your strategies.