No matter what your budget, our money saving Christmas tips will help you plan better and keep more of your hard-earned dollars. While we are all for creating a fabulous festive experience, we also believe that prudence should come before extravagance.
It can be tough watching other families with their seemingly unlimited budgets splash the cash on anything and everything. We all know that someone who believes that the only way to enjoy Christmas is by spending more money than everyone else. Of course, they also like to make sure everyone else notices their high spending habits as well. But is that what Christmas is all about? Surely the spirit of Christmas is measured in the experiences you share as a family rather than the number of dollars you spend. Remember, you can’t buy a child’s love. Being a loving parent is the only way you will achieve that.
The harsh reality is, we could all get away with spending less money at Christmas!
Tip 1: Create a budget and track your spending
A lot of people make a mistake with their Christmas spending because they keep buying things until they have ‘everything they need.’ Your approach should be the other way around. Don’t decide what you want and then keep spending until your list is complete. Instead, work out how much you can afford to spend and then create your list according to this budget.
Yes, there will probably be some items you will have to forgo. Yes, you may have to avoid some premium brands. No, this certainly does not mean that you will have the worst Christmas ever!
Tracking what you spend is essential if you want to stick to the budget you have made. The best way to do this is to try and itemize the expected cost for each item on your list. That way, it’s straightforward to see if you’re going over budget with every item that you buy. If you have budgeted $20 for something and you spend $25, then assuming you have not made any savings anywhere else, then you are $5 over your budget.
Each time you buy something, then you should adjust your budget unless you paid exactly what you expected to pay. If you overspent by $5, you’d need to find an item on your list where you can make up for this overspend. If your total target spend is $300, you need to adjust the remaining items to keep you on track for $300.
Tip 2: Spend throughout the year to help spread the cost
Most of us are guilty of undertaking last-minute shopping trips at Christmas. While this is often necessary for those items, you either forgot or were unplanned, a lot of it is because we are not as organized as we should be.
There is a lot of stress being within 50 yards of a shop during December; there is a financial cost to last-minute shopping. We are not talking about the late dash to buy the packet of flour that you forgot. We mean the gift you promised to get for a fussy teenager. Now that you have only a few days to go, you are rushing around trying to find it and realize that the item you wanted has sold out. You’ll now need to either pay a premium price or leave them disappointed.
Purchasing items throughout the year is great for your cash flow, as you can spend small amounts during the year rather than all at once. You are also likely to pick up a bargain as well. Make your shopping and gift list early, and then place a watch on the items you want. If there is a sale or if the price drops, then go ahead and buy it early.
Not only will you get to avoid those last-minute shoppers, all primed on coffee and cinnamon-flavored treats, but you’ll get to spend time with your family when it matters most. Re-enacting scenes from the movie Jingle All the Way is not our idea of fun! Oh, and this should save you some hard-earned money as well.
Tip 3: Seek out a bargain
So, the next question has to be, how do I find a bargain? Apart from regularly checking prices and waiting for seasonal sales, you can take a few other steps.
Firstly, you really should try not to buy things on credit. If you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it. We understand that this is not always possible, but using credit means you are just delaying the financial reality until sometime in the future.
No matter what you are planning to buy or whatever store you are planning to buy it from, you can probably find some discount vouchers online to help reduce the cost. There are hundreds of sites with links to discount codes. A quick search online should lead you pretty quickly to what you are looking for.
If you are going to have to travel over Christmas, then try and buy your tickets early. The later you leave it, then the more expensive they are likely to become. Flights, trains, buses, and hotels will all increase their prices as their availability decreases.
Finally, whatever you do, try not to take your children Christmas shopping with you! If you do, you run the risk of succumbing to their heartfelt pleas for things you don’t need and probably cannot afford.
Tip 4: Make and reuse
Think about what you already have, what you can reuse, and what you can make yourself. Choose time over money and either create or upcycle something.
The great thing is that most children love making things, so get them to help you. They can make Christmas cards that will have far more meaning than anything you’ll ever find in a shop. A card made by a child is far more likely to be kept than something bought from a store. Anyone who receives one is going to think that you are an amazing and thoughtful parent rather than someone who is trying to do Christmas on a budget!
How about crafting some homemade decorations? We think this is a great idea, even if you are not trying to save money! See our article for ideas on Crafting Homemade Christmas Decorations to help get you started.
Also, consider items that you can reuse and repurpose. For example, one year, to highlight the amount of waste that goes on at Christmas, we decided to wrap all of our gifts in old newspapers. We left a note on each gift, explaining that we were doing it to reduce the amount of paper we waste. Somewhat surprisingly, the idea was well received by our friends and family. It saved us a load of money on wrapping paper and helped the environment at the same time.
Tip 5: Cut back
This last tip takes us all the back to the start, where we said you should work out what you can afford to spend and then create your shopping list accordingly. Doing it this way almost certainly means you will need to cut back on some of those less important items.
Why not start with Christmas dinner? While we agree that it is the festive highlight for most people, consider how much of it ends up in the trash. Dinner plates piled high with more food than the average person eats in a week is an extravagance very much in keeping with the season. It is also an excellent way to spend money you don’t need to.
Why not serve three types of vegetables rather than your usual four? What about the ingredients you buy because tradition dictates that you must, and yet it hardly ever gets eaten? Seriously, does anyone ever actually eat their Brussel sprouts? If you reduce the variety on offer and your portion sizes, you’ll still be able to create a fabulous, festive dinner, but it will be one that your guests can finish.
Another unnecessary extravagance at Christmas is gift-giving. Start by trimming down the number of people you buy gifts for. Once you have done this, reduce the number or the value of the gifts that you do buy. If you are buying for your own children, then one less gift is hardly going to leave them traumatized. Try and focus on the celebration and family time, rather than gifts.
Why not agree with your siblings to forgo gifts this year? You’ll be surprised how many people will readily agree because overspending at Christmas is something the majority of us struggle with. There is also no shame in admitting to friends and family that you are on a budget.
You can also try to include some essential items with your children’s gifts. If they need new clothes or some new stationery for school, then why not give it to them as a present. They may not burst into tears with excitement but, choose wisely, and we are sure they will be grateful. They get more gifts, and you get to cover off some of the essentials at the same time.
Finally, why not try and spend less on traditions. We love them too, but, as we said at the start, prudence should always come before extravagance. The key here is to do something similar to what you have always done but to spend less money. For example, if you have a tradition where you take your children to the theatre, why not sit in the cheaper seats this year? If you are looking for some ideas about traditions that don’t cost the earth and that you can do with your own family, then check out our article Ten Magical Family Christmas Traditions.