Tips for Staying on Budget this Holiday Season
This year as we all know, is a little different, but I’m sure we’re all still shopping for loved ones and friends and even ourselves. Yall know my famous line, “Don’t Go Broke Decking the Halls.” That means, don’t swipe your credit card, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and don’t go into debt over the holiday season. Let’s face it, I have talked to sooooo many people year after year, who don’t budget and plan for Christmas and somehow buy 100 gifts. Especially black moms, I have seen us turn miracles out of no where! But what if I told you, it doesn’t have to be this way.
If you have attended one of my finance classes before, then you know I preach planning for Christmas beginning in January, yup right after the previous Christmas holiday is over. Whether you take $100 per check and save for Christmas, or plan to use some “extra money” like taxes or a month you get paid 3 times for your Christmas budget.
However you plan it or don’t plan it, below are some tips for shopping this holiday season.
Start early! USPS and some of the other shipping services get BUSY BUSY during the holiday season. Starting early will ensure your items are here by Christmas, and if they do get lost, you have time to reorder. DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE.
Make a list and check it twice. Write down a list of people you need to shop for and what gift you want to get them. Include the price of the gift and ideally the limit you want to spend on each person.
For your kids, think about how many toys that already have. If your child is really young, like 1 or 2 years old, they don’t need a lot. Stick to items that you know will make your kids super happy, rather than buying too much. Here less is more, and QUALITY or QUANITY.
Use your credit card (for those who can handle it) versus your debit card. The holiday season, fraud and criminals are at an all time high. Credit card companies will detect fraud a lot easier than your bank, and offer better protections if you do become a victim of fraud. A credit card company will often give you your money back, and let’s face it, it’s a lot better to have a fraudulent charge on a credit card, than someone taking your actual cash out your bank account. You can set up spending alerts to get alerted when certain activity takes place on your account.
Stay on top of holiday spending, don’t get lazy and forget to keep tracking. One thing I do is, I have a 2nd credit card I don’t use much, so I use that for my holiday spending, as the balance started on ZERO! Therefore I can easily see online how much I’m spending and how much I have left to spend.
Although many holiday gatherings and parties aren’t taking place this year due to COVID, if you are celebrating in some kind of way, whether it be extra gifts for Secret Santa and activities like that, charitable donations, or holiday dinner plans, be sure to include that in your overall Christmas budget, so you have all your holiday expenses tracking in one place.
And lastly, don’t exchange expensive gift for expensive gift with BAE lol Yeah I said it, it doesn’t make sense. Instead, try to get something thoughtful and meaningful.