Just one more week and the Christmas celebrations will be here! To be honest, I am not yet done with all the preparations – I actually have not made much headway. I found a really good article on how to save some money during the holidays at The Adventurous Writer. Let me share some of the most practical tips that I found.
Visualize your perfect holiday. How do you envision your perfect holiday? For some, a holiday isn’t a holiday without piles of gifts. But for most people, the holidays really are about family, friends, fun and peace. Imagine how you can bring those values into your holiday celebrations. Then, stand by your goals. Inform “gift-grubbing” friends or family that you want to make the holidays more meaningful this year, and explain that you will be finding ways to share experiences, rather than giving expensive gifts. Another Christmas money saving tip is to limit gifts to one per person even if the recipient usually expects more. By setting expectations early, you can avoid significant holiday disappointment, blues and stress.
This could work – you know how sometimes we need to keep on thinking about how we want things to be? The power of psyching yourself up for something is underrated. It works and it will work if you think hard enough about it. Of course, merely thinking will not do you much good, and this is what the next tip is all about.
Plan and budget first. Much holiday stress is caused by finances and by lack of planning. Before the mall’s holiday tunes jingle your willpower away, think practically about Christmas money saving tips and your financial goals. For instance, plan and budget for all items you anticipate spending on this holiday season. Remember to include:
• Everyone you’ll give a gift to and how much you plan to spend.
• Cards and postage.
• Decorations.
• Entertaining, including food, drink, special garments, child care, etc.
• Year-end tips for newspaper carriers, babysitters, housecleaners, doormen, hairdressers and other service providers.
• Gifts for teachers, doctors, neighbors or others close to your family.
• Travel costs.
As the cliché goes, no one plans to fail but those who fail to plan will face failure indeed. So, with about a week left before Christmas, PLAN if you have not yet done so!
Give what YOU can afford. Do not give what your mother believes she deserves, a gift equal to what your sister-in-law gave you last year, enough presents to make a ski-slope-sized pile under the tree, or whatever unrealistic measure might be luring you toward overspending. Would your loved ones want you to suffer financially in order to give them a bigger gift? Surely not. Give reasonably, with a generous smile.
This is hard for me. I want to give the best gifts I can, especially to those who are most special to me. I have to learn how to face the facts that this Christmas is a lean one…need to adjust my spending in these terms.
Got any tips of your own?
