5 Joyful Ways To Save Money For Any Holiday Season!

It’s mid-September and I already feel like I’m LATE in getting ready for the holidays! Our family drew names for Christmas gifts in July (yes, we are planners – or secretly some of us are, so we plan early to try and save those who wait until December 23rd to buy gifts) and October is already banging on my door saying, “Did you buy the candy yet?” GAH! Wait! Isn’t there a turkey holiday in there somewhere too?!

The pressures of the holidays are enough to drive anyone crazy. We love it, but we don’t love the stress. Each year we dream of the perfect, snuggly, “everyone is happy” holiday season, but what normally happens is we turn from “Te Fiti” into “Te Ka” (Moana) as if some Christmas gnome Maui takes our heart and runs away with it. And what hurts more? Many of us stare at our budgets and wonder how we are going to make it through this holiday season.

5 ways to help take control of your finances and give yourself a joyful holiday season!

HYGGE is a thing you should adopt for every holiday and it relies more on being with those you love instead of spending a ton of money on “stuff”! Hygge is about taking time away from the daily rush to be together with people you care about – or even by yourself – to relax and enjoy life’s quieter pleasures. Some fun things to do that don’t cost a lot:

• Carve Pumpkins for Halloween AND Thanksgiving.
• Wrap cardboard cones with colored yarn to make candy corn trees.
• Have a Friendsgiving where everyone brings a favorite Thanksgiving dish (and story) to share.
• Carve out the insides of oranges to use as tealight candle holders (smells so good!).
• Make paper bag snowflakes for Christmas and New Years.
• Grab those Amazon boxes and create a Gingerbread Christmas village from cardboard and light it with led lights.

Create a GIFT LIST for Christmas!

• Write down who you are getting gifts for.
• Decide the dollar amount you can spend on each person.
• Don’t wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to do your shopping. Most stores already do holiday sales for months in advance. Take advantage of them!

Think ADVENTURES instead of gifts!

• In 2018, a survey found that parents spent around $400 per child at Christmas. OUCH! That’s crazy! Try, instead, pooling the money you would’ve spent on family gifts and go on an adventure as a family!
• Create memories that last forever instead of a toy that might last two years.

PLAN AHEAD for holiday decorations!

• When each major holiday ends, everything goes on clearance, but not for long! Buy holiday decorations during their sale and you will save a TON OF MONEY!
• This is one of my personal favorites to do because then you have so much fun putting up new decorations the following year!

Start a HOLIDAY MONEY FUND!

• Assess what your family spent on decorations, candy, cards, presents, food, clothes, etc. during an average holiday season. Make that number your goal for the following year.
• Take that number and divide it by 10 and put that number away every month. So, if you spent $1,500 during the holidays, starting in January, put $150 away per month for 10 months.
• The beauty of this is that if you find a perfect gift for someone early, you have a holiday fund that is ready to cover those purchases.

The holidays do not have to consume you! The love of your family and friends, and the memories you create with them are the most important thing. So do a little strategic planning and aim to CREATE MEMORIES by doing fun stuff together! If you need any help on how to get started, I got your back! Click the link below and I’ll be in touch ASAP!

You’ve Got This! Your holidays will be joyful!

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