How To Not Go Broke This Holiday Season
Growing up with a big family was equal parts chaos, and so much fun. I honestly wouldn't trade being a big sister to my four favorite girls for anything! I lucked out and gained a new little sister a couple of months ago, and by some streak of pure madness, every single one of these sweet girls' birthdays, my best friend's birthday and my husband's birthday are all between November and December. Let's just say that there's some serious planning involved so that we can try our best to avoid going broke!
I know that I'm not the only one that has a ton of shopping to do around the holidays, so here's my best advice to those of you who are lucky enough to have the same problem as I do!
PLAN AHEAD
I am, admittedly, the farthest person from a planner that you'll ever meet. I'm more of the spontaneous, buy a gift an hour before I'm supposed to be to a party, kind of girl. That is, until I realized it was literally costing me an entire paycheck every year around Christmas! That made me change my ways, real fast. I've been buying two gifts every two weeks for the last month or so, and I can't tell you how much easier it's made things! I have gifts purchased (online, another perk of shopping ahead!), wrapped and ready to go under the tree more than a month before Christmas. To say that this is the absolute ideal situation is a MAJOR understatement.
SET A BUDGET
This is by far the most important tip that I always seem to forget to follow. It may have something to with the fact that I'm kind of a serial shopper, and I tend to go a bit overboard when it comes to gift giving. Not only does setting a budget narrow down your gift options, giving you an easier time to find that perfect something, but it also ensures that you don't end up spending way more money on gifts than you have in your bank account.
ASK FOR IDEAS
I absolutely love giving gifts, but when shopping for big groups of people, it starts to get tricky. Depending on your gift giving shopping list, this may be easier said than done. For the younger groups, they're more than happy to give up any and all ideas of things that they want! I just simply send out a text asking what they want, if they'd prefer me find an actual gift, or if they'd prefer to have a gift card. Works like a charm!
These tips may not work for everyone, but they have been an absolute lifesaver for me this year. Do you have any tips for saving money around the holidays?
