Money-Saving Holiday Tips!

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Johanna Underwood, One of Thousands of Money and Finance Coaches on Noomii.

The holidays can be a stressful time (and especially stressful on your bank account)! Here are some strategies I and my family have used over the years to try to alleviate that burden and enjoy the brief time with our families more.

1. Secret Santa

My parents both come from larger families (my dad is in the middle of 7 kids and my mom is the oldest of 5), so holiday gift-giving can quickly get out of hand! To help make sure no one feels left out, for several years the family would put everyone’s names and top gift choices (under a certain dollar amount) into a hat and then take turns drawing. It was fun to shop in secret for the family member whose name I had drawn and then to find out who my secret gift was from on Christmas Day! It saved my parents TONS of money.

Bonus tip: Set some ground rules ahead of time or you might end up with a case of beer for Christmas, like my husband did a few years back… Oops.

2. The 3 Gift Rule

This was an idea that I had heard from my mom-friends, and helps not only with the budget, but also with kids who can easily forget the true meaning of the season (hint: it’s not a tree overflowing with gifts). Let’s face it, many of us adults need that reminder, as well!

The idea is based off of the 3 gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus (gold, frankincense, and myrrh). My husband and I liked this idea, because we can DEFINITELY go overboard with our generosity to one another when we have an excuse to give each other gifts. We even took it a step further (all credit going to my better half) and designated one gift as practical, one as fun, and one as a joint gift that we share. This year since finances are especially tight, we set a strict budget for each gift (though there’s some flexibility if we under-spend on one gift and want to use that towards another). As a result, I don’t have to feel guilty about the gifts I am giving or receiving, and that is a HUGE win for me!

3. Focus on Quality

Growing up, I had a mother who wanted to make sure we had TONS of gifts to open on Christmas. Unfortunately, this typically meant a focus on quantity rather than quality. Instead of this nicer item that we might have been aching over all year, we would get a dozen smaller gifts with no real meaning or enjoyment for us that probably cost the same as that larger item would have. Even now that my little brother and I are grown, she STILL does this (seriously, mom, calm down…). Now, please understand that we are completely appreciative and grateful for the thought and the knowledge of the money she has spent on us, but I believe there is a lesson to be learned here.

A more expensive, higher quality item can mean so much more even if it is the only gift under the tree.

4. Gift an Experience

Especially for those of us Ramsey followers who are practicing contentment with what we have (I’m looking at you 11-year-old 200k mile Chevy Cobalt) and don’t need or even want for much in life, a memory can mean so much more. Rather than buying more things that your loved ones don’t need, why not create memories instead by gifting a trip or an experience? Toys wear out and lose our interest, but those memories will literally last a lifetime.

5. Plan Ahead & Budget

This should go without saying – if you aren’t telling your money where to go, it will just walk away. Take a few minutes to make a list of your typical holiday expenses including gifts you are planning to give, and then give yourself a budget for each item. You may realize that $1500 this holiday season is a bit much this year, so instead of 5 different celebrations, maybe you pick your top 1 or 2. Or perhaps you realize that you just can’t afford what you were planning to spend on each gift, so you pare it down to a more reasonable amount. Even at the holidays, you need to tell your money where you want it to go.

Planning ahead also means not waiting until Christmas Eve to go shopping (and most Black Friday sales are not actually saving you money in the long run, according to recent studies). If you know ahead of time the gifts you want to purchase, you can search around for the best deals and save yourself TONS of money. Waiting for Black Friday and Christmas Eve leads to overspending and over-shopping.

The other piece of planning ahead (which will probably benefit you in 2020, rather than this year), is to set aside money every month. You know Christmas is coming all year! Yet so many people have to go into debt (e.g. use credit cards) to fund their holiday extravagances. This was another habit I watched my mom do every year and it caused me such guilt to hear her talking about credit card debt in July that she had racked up BEFORE DECEMBER!!! Please, please, please – if you read nothing else in this email – do not value Christmas presents over the benefits of a debt-free life.

Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy material things, but save up so that you can pay for Christmas in cash and those holiday decisions don’t follow you through the rest of the year.

I hope these tips help you to rest more easily and stay focused on the true meaning of the season this year.