Christmas is around the corner, and you have to shop for gifts, organize the party, and send invites to your friends, purchase groceries and drinks for the party and many other festival related things. The list is long, and you have found that you are running out of time as well as MONEY!!
So, are you going to compromise on your festive wishes and celebrate on a restricted budget?
You need not disappoint because with a little planning and wise spending; you can still enjoy the Christmas at its fullest and as per your wishes. Yes, that’s true!!
Here we have listed some money saving tips which helps you in enjoying the festival without burning a hole in your pocket with all the festival related expenditure.
Make your festival budget
Well, you must have made it earlier but no worries. You still have some time left so look out your total budget and take out the amount which you can spend on the Christmas. Categorize your spending on food, decorations, party arrangements, gifts, and other stuff. Don’t make your budget too tight or unrealistic otherwise, it will make you frustrated. For example, if you will spend $50 on an extra bottle of wine which is not very necessary then it might be possible that you won’t be able to buy the jewelry for your mom.
Shop online and enjoy the cash back
The best thing about the online shopping that you can avail many combos, BOGO (buy one get one), discounts and cash back offers with extra discounts on purchase with credit cards. So, try to avoid shopping malls where you can lose your cash on impulsive shopping. While shopping online, compare the prices of gifts on several sites and grab the best deals. There are comparing sites which also offers discount coupons on items, mobile, electronics, food, drinks, restaurant reservations, etc. You can use these offers to make your festival more enjoyable!!
Set maximum amount for every gift
Make a list of gifts for your friends and family, write down the amount you want to spend for it before you start buying it. This will help in managing your money on gifts as you won’t exceed the amount limit. Be creative while gifting because the emotions behind the gift matter more than the price tag on the gift. So, sit down and think about your loved ones that what will make them happy instead of buying any gift randomly.
Spend time more than money
Gifts are important but your time with your family and friends is of much greater importance. So, try to organize activities in which your family and friends can participate and enjoy to their heart content like bowling, board games, sledding, making Christmas crafts, baking together, caroling, watching a movie at home, etc. You can take help from your from your cousins, younger ones, and friends to select and organize fun activities which will also save your time while making your celebration more interesting.
Shop from overboard
We are not telling you to travel to other continent but use the online medium to purchase goodies from the Asian countries like China or India at rock bottom prices. Some sites like AliExpress sell the goods directly to US or UK countries. It takes some time (up to six weeks) to deliver your order from these countries so you must order in advance at least a month before to avoid any late deliveries.
Secret Santa trick
Old tricks are still relevant when it comes to money-saving so why not to go for it. Use the Secret Santa method where a group of friends, colleagues or family members set a budget and secretly decides that who will buy for whom. In this way, you just have to buy for a single person rather than for a set of friends or family members.
Potluck assignment
If you have a long list of friends or relatives then spending on food, drinks, decorations and activities can be quite expensive. So the best way to tackle this problem is to arrange potluck where you will ask different couple friends to bring different food like side dishes, appetizers, desserts or drinks while you will prepare the main dish. Send them an email or message in advance, so your friends or family don’t end up with same dishes or something gets skipped.
Start afresh
After celebrating the Christmas, check your expenses if you have covered your expenses in your prepared budget or not. Are there any extra expenses which you could have avoided? Write them down and make a list for next year. Make a festival budget beforehand for the next year so that you won’t need to plan your budget at the last moment. You should also make a Christmas cupboard where you can keep gifts for the next Christmas. Many offers are coming throughout the year and whenever you get the best deal, just buy the gift you always wanted to buy and store it in your cupboard.
It is easy to forget the difficulties of planning the festival celebrations after it gets over but if you want to celebrate next or all the coming Christmas without sulking over budget then plan early in the year and enjoy fully at the end!!
Bio
Samar pathway is the author of this article, he writes for health and lifestyle posts regularly, and if saving money is a critical thing then you must choose best deals only while buying online for enjoying great discounts.
