Being on a budget doesn’t have to stop you from fully embracing this holiday season’s festivities. The following tips can help you save money and still bring joy to those who matter most.
Create a budget notebook. Keeping track of those you buy gifts for and setting limits on how much you spend annually can prevent you from overspending year to year. One way to do this is to have a special holiday spending notebook. Attach a plastic bag, and save all receipts in it. Bring it with you while you shop, and record how much certain gifts cost at various stores.
In addition, you can use this holiday budget template to plan and track purchases.
Set expectations for gift exchanges. Discussing with friends and family members how much to allot for gifts is a great way to make sure you don’t spend more than each other. This ensures that everyone receives a similar gift and respects each other’s holiday budgets.
Organize your home. Cleaning out closets could be a way for you to find forgotten goods you never used (re-gift ideas), holiday decorations and gift-wrap bought in previous years or items to sell on ebay or Craigslist.
For quick and crafty ways to organize your home, visit HGTV.
Be an educated consumer. Ellie Kay, author of “The Little Book of Big Savings”, advises people to comparison shop on sites like mysimon.com before even setting footin a store. There also are sites dedicated to coupons such as couponcabin.com, dealhunting.com and retailmenot.com helping you save even more.
Buy Smart, Shop local. You may just find what you are looking for at a better price at a local store, it’s important to spend money at
local businesses in our neighborhoods. When you spend $100 at a locally
owned business, $73 stays local, versus, when you spend $100 at a
non-locally owned business, only $43 stays local. Spending money in our
neighborhoods keeps that money in our neighborhoods
Create homemade gifts. Making your own gifts is a good way to stay on budget while still showing the ones you love that you care. Spoonful and Martha Stewart are useful resources for crafty homemade holiday gift ideas.
For fun, family activities to do around Boston this season,visit Mommy Poppins or Chiff.com.
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