50 Simple Ways to Keep Holiday Spending on Budget and Point

To quote an old saying, “It’s called a budget because you set it, then you don’t budge.” That can be difficult during the holidays if you tend to get enticed by the influx of holiday sales or spoil your loved ones with extra presents. Plus, you’ve got your standard monthly expenses, responsibilities and other factors to consider.

And holiday spending is much more than merely purchasing gifts. The combined cost of entertaining, traveling, decorating and participating in holiday events can add up quickly. At minimum, splurging in December can lead to a lean and stressful January. At worst, it can mean carrying credit card debt past Easter and beyond.

You don’t need reminders of how a holiday budget works. Like many Americans, however, you need a set of tips and techniques to stay on budget when temptation strikes. So here’s 50 of them:

1. Make all gift decisions before you shop. This makes it easier to stay on budget.
2. Communicate early and often about gifting and activity expectations. Most people won’t be disappointed with scaled-down efforts if they know about them ahead of time.
3. Tighten any nonessential spending. Only buy consumable things you need to live in the weeks leading up to the holidays. If you want a fun item, put it on your “wish list” and let your friends and family know rather than buying it yourself.
4. Shop dollar stores for most of your stocking stuffers. It can cut the costs of these small, disposable items.
5. Give the gift of time with activities spent together rather than physical presents. It costs less money and builds memories.
6. Ditch the physical Christmas cards. You can spend hundreds of dollars between cards and postage. Opt for e-cards instead.
7. Don’t forget the shipping costs when ordering gifts online. In some cases, it will end up costing more than purchasing from a local retail store.
8. Buy only what’s on your list when Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. Impulse offers are where retailers make their money.
9. Partner with friends and family to buy appropriate items in bulk and enjoy the larger discount.
10. Shop with cash when you’re in stores. Bring the amount you planned to spend and not a penny more. This helps you avoid temptation.
11. Book holiday travel ahead of time. The best deals typically get released a couple months in advance. But even if you book late, apply these other savings tricks to get the cheapest flight possible.
12. Pack only a carry-on for your trip. The baggage fee for a single checked bag with many airlines could buy two or three simple gifts.
13. Choose one holiday for the big family gathering, especially if you live far away from each other. There’s no need to incur the cost of separate trips for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. so close together.
14. Keep your boxes from online deliveries so you don’t have to buy new boxes to wrap gifts.
15. Cycle purchases through rewards credit cards. You’re spending the money anyway, so you might as well get the benefits. (Just be sure to stick to your budget here, or this tip can backfire.)
16. Make gifts instead of buying them. A handmade treasure means more and costs less than anything ordered off Amazon or purchased at the store. Try some of these budget-friendly holiday DIY gift ideas.
17. Buy discounted gift cards at sites like Cardpool, then use them to purchase stuff that’s already on sale.
18. Have a fridge-and-pantry clearing buffet the week before any Thanksgiving or Christmas feast. You’ll clear space and have a full inventory of your in-house food to avoid buying what you don’t need.
19. Don’t buy new decorations each year. Invest once in durable, high-quality festive fun you can store and reuse over and over.
20. Reconsider gifts to other adults. At the office or in a large family, even small gifts for every adult can add up. Suggest an activity together rather than exchanging presents.
21. Hit the thrift stores. Consider flea markets and yard sales. Not every present is just fine used, but enough are that it’s worth considering.
22. Drink your holiday cheer at home. Alcohol is expensive, especially if you’re eating out.
23. Hold a decoration swap. If you’re tired of your decorations, don’t buy new ones. Talk to a friend who’s tired of theirs and trade pieces for the year or permanently.
24. Budget first, plan second. Doing it the other way around can get your heart and mind set on something you can’t afford.
25. Cook treats and meals from scratch. This costs less than takeout or ready-made foods. Bonus points for turning it into a family project and tradition in its own right.
26. Make holiday decorations with your kids. Download templates from Google and spend an evening with glitter and paint.
27. Hold a pre-holiday sale of anything you haven’t used in the past year. Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook all have marketplaces for this, or you could hold a classic yard sale.
28. Ignore “special” offers online, in stores and everywhere else. Use sales to buy what you already planned to buy, but never to stray from your plan.
29. Use your dishwasher. It actually saves money as compared to hand washing because it’s more efficient with the hot water.¹ Odd but true.
30. Use receipt rebate apps like Ibotta or Checkout51 to get paid every time you make a holiday purchase.
31. Shop duty-free stores at your local airport or nearest border crossing when buying alcohol, jewelry or perfume.
32. Look at eBay first for any large gift, especially collectibles. You’ll find treasures you can’t buy new and discounts on some items compared to full retail.
33. Buy online early. You never want to end up paying extra for expedited shipping to make sure something arrives on time.
34. Get an accountability buddy and talk each day about how well you’re sticking to your holiday budget.
35. Consider a group donation to a cause like the Heifer Project or The Hunger Site. Among adults, everybody can spend half or less than they normally spend on gifting one another and collectively make a big difference to somebody in need.
36. Hold potlucks for your holiday dinners to spread the cost of the meals around.
37. Cross off all your shopping needs before a specific date. Nothing escalates your spending like shopping last-minute and in a hurry.
38. Keep a small cache of inexpensive, fun gifts such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, wine or boxes of candy or cured meats. Use these for last-minute visitors instead of rushing out and overspending.
39. Have a streaming movie night instead of going out to the movies or a live show. With a large family, this alone can save the price of an entire person’s gifts.
40. Bake a LOT of cookies, then give a dozen or two for generic gifts. If you have the skills to make jams, pickles or other preserves, do that instead (or as well).
41. Conspire with family and friends to buy a single, amazing, high-cost gift together rather than individual mid-range gifts. The receiver will be blown away, and you’ll each spend less per person.
42. Know who honors online prices. Some stores will give you the online price for an item so they can make the sale in-house.
43. Prioritize your plans. Go just to the activities that really bring you joy. Leave the time and money from those others in your financial and emotional piggy banks.
44. Specify casual dress for parties you host if you’re often tempted to buy a new outfit to mark such occasions.
45. Add a personal touch. A $10 gift with some extra personal flair means just as much as (if not more than) a $50 item without it.
46. Borrow cold-weather clothes from your host if traveling. Boots and a parka can fill an entire bag, incurring extra baggage fees.
47. Regift (It’s not cheating!). Every year, you get at least one thing you hardly touch after unwrapping it. You know somebody who will love it as much as it deserves. As long as you don’t regift it to the original gifter (or someone else who knows its origin), it’s perfectly fine.
48. Buy gift wrap on clearance. This tip may have to wait until January but put some money aside now and make this an annual tradition. Plan to stock up about the same time you pack up the decorations.
49. Spend the whole year shopping. Create a savings fund for holiday shopping, to put aside money month by month for big-ticket gifts, and keep an eye out for that perfect, personal low-cost item starting in January or February.
50. Leave time for rest. If you’re exhausted, you’ll make worse decisions than if you’re at the top of your game. The holidays can be stressful, so take a few minutes daily to unwind.

Final Thought

We don’t expect you to use all 50 of these ideas. Instead, focus on the ones you see having the most impact to your present situation or in the areas where you know you’ve gone overboard during holiday seasons past. Then, get to work with implementing them one-by-one. Keep your holiday spending in check and your finances will thank you.

---

This article was contributed by David Settle, a finance journalist in New York and writer for Moneycrashers.com. He’s constantly crafting new tips to reduce his own family’s holiday spending.

1. https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=dishwash.pr_handwash_dishwash.