We all know that holidays are the best part of the year. It’s a season of spending and receiving. However, it’s also a costly period because we tend to overspend. This is due to a lack of a reasonable spending plan.
According to 2019 research from Cision PR Newswire, 61% of Americans feared the holiday season because of the financial burden it would bring them. I also used to dread this time because I would spend my money on unnecessary goods. Here are saving and spending tips that I have learned for a debt-free holiday.
1. Having a Manageable Spending Plan
A plan will help us track how much money we are spending. It also allows us to know how much we are willing to pay for the holiday season. A spending plan has also helped me understand how to allocate money for different services and goods. Knowing how much the holidays will cost also helps us understand how much money we are supposed to save to cover for them. A spending plan has also helped me create a savings account for my holidays. You can also spend your vacation watching movies with your friends. Many of the games, such as casinos, are prohibited in places, so you may need to use VPN services similar to Nordvpn vs Cyberghost in order to download them.
2. Giving Homemade Gifts
During holidays with my family, I have come to realize that they tend to appreciate homemade gifts more. Yes, giving an expensive gift is okay but there is no need to try to impress if we don’t have the money. Baking, making clothes, and festive ornaments are great homemade gifts. They don’t cost much also. Another good thing about giving homemade gifts is that I am able to buy presents from a shop the following holiday. This is because I am able to save money during the following year. There are times that I have also given out second-hand clothes. My family and friends loved them. The key is to not give torn items, though.
3. Comparing Prices of Goods
We tend to make the mistake of buying the first goods that we have seen without comparing the price in another shop. This could be rectified by adding a simple Price extension to our browser (or a similar one from a different price comparison website), that can help us compare the prices of a product without having to leave the screen. It’s a fact that there are shops that are more expensive than others and sites like these can help find the best deal there is. The ideal goal of a holiday gift is to find a high-quality present but at an affordable price. Fortunately, many of us nowadays have something like one of these cox internet plans so are pretty much constantly connected to the internet and able to look something that takes our fancy up as soon as we think of it.
4. Shopping Early
Shopping for gifts early allows us to buy gifts at affordable prices. This is because goods tend to be expensive during the holiday season. For example, we can buy a gift that costs $20 during the regular season, and during the holiday period, we find it with a price of $40. Shopping early also prevents impulse purchases. Impulse buying tends to make us break our budgets just because we have seen a gift that our loved ones may adore, even if we had already bought them gifts. I tend to shop online so that I can resist the urge of impulse buying. Shopping early and online also gives me the opportunity to save time. I will provide an example for a better understanding. One of my friends had asked me for help with a few gifts like souvenir tassels, diploma frames, and slick senior bags for his brother, who is probably in his senior year and would be graduating soon. When I told her that she should go for online shops like Jostens (https://www.jostens.com/graduation/high-school/gifts-and-keepsakes) as that would help her avail of several discounts, she seemed a bit surprised. She is more of an offline store person. But when she compared the price of the products found in online stores like with other land-based shops, she probably understood the difference. On top of that, online stores like the one mentioned above could also customize the products she wanted to purchase. Amazing, isn’t it?
5. Booking Travel for Holidays Early
My family loves traveling. I find resorts and hotels to be overpriced during the holiday season when I book late. Booking early gives me the opportunity to enjoy discounted prices. Hotels and flights have discounts during the low season because there aren’t a lot of people who are looking for those services. Another great hack is booking multiple airlines. Booking different airlines has given me the chance to know the affordable ones.
Conclusion
We don’t have to break the bank during the holiday season. We should instead find ways of knowing how to budget our money so that we don’t end up being stressed come January. This article has the best tips to get us started.
