Tag: holiday ideas

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Save Now for a Simpler Christmas Season

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It is only March, but now is a great time to begin a savings plan for the holiday season. By starting to save now, you will have a simpler Christmas season later!

Get Started

Start by making a comprehensive Christmas list. Include not only the gifts you buy, but all the extras you will need (decorations, lights, wrapping paper, etc.) Now, put what you want to spend on a gift next to each name and add a rough total amount that you’d like to spend on the extras. Once you have your total, make any adjustments to arrive at an amount that you are comfortable with and that is affordable – and then divide by the nine months that are remaining until Christmas. That is the amount you must save each month between now and December.

Shocked? That’s good! So often, we shop under pressure during the holidays and don’t even realize until the credit card bills come in January how much has actually been spent. With a budget in hand, you can save now and pay cash for holiday expenses, as well as take advantage of early gift purchases when you see something special.

Take Simple Steps

So, let’s say that you’d like to save around $1200 for Christmas, and you have nine months to do it. If you save roughly $135 a month between now and mid-December, your holidays will be paid for and you will not have the shock of January bills. Sounds good, but how?

In his article, “How to Save Money: 20 Simple Tips”, Dave Ramsey suggests ways to “find” money that can be saved for a special purpose, such as a holiday fund:

  • Cancel subscriptions you don’t use. I recently went through my Amazon charges and realized I have been paying for a subscription to a movie service that I apparently signed up for when renting a film one evening. I was also paying for Kindle Unlimited, which I had never used. By cancelling these, I save $25 each month. What subscriptions do you no longer use?
  • Cut your grocery bill. This could be an easy place to save at least $50 – $75 each month. Plan a few meals each week, look at what you have already before you shop, stick to the grocery list, and buy generic when you can. You may find your entire Christmas budget at the supermarket!
  • Explore cell phone and cable options. By streaming TV, rather than paying cable, you can save $50-$60 a month, and the same with switching cell phone carriers or eliminating features you don’t use or need.
  • Borrow or buy at a discount. When you do need to purchase something significant, check online marketplaces or even a Buy Nothing Group, if you have one in your area. Often you can find what you need for free, or at a greatly reduced cost – and save something from the landfill in the process.

Saving for Christmas may seen strange when spring is just arriving, but when the holiday crunch hits, you will be glad you did!

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Making (and Using) a Christmas Planner

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Now is a great time to create a Christmas planner! Why? Because the best way to have lots of good ideas for the upcoming Christmas season is to have a place to save and organize your ideas as they come.

My Christmas planner is a large binder, where I have sections for things that are most important to me: Gifts, Cards, Cooking, Decorating, Entertaining, and Crafts. Each section holds the key to what has worked well in the past, as well as new ideas I’d like to try.

Organize Your Ideas Section by Section

Gifts: This section has a computer-generated gift list that I update each year, adding new friends, family members or colleagues, and removing those for whom a gift is no longer appropriate. After each name, there is a space for recording gifts that have been purchased throughout the year. At the end of the list, there is a space for writing ideas for certain people as I think of them. I also keep gift ideas torn from magazines with notations on whom may like them.

Cards: In this section is another computer-generated Christmas card list that also serves as an address book when necessary. Each entry has the contact names and addresses (including names of children) and I keep it updated with each address change I receive. I also keep favorite past Christmas cards in the divider pocket for inspiration.

Cooking: Here I keep my favorite recipes that I plan to use again, as well as new recipes that I’ve found and know will fit my needs during the busy Christmas season, including those for large groups and that can be made ahead.

Decorating: For this section, I tear out and keep Christmas images that speak to me, that create the kind of vibe or color scheme I want for my home at Christmas time. When it comes time to decorate, I have inspiration at my fingertips.

Entertaining: I host an ornament exchange mid-December, and Christmas Day each year. In the past, I have also hosted a Christmas luncheon for friends. I love creating a festive setting and picking up new ideas to make these events special.

Crafts: Christmas crafts always make me smile. I keep patterns and directions for handmade items in this section, and when i am thinking of making a gift or a special decoration, I look here first.

Create a Christmas planner and use it to organize all your good ideas throughout the year. Come November and December (and even before then), you’ll be glad you did!

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