The ultimate guide to manage holiday spending simply reflects our WELLthy ways to navigate the most wonderful time of the year stress-free. We do not want to turn the gift-giving during Christmas into a major budget buster or spending hangover so Hubby and I decided when we became parents to make Christmas more about the celebration of Christ’s birth and less about our children’s wants.
WELLthy money management of budgeting, spending, saving and giving should be embraced all year round and not just during the holidays. I remember when I first started working while in college and opened my very first checking account at a credit union, I also opened a Christmas account with the advice of my banker, set a holiday spending goal, broke it down in ten manageable monthly transfers throughout the year to cover any holiday expense that I may incur and Voila! It made my holiday spending more intentional and stress-free.
The ultimate guide to manage holiday spending is to shift the focus from overspending to spending time being present and reflecting on the most important gift of all, God’s ultimate gift of joy and peace in our heart and home. Here are some money tips that are helping us stay on track when it comes to manage our holiday spending:
- Establish a realistic holiday budget and stick to it. Creating a realistic spending plan for the holidays will help you manage and stay on target with your budget. This definitely sets you on the path of staying focused and not be burdened by the stress of spending and shopping.
- Be a smart consumer. I love the convenience of the internet to help you research and compare prices for ultimate savings. I am learning to be a smart consumer by seeing what is offered online or in stores before making any purchase. For online shopping, it helps when you can make most of your purchases on FREE shipping day which happens to be December 14 this year and save money along the way.
- Be creative with various gift options. This year we are gifting our girls with a family travel experience which is more meaningful to us and our girls than things. We have limited holiday gift giving to our girls only because we want to simply keep the focus of celebrating Christmas about Christ instead of playing Santa for all.
- Plan early and throughout the year. This planning mindset encouraged me not only to start saving for Holiday giving as early as January but not to wait for Black Friday to stock up or buy gifts but to shop for holiday gifts throughout the year which helped me avoid not only rushing during the holidays but save my sanity.
The ultimate guide to manage holiday spending is understanding that there is more to Christmas than buying present. Christmas for our family carries a deeper meaning of God’s ultimate gift of love, joy and peace for us all. Hubby and I choose in the name of celebrating the birth of our Savior to instill all that love, joy and peace represents. No parents want to be dubbed Scrooge or Grinch but most importantly no parent wants to do a disservice to their child being burdened by the stress of overspending and over the top gift giving. We are embracing that it’s for freedom that Christ has set us free and stand firm during the holidays against any budget buster or spending hangover to enjoy that freedom in well-being as well as wealth building!
