The holidays are quite literally the most magical time of year. Whether your family believes in Santa Claus or celebrates Hanukkah, you can’t deny the spirit of the season. Christmas is a milestone holiday for our family: this was the holiday where we almost lost everything because of my over-spending. I wanted to give my daughters the world—as any parent would—and, because of my lack of budgeting for holiday spending, it brought our family into a debt spiral. After climbing out of that hole, I decided to make it my mission to help others around me with budgeting tips and learning to enjoy the holidays without feeling guilty. In this month’s Beautifully Frugal article, I provide a blueprint to consider when planning your holiday budget and a few tips you can use to enjoy the holiday season while saving.
Create your Holiday Budget
This may seem like a no-brainer, yet creating a holiday budget is the starting point for anyone looking to track their holiday expenses. For my family, this could be setting a specific dollar amount per person to spend on gifts. This gives us a clear breakdown of what to budgeting per person, and how much in total we’ll need to set aside when the time comes to shop. From there, we divide the total amount by twelve to break-down how much we will need to set aside per month until gift-buying time. Although Christmas is right around the corner, this is a great way to get your toes wet in 2023!
Consider Selling Old Toys
Every November, I encourage and help my daughters get rid of some of their old toys. We do this Marie Kondo style, meaning I hold up every one of their toys and, if it doesn’t bring them joy, we toss it in the For Sale bin. It took my daughters a few years to learn how to let go of some toys they outgrew and begin to realize not every toy we are given needs to be kept forever. We acknowledge the memory toys have given us and let them go. This also helps us make room for new toys for the future.
Have a Gift Exchange
Purchasing gifts for everyone can get expensive fast. Organize a gift exchange instead! Holiday gift exchanges are a great way to save money, and also have that fun gift-giving feeling. To do a holiday gift exchange, place every person’s name into a hat and do a random selection. The name of the person you get is who you buy a gift for! With this approach to holiday gift-giving, you’ll be able to save everyone some extra cash and time spent shopping.
Start a Less Expensive Tradition
My family is HUGE on family traditions. Every year, we used to make large cookie boxes for all our friends and family, with a huge assortment of cookies and truffles. I really enjoyed doing this because I love to cook and it taught my daughters that when we put time and love into food and gifts for others, it brings us joy. However, this was one of our more expensive traditions and I was easily spending close to $150 on ingredients, cute cookie boxes, and labels.
After Christmas the year we hit rock bottom, I told myself that the next Christmas would be different. So, the following year I decided we were not going to spend our time and money on making dozens of cookie boxes, and instead make a small batch of cookies just for our family. One day, I plan to bring back my famous cookie boxes, but only after we have achieved our money goals. I want to emphasize that even though my family has overcome serious financial obstacles and has significantly more financial peace today, we still are not finished with our financial journey; changes we made to help us save early in our journey are still changes we choose to keep today.
Less is More
You can easily get wrapped up in purchasing loads of gifts for your kids and making your Christmas tree look Instagram-worthy. Do you want to hear the honest truth? All four of my children would still chose an empty water bottle to play with over all those baby toys with fancy lights. So yes, our Christmas tree does look great with a bunch of gifts under it, but sometimes less is more. Our kids won’t remember every small gift they receive on Christmas, but they will remember precious time spent with family—so make a few gifts worthwhile and put more energy into creating lasting memories.
Time is Valuable
Our family hosted an exchange student a few years ago while we were in the thick of paying off our debt and living on a very frugal budget. To add to that, it was when Christmas was right around the corner. I started to panic—I wanted to give her a Christmas to remember, and in my mind, I was consumed with the idea our Christmas tree had to be full of gifts for this notion to be true. I remember asking her what she wanted for Christmas, and was stunned by her response of, “Just spending time with you is enough.” Her kind tone reassured me, at the end of the day quality time is much more valuable than gifts. Regardless of the activity you are doing, make it a habit to spend quality time with your kids, and maybe even educate them about the importance of enjoying life in the present moment. You just may be surprised by their response!
The holiday season truly is magical, and I want you to enjoy this time even after the credit card bill is due. Budget for the season, and save yourself the mountain of guilt that comes after the holiday spending. Make a choice to enjoy the entirety of the season, rather than the excitement leading up to it. Learn new healthy habits, practice thankfulness and appreciate what you have. Communicate with your family, and as always, if you ever need encouragement, support or creative ideas, KerberRose Wealth Management is here to help!
About Alex
Alex is one of our financial wellness advocates on our Wealth Management team. She is a mom of four, and her passion is sharing her own personal finance journey from living paycheck to paycheck and drowning in debt to finding financial peace. Alex's unique experience has given her the ability to help families take control of their own personal finances - all while still enjoying what life has to offer.
Contact: alex.miller@kerberrose.com