8 Tips To Help You Get Through The Christmas Holidays Debt-Free

 

Santa’s coming! The children are eagerly hanging up there stockings, dreaming of all the gifts, and cookies they know are coming there way. Houses are being lit up with different hues, and greenery to celebrate one of the most popular festivities worldwide.

 

But as parents, we know that Christmas can be…

 

Well…

 

Really darn stressful! Am I right, or am I right?

 

When you are tight on cash, the last thing you want to do is blow hundreds of dollars on gifts, but you feel as if you need to, in order to make the holiday that much more special for loved ones.

 

The good news is that it is possible to get through the season without completely burning your wallet up. Even better, through this article, we plan to highlight some tips to help you do just that.

 

Ready to get into it?

 

You Need To Use That Awful B-Word… Budget

calculator

Budget! Budget! Budget!

 

I know, you are probably thinking, “No, please… anything but that.”

 

Trust me, I feel the exact same way about budgeting and micro-managing my money. However, due to the giddiness of Christmas holidays, sometimes it’s easy to forget how tight you are on cash and get carried away.

 

Which could end in the possibility of repossession, and we don’t want that to happen!

 

Which is where a budget comes in incredibly helpful.

 

You can use it to determine exactly what you need in your account to handle unavoidable expenses. Which in turn, gives you a better idea of what you can responsibly afford to use to spoil your loved ones.

 

From there, what I like doing is making a list of people that I absolutely need to get gifts for. And split up my gift budget according to that. This makes it easier to find gifts in my price range for each of my family members, without worrying about being kicked to the curb.

 

Christmas Is A Perilous Road Filled With Pot Holes And Hidden Expenses

Bag gifts

It could be an unexpected date on Christmas Eve. The plane ticket down to your family. Heck, it could even be the cost of having to buy one more set of wrapping paper for all the gifts.

 

Regardless of what it is…

 

You are almost always guaranteed to run into unexpected expenses over Christmas. Which is why it is incredibly important to plan for this in the budget that you set out for yourself. Make sure you allocate a reasonable hidden cost section in your “necessary” expenses.

 

Forget About Going In-Store, Shop Online

 

We live in the digital age.

 

We have thousands and thousands of online stores looking to exploit the buzz of the festivities with steep discounts, crazy sales, and outright awesome products.

 

What that means is you have the opportunity to save an absolute fortune! But it would require a time investment to find the right retailers to get your gifts from.

 

Even if you find someone who sells exactly what you are looking for, it’s important to do a price comparison between various e-commerce stores to ensure that you are getting the best price you can possibly get for whatever you are buying.

 

Let Your Family Spoil You

Merry Christmas

I bet you have spoiled yourself at least once on Christmas with the ideology, “I also deserve to be spoilt.”

 

Am I right?

 

I know this because it’s an inner argument I have with myself every year.

 

Those new headphones I have wanted all year that cost $300. The shiny pair of shoes for $799. The new car for who knows what.

 

All of these are unnecessary expenses.

 

You have loved ones, and if you are looking to spoil them for Christmas, chances are they are looking to do the exact same thing for you.

 

So, instead of wasting money spoiling yourself when you know the money will be tight, leave the spoiling to them. Not only will this help you save money. But it would also give you a better budget to get something your loved ones will really appreciate on Christmas.

 

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