Save Money for the Holidays and Start Budgeting

Need to save money for the holidays?

Believe it or not, saving for the holidays can be easier than you think with the right money mindset.

The holidays are my favorite time of year. Spending time with family, lots of food, and giving and receiving gifts always make for a good time. Unfortunately, for many the holiday season can bring with it financial stress. It doesn’t have to be this way.Planning ahead is all it takes to avoid turning a happy time into a stressful one. 

I want to go over the steps to take to make sure that you get to enjoy this holiday season with zero financial stress. The key is starting early but even if you’re starting late, these strategies can still be scaled and implemented in time for happy holidays. 

Save Money for the Holidays: Table of Contents

1. 1. Create a budget
   2. Create a plan to save money
   3. Adjust as necessary
   4. Reduce your planned expenses
   5. Increase planned holiday funds

Know your goals

This is important because if you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish, how can you accomplish it? 

Close your eyes and imagine this year’s holiday season. Imagine the people, the food, the gifts, and the travel. As you imagine this, take out a piece of paper and pen and start making a list of everything that you plan on purchasing. 

Ask yourself important questions. Will you be hosting? Are you traveling for the holidays? Do you have a large family with a lot of children? The answers to these questions will help inform your budget and what your estimated expenditures will be. 

Create a budget

Now that you have an idea of what you will be spending for the holidays, it’s time to add it into your budget. Don’t have one already? Get started here.
You will need to figure out how much you are going to need to save before the holidays to cover your intended amount of spending. The more you plan to spend and the closer to the holidays, the more you will need to save each month. 

Let’s assume you will need $1,000 and you have four months to save. That means you will need to save $250 each month to reach your goal. Keep in mind that you will want your money ready ahead of time so make sure that you factor that into your time frame. 

Create a plan to save money for the holidays

Alright, so you know how much you need and how long before you need it. You’ve figured out how much you need to save each week and month in order to reach your goal. Time to figure out how to do it. 

Planning and budgeting is the fun and easy part. Now it’s time to get to work. Don’t worry, this part is fun too. 

If you have enough disposable income, setting aside an extra couple hundred dollars each month may not be too bad. However, if things are tight, this can be a huge undertaking. Don’t worry though, there is still hope. This is where fully utilizing your budget comes in. 

Take a look at your expenses each period. Is everything necessary? Are there areas where you can make cuts? If so, no better time then now. 

Now take a look at your income each period. If your income varies paycheck to paycheck, are there ways you can increase it? Can you work more hours by signing up for overtime or picking up extra shifts? Even if you are on a fixed income, there are ways to increase what you bring home each month, you just have to get creative. 

Adjust as necessary

Sometimes when you have the numbers in front of you, reality sets in and tries to upset your plans. You can handle this a couple of ways. 

If you find that your planned spending is too much, the simplest way to fix this is to plan to spend less. This is totally fine and can help relieve stress by not setting unrealistic expectations on what is doable. This also doesn’t mean having less fun during the holidays. You may find that this approach is more fun and rewarding. 

The other option is to increase your available funds to match your planned spending. This means making more money. This may actually be easier than you think and can be good practice toward reaching some of your other goals, like saving for an emergency fund.

Reduce your planned expenses

Reducing your planned expenses can be done a number of ways and absolutely doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. In fact, I recommend doing this regardless of your planned spending because this will maximize your money for the holidays. 

1. DIY Gifts

One great way to reduce spending during the holidays is to create your own gifts. You don’t have to be creative to do this, either. There are countless people online who will lend you their creative skills and ideas so that you can create amazing DIY gifts that will surprise you and your loved ones. 

If you are creative then you should be doing this anyway. Gifts that are made by hand are special and carry sentimental value that just can’t be bought.

There are a number of tutorials on Youtube for any gift idea that you can think of and tons more that you never would have thought of. Etsy is also a great option for personalized gifts that may not technically be made by you but have your personal touch and are often much less than a store bought gift. 

2. Shop sales (Be strategic)

Shopping sales can be challenging when waiting until the last minute to do your shopping. However, if you plan ahead there are opportunities to be had that can save you hundreds of dollars. 

Probably the most obvious sale to mention is the Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday sales that take place after Thanksgiving. If you can be strategic with your timing, these are great sales to take advantage of. 

Keep a look out for available sales on items that you know you plan on purchasing as there might be another sale earlier in the year that can make an early purchase worth it. This is one reason planning far in advance can be helpful. 

3. Earn cash back

Earning cash back on purchases is an easy way to reduce your spending this holiday season. Apps like Rakuten and Ibotta partner with thousands of retailers to help you earn cash back on purchases that you make everyday, including holiday purchases. 

This effectively reduces the prices of your purchase. You don’t have to only use this for your holiday spending either. Using these apps will help you reduce the cost of all sorts of items that you purchase regularly, helping you spend less all year. 

Increase your planned holiday funds

If you find that you need more than you have to reach your goals and spending less just isn’t an option, there are ways to increase your budget. 

Earning more money with a side hustle and selling unused items are just a couple of the many ways to make more money for the holidays. 

4. Find a side hustle

Earning more money with a side hustle is about as straightforward as it gets. What’s really great is that there are so many options out there for side hustles. Do you like driving? You can drive for Uber or Lyft, or make deliveries for DoorDash. Do you have a special skill or talent? Freelancing on Fiverr or Upwork could be an amazing option for you. You can even perform tasks for people through TaskRabbit. These are just a few of the possibilities. 

5. Sell stuff

Are you tired of clutter or tripping over that extra vacuum cleaner that you never use? Sell it! I challenge you to take stock of your possessions and assess whether you really need or use everything that you own. 

Selling unused items can help declutter your home and make extra space for the things that you actually use regularly. You will be amazed at the difference that getting rid of stuff can make. We’ve moved quite a bit over the last several years and each time we try to get rid of more and more stuff. Each time we feel better about our space and we’ve really grown to appreciate what we have. It’s a win-win. 

6. Find other ways to make extra money

While these are two very effective ways to make extra money, there are so many more. If you are looking for more ways to make extra money, definitely read our article, 15+ Ways to Make More Money Right Now. We go over some really unique ways to make more money that might surprise you. 

7. Reduce unwanted spending

When trying to make more money and spend less money, it’s always a good idea to identify areas where you are losing money without realizing it. 

I’m talking about the little things that add up to big amounts. Things like unused subscriptions, spending too much on gas, and seemingly small purchases that don’t seem like much at the time but chip away at your paycheck. 

Reducing your spending starts with finding out where all your money is going. Once you know that, the rest is easy.

Get excited!

All that’s left now is to get excited! The holidays are a wonderful time for reconnecting with family and taking stock of what is important in life. 

Don’t let the stress of the holidays take hold this year. With a little planning, budgeting, and some creativity, you’ll be able to brave the holiday season with a smile on your face and money in the bank. 

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