The festive season can pressurize most of us to buy the best gifts, latest outfits, and travel to exotic places (or even just to see family)! While these could all be fun and games, it might dampen the mood when you receive that credit card bill.
Try to avoid overspending with our smart tips on how to save during the festive season!
Cut Down On Your Daily Expenses
If you find yourself spending a lot on cab hailing services, food deliveries, or dining out; it’s a good time to cut on those spendings prior to the holiday season.
Tip: Limit yourself to only dining out once a week, or perhaps try to cook your own meals to bring
You can start to keep money aside from those spending cuts and create a holiday savings account where you can deposit/transfer that money. This can then be later used for shopping during the holidays.
Cash Is Good
With us becoming a more cashless society, many tend to get ourselves into a post-holiday financial debt. Instead of swiping your card, it is easier to control your spending if you decide to use cash (and see it depleting). Make a daily envelope budget where you can only spend what has been set aside in that envelope daily.
And if you exhaust your daily envelope budget (cash), resist using your credit/debit card for that day. This would also make it easier to talk about what’s next – a shopping list.
Plan & Stay Committed To Your Holiday Shopping List
We all know this – you might spend more or buy excessively when you go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. However, your spending is kept in check if you stick to your grocery list.
Similarly, have a list and budget when you head out to do some holiday shopping. This way, you will be less tempted to pick up the latest items or add more to your cart when you’re already in the queue. If you don’t have a particular object in mind, set a budget beside each person’s name and find the best valued item in store.
Sales and Cash Backs
A budget should be planned out a month or maybe even a couple of months before the holiday season. Deciding on the list of people who you want to gift and what you want to gift can really help limit the spending and therefore, allow you to spend more on yourself when the season comes. Additionally, looking out for sales and heavy discounts on gifts way before the holiday season starts can be helpful as well.
Other than that, using your loyalty points, checking out members-only rewards or exclusive discounts can be a tactic to save money.
Homemade, Handmade
Instead of buying luxurious items as gifts, you can give it a go at handmade gifts. Thoughtful, one-of-a-kind and cost-savvy; why not?
Tech You Away
Take advantage of the technology readily available today by using expense management applications or expense trackers by linking your payment applications and debit/credit cards to the tracker.
These trackers have reminders and limits which can notify the user regarding their spending habits and balance as per their budget set. This helps in keeping track of daily expenses and avoiding excessive spending.
Spend Less & Enjoy More
The whole point of the holiday season is to have an enjoyable time. Keep yourself stress-free, maintain your sanity, and recharge by ensuring that you don’t have a huge debt at the end of it.
With that, have everything planned out and stay prepared way before the holiday season to ensure a happy and enjoyable season.
