12 Easy Ways to Save Money During the Holidays

Don’t ever let holidays become a headache for you. All kinds of expenses might creep in when you have holidays and that may make you uncomfortable. So, it is best to save money during the holidays and be happy. Here are a few pretty practical ways to save money during the holidays that you can try too! ~ Ed.

Well, who doesn’t want to save money for a rainy day, whether it’s for the holidays or otherwise.

Didn’t we learn that every penny saved, is a penny earned! Saving is one of the basic habits that make rags to riches!

Even if not you are not aiming to be rich, at least you can try to refrain from spending unnecessarily – isn’t it?

With holidays like Christmas and New Year’s coming up, expenses are sure to rise. And everyone will surely wish for ways to save up money.

That includes me too, and that’s why I wanted to write this post – to share some useful ways to save money during the holidays. Or you can call it ways of spending sparingly and methods to conserve money.

Believe me; if you think about ways to save now, you will be much happier (if not richer) later in life.

So, without waiting further, here are simple ways to save money that will make your life easier, especially during the holidays.

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

A Dozen Ways to Save Money During the Holidays

There are many ways to save during the holidays if you really want to. (I mentioned this because it won’t happen unless you really want it to happen!)

Here are a few suggested ways for saving money:

Plan and Set a Budget

I know this may seem a tedious and boring job, but this is the first step, and one of the most important ways to save money. In fact, you actually end up saving chunks of money on the planning board itself!

You might tend to spend a lot if you don’t plan ahead. Just decide on how much you can afford to spend, and make sure you stick to that while buying things.

Check your list of things you want to buy twice. That’s because often you will find many things that you can easily do without, and that will save you a great deal of money too.

I remember the time when I was young, and how my parents used to give me a little money to teach me to buy things.

I was given the freedom to shop within that limited budget, and that’s one of the ways to save money during the holidays that I learnt when young. Nowadays, you can also use personal loans for all sorts of purposes, many of which come up with attractive terms and conditions.

Shop at Discount Shops

It’s better to shop at discount stores rather than malls because they often charge you for their overhead expenses.

Keep a look out for bargains, deals, and giveaways. Those finds become significantly more abundant during the holidays.

Also, keep a look out for coupons when you want to find ways to save up, especially during the holidays.

You could even join daily deal sites that are all over the Internet nowadays. They offer discounts for just about everything under the Sun, and are worth checking out.

When I was young, my Mom would prefer buying a little all year through and keeping it away for later. This helped a great deal because then you don’t feel the pinch only during the holiday time.

Better to Pay Cash

Some of you might find it better to pay through credit card, which includes my husband too. He believes this way you can earn enough points and redeem them for free gifts.

No doubt that too is a good way to save money if the plan executes in a controlled manner – within limits. But I feel it’s better to pay with cash so that you don’t have any pending balances left for later.

More so, using a credit card makes you fear that you’ll spend more than what you have. So unless you are careful while spending, you might overspend and regret later.

However, when you use cash you are fearless and take only the exact amount you’ve planned for. This way you create many ways to save money during the holidays and have peace of mind.

You might not realize it but you have to pay for the credit card fees and the unnecessary interest on things that you’re not even keeping at times!

Mailing Gifts

If you want to mail gifts to your family or friends, it’s best to know your shipping dates and deadlines.

If you delay in sending your gifts and do it all at the last minute, it might cost you more for shipping.

You should first shop for those who don’t live near you, so that you don’t have to pay more on the cost of shipping. This includes even the online gifts that you buy and want to have it shipped to someone.

Don’t forget to take out time to compare online shops to choose the best deals. They are great ways to save money during the holidays, which can make a big difference to your pocket. Needless to say – every drop accumulated creates a pond, if not an ocean.

Travel Options

Most of you might want to spend the holidays with your family, but it turns costly if you don’t plan your travel. More so, the flights turn costly and the highways remain jammed in most places.

One of the ways to save while travelling is to book your tickets well in advance, so that the charges are reduced to quite an extent.

Many families prefer staying at home on the actual holiday, though they celebrate and visit places a week or two early. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s one of the ways to save money during the holidays.

Food

Food during the holidays can turn costly because anything elaborate and expensive costs money. If possible, eat out occasionally and have your meals at home. It’s a cheaper and healthier option.

Not to mention the never ending guests who keep visiting, whether they are family or friends!

Sometimes you might tend to do a lot more because you feel it’s expected. However, you forget that people come to you or your parties to share your company and be with you, and not eat a gourmet meal.

So, it’s better to have more fun and minimize the expenses. And if they are your family members or close friends, there is no harm is asking them to bring a dish along so that you can all share up the meal.

Other ways to save are to take advantage of the grocery store sales that take place during the holidays.

You can stock up your non-perishables this time, and buy extra food and freeze them for later.

Get Creative

This was another way to save my Mom taught me. She used to tell me to be creative and do things that didn’t require much of spending.

Speaking of which, we always made our own hand-made greeting cards when we were young. There was thus no need to buy and send them.

Of course, nowadays you have a cheaper option of sending ecards for Christmas, which is one of the best ways to save up on your card and postage.

We also used to make homemade gifts, which could be anything creative and thoughtful. A collage, burning a compilation CD, baked gifts that are personal and low in cost, or just about anything that has your heart in it.

More so, when you wrap up gifts yourself, you add a personal touch to them – so that’s another way to save on the gift wrapping counter. And you deliver the gift yourself instead of mailing them too.

As kid’s we even made use of any kind of paper or bag lying around the house and decorated or dyed it up. Just by making it look fancy and pretty, you can use it to wrap the gifts.

I’m sure you will love this creative video showing you many tips and ways to save money during the holidays.

Decorations

You can save up a lot on decorations by keeping things simple, which is one of the ways to save money during the holidays too.

Get your children and other family members involved in using their crafting skills to make decorations at home.

Though do these before your holidays begin, so that they aren’t involved in decorations alone!

House Guests

Whether you like it or not, family or friends would love to visit you for the holidays. The cost of hosting many people, even if it’s for a few days can add up to your expenses.

You need to find ways to save right up from the meals to activities, and the entertainment.

One way is to ask your close friends and neighbors in advance for help where extra beddings, dishes, or games for entertainment are concerned.

You could even plan out outings based on free local events like visits to the museums, old work of arts, galleries, exhibitions, or such things.

Take Care of Your Bills

You need to take special care of your electricity bills that soar during the holidays. During your winter holidays wear warmer clothes so that you don’t need to keep the temperature up.

Even using candles or fire, which make you feel warm and cozy are great ways to save up during the winter months.

Similarly, use less of the air-conditioners during summers by adopting natural ways to remain cool.

Don’t forget to take care of your phone bills because during holidays you do tend to spend a lot on calls. Pay attention to the times you make or take calls, and don’t go overboard.

Buy and Keep

More easy ways to save include buying for next year, especially when the holiday season is over. That’s the time everything goes on sale, so buy and keep things for next year.

This way you avoid the holiday stress next year too.

Gifts

It’s far better to focus on one big gift rather than many small gifts, especially when you have to gift someone something.

Try buying one or two bigger gifts rather than spending more on buying many smaller gifts. This ways you will save up more.

Remember, not every gift requires cash. Other ways to save when you really don’t have to spend money are:

• Write a poem for a family member about something that you or they like.
• You can interview an elder in the family about a particular life event and make them feel special. This is a nice time to make those elders who are a little depressed come out of it too.
• Take family pictures and later give a copy to each one.
• Make an album or scrapbook with last year’s pictures.

More than anything else spend time with your loved ones more than the money. They will value it much more.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”  ~ Will Smith

Wrapping Up

Yes, you need time to follow all these ways to save money during the holidays. Make it all part of the family time that you can spend when you are all together, and keep it away from your busy and hectic schedule.

Remember, the best earnings are the moments of happiness, fun, and togetherness in the family.

Just make sure your holidays are less expensive and stressful, instead more enjoyable and creative.

Over to you –

What more ways to save money would you suggest, especially during the holidays? Share in the comments below.