In this week's episode, we are discussing strategies for keeping Christmas frugal while still giving generously. https://www.balancedfi.com/5-tips-for-a-frugal-christmas/
Welcome to the Balanced FI Podcast, episode 27 - 5 Tips for a Frugal Christmas
Gift-giving doesn’t have to bankrupt you. To save money on Christmas, consider:
To make next year less stressful, save for Christmas throughout the year
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Source: 4 Gifts for Christmas: How to Make Your Family Happy With Less
📍 📍 Hey there, this is episode 27 of the Balanced Five podcast, Five Tips for a Frugal Christmas. Welcome to the Balanced Five podcast, where we talk about balancing intentional debt payoff, saving money, and actually living your life. I'm your host, Raelia. Small business owner, wife, girl mom, non profit co founder, and money nerd.
This is an audio version of the Balanced Five blog, because I know how hard it is to find time to sit down and read literally anything. Instead, you can get quick bits of money knowledge on the go. I want to help you learn to control your money, instead of letting your money control you. Let's get started.
You can have a frugal Christmas if you carefully plan and shop around. Spending money doesn't make you more loved, but spending wisely helps. So my husband and I both have divorced and remarried parents, and our kids are lucky enough to have seven grandparents. He has half siblings, I have step siblings.
We have nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. I have over 50 first cousins. Buying gifts for all of those people can really add up, so we have worked hard to find frugal Christmas gift ideas. My first tip for a frugal Christmas is to simplify your giving list. Pair down who you do buy gifts for, but make sure to communicate with your families about the changes.
Explain that this is coming from a place of financial security, not because you've become a miser, hello Scrooge, or that you hate Christmas now, or that you don't love your family. You can even share your financial goals if that's comfortable for you, and maybe you'll inspire someone else. Some ways to do this are to buy for immediate family only.
Buy for nieces, nephews, siblings, parents also. Buy for nieces and nephews and draw names for the other adults in your family. Draw names for just one other family member. Buy for nieces and nephews and purchase one white elephant gift for another adult. and with a white elephant exchange. The rules vary, but usually it's a gift that you buy for anyone in the group.
It can be traded and sometimes it's often a, it's a joke gift or something odd, like not really a serious nice gift. You could also share the cost of larger gifts for your nieces and nephews or your parents or grandparents with another aunt, uncle, or the grandparents. To easily draw names, I like using drawnames.
com. You can even save your setup from year to year so you're not stuck purchasing for the same person two years in a row. It also lets you put restrictions on who people can draw, so that allows me to do one draw with both my mom and my stepmom and not have to worry about that awkwardness. And it sends out reminder emails on your behalf.
For my own kids, I love the idea of the four gift rule because it fits within my minimalist ideals. Plus, it's a more frugal Christmas gift plan. Each child receives only four things. Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. Tip two, plan ahead and make a budget. For my immediate family, so my husband and my children, we buy three to four gifts for each child together, plus stocking stuffers for all four of us.
My husband usually breaks that rule and buys a few small things that he thinks the girls will like too. In our marriage, we have been choosing our own gifts. Often we choose a more expensive item that we wouldn't buy ourselves, and expensive to us means like 200. This way we get exactly what we each want, and I don't have to spend hours agonizing over which article of hunting clothing is really the best.
He goes out, does the research, tells me what he wants, and I buy it. It's so easy. For our nieces and nephews, we budget 20 per child. We also usually consult with the child's parents first, too. So we're selecting a gift that they really want, that won't result in one of our kids receiving a retaliatory drum set next year.
In the past, when we drew names for other adults in our families, we had limits of 50 or 100, depending on what the family decided. Now, around November 1st, I begin brainstorming ideas for my kids, our nieces and our nephews. I should write it down, but it's all in my head for now. This allows me to shop around and take advantage of sales, since I already have an idea of what I want to purchase.
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Black Friday is now basically a two week long sales frenzy, so it's pretty easy to find something you'd like to give that's on sale. You can sign up for emails from your favorite retailers and receive notifications of sales. Those emails can be distracting and hard to resist though, so I usually just check out a few favorite retailers and look for sales myself.
I don't sign up for their email lists. Any small amount of Googling will tell you what is on sale, either online or in store during this time. I also check Rakuten for cash back and sales opportunities too. Once you sign up, you can just use the Rakuten website or browser extension to search for the store, brand, or specific item that you're looking for.
You do have to check out through Rakuten, but you can get up to 25 percent cash back, and those higher amounts are rare, but throughout the year you can almost always find something with 5 percent cash back. You don't have to pay anything extra. The retailers provide Rakuten with the cash back as a form of marketing.
And the web browser extension gives you a list of available like coupon codes or sales. So it makes it really easy to find sales at a certain store without a lot of searching. Last year, I purchased Kiwi Coke crates for. One of my nieces and three different nephews. A sale was going on, plus I got cash back from Rakuten.
I was able to give more than expected and stay within my budget. And if you don't know what KiwiCo is, it's one of those subscriptions where They send out like a craft to the kids, once a month. I only purchased, I think it was like a three month subscription for each kid. And I split that with my other sister, who is the niece to them, or who is an aunt to them.
Sorry. So it was really affordable and the kids were able to get more than just one small present for making something is the ultimate frugal Christmas gift. If you have a skill, use it. My husband and I can, or freeze, a lot of food from our garden. And we also purchase fruit and can jellies and jams throughout the year.
Shelf stable items like this are great, cheap gifts for local recipients. You obviously don't want to mail a whole box of canned jelly across country, but if you're seeing somebody this holiday season, drop off a jar. You can also assemble some really cute dry baked good mixes. Basically, you just put all the dry ingredients for a batch of cookies or brownies in a jar, slap on a ribbon, and print out a recipe card.
With a little effort, you can look creative and thoughtful. If you sew, knit, or crochet, consider making small items as gifts. You might need to start a little earlier than if you're purchasing gifts, so hopefully it's not too late this year, but you can plan ahead for next year. My husband's grandma knit little dish scrubber pads for us about 10 years ago as Christmas gifts, and I still use those every week.
I prefer them over any other scrubber I've ever used, and they're just a cheap little easy to make thing for her. She's also given us afghans over the years, but those take a lot of time and yarn, so they're probably not the most frugal gift. And tip five, give secondhand gifts. During normal times, we like to browse secondhand stores.
We buy clothes for our kids there, if we can find them, but we've also purchased gifts. A couple of years ago, my nephew was obsessed with the solar system, and we happened to find a huge book on that topic at Goodwill for 3. So we snagged that for his Christmas gift. If you know someone who loves vintage clothing or expensive labels, thrift stores can be a great source.
Also, check out sites like Poshmark and ThredUp. I have also re gifted items I didn't like or need. And that might sound harsh, but I hate to waste perfectly good things. What's the point if it's just gonna sit in my closet? Obviously, you need to be careful who you re gift to, so don't give that item back to the original giver or somebody close to them.
But this can be done tastefully. Also, remember to never give away dirty, worn out, or used items like candles or lotions. Nobody wants your junk. Bonus tip. Plan for next year's frugal Christmas. While you're buying gifts this year, remember to save your receipts or track your spending somehow, which you should be doing anyway.
Get an idea of how much you spent this year, and does that really fit in your budget? Does it align with your goals? Use this insight to plan for next year. Determine your Christmas budget for next year and then divide that amount by 12. So you want to do this before the beginning of January. That is how much you need to save each month to avoid going into debt for buying gifts.
If that amount isn't reasonable, you probably need to cut your Christmas spending. Transfer the savings into a savings account each month and you'll be able to breathe easily next holiday season. Also, remember to shop for next year's decorations or gifts on December 26th. Everything will be on sale then.
To recap, gift giving doesn't have to bankrupt you. To save money on Christmas, consider 1. Simplifying your giving list. 2. Planning ahead and making a budget. 3. Shopping sales and looking for cash back. 4. Making your gifts. And 5. Giving second hand gifts. To make next year less stressful, save for Christmas throughout the coming year.
What should you do next? Actually use these strategies to keep your Christmas costs down. Choosing just one of these methods could really save you a lot of money and help you be able to afford everything on your list. Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy the Balance Five podcast, I'd be so grateful if you left us a review on iTunes or told a friend.
As always, you can head to balancedfi. com to connect with me and stay in touch. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter at BalancedFI. Until next time, stay intentional and look for balance.