Get the Perfect Gifts, While Reducing Stress and Spending!

The Holidays are considered a time of joy, but holiday spending can put a damper on your holiday cheer if you don’t manage your budget and plan ahead.

Here are some strategies to reduce your stress and spending this holiday season:

#1: Choose your budget

Buying gifts around the holidays can be overwhelming. To have a budget in mind before you hit the malls can save you time and money.

Make a list of all the people you need to shop for this season and the amount you want to spend on each person. To get your gift budget add up each amount and the sum is your budget.

Make sure you bring this list with you when you are shopping and stick to it. To make it even easier for you, make a list of each item you want to buy for each person.

This helps you to stick to one item per person, and cuts out extra spending and impulse buys. Make sure your budget isn’t more than you can afford. If it is, cut down the prices.

Gift certificates are also a great way to cut extra spending. Make sure you include wrapping paper, greeting cards, decorations and postage expenses in with your budget.

# 2: Limit your Holiday Activities:

The holidays can be filled with special events, such as holiday parties at work, with friends or family. Unfortunately, these things can dip into your holiday spending by increasing the amount of gift giving and create more stress for you and your family. Instead of attending all events attend one or two and ask to bake something rather than buy a gift or send a box of homemade cookies to those whose parties you cannot attend. Small but nice gestures can save you money and are more personal.  

# 3: Leave your credit cards at home:

Pay with cash around the holidays. This may seem impossible when buying for a group of people but it stops you from overspending and keeps you out of credit- card debt. Set aside a fixed amount of cash a week (that fits into your budget) for gifts.

# 4: Set a limit with your friends and coworkers:

Buying for a lot of people adds up. Set a spending limit with your friends and coworkers. Suggest a secret Santa or a holiday auction in which you buy one gift for a small amount. This way no one feels pressured to spend extra or guilty that they didn’t.

In Conclusion

We hope that these tips help you to keep your holiday expenses to a reasonable level, but also ensure that you enjoy the holidays, with out having to worry about the bills for it in January.

After all, this is the season of giving, it shouldn't be the season of getting into debt.

Happy holidays from the team at EOgroup!