Are you already stressing out about the upcoming holiday season and having a Cost-Effective Holiday? Looking for ways to easily budget your decor, food, and gift shopping? Keep reading for my holiday budgeting tips & tricks that are sure to help save you from those holiday money blues and keep your family traditions alive.
This post has been updated from its original posting date of September 20th, 2020. It has brand-new product references and links.
The holidays are fast approaching, and with that comes the beginning of shopping for gifts. This is always one of my favorite things to do and I love spoiling my friends and family. But it can get out of hand easily, so I thought what better way to help both you and me than to chat about holiday budgeting tips & tricks? Stay tuned till the end for a FREE budgeting printable too!
I have never been good with money, and I married a man who has worked in finance for most of his adult life. So I knew he’d keep me in line. But even that tends to slip away when you are married to a giver. He loves spoiling our kiddos, mostly, and I am not mad about it. But we’ve never really sat down and prepared for the holiday season. Do you budget and prepare for all the gifts you will be buying?
Ways to Put Cash Aside
Let’s chat about ways to put cash aside and save for the upcoming holidays. Some people have a separate checking account that they transfer over during the year, but there are a couple of other ways as well:
- Cash Envelopes- put cash away every month and by the time holiday shopping comes around, you are set
- Visa Gift Cards- Purchase these every month during the year and soon you’ll have them set aside for purchasing gifts OR you can give them as gifts/stocking stuffers
Major Areas of Holiday Spending
Next, I’m chatting about the major areas of spending when it comes to the holidays. There is always one that I tend to forget about when I am planning, so it’s good to keep that in mind when you are figuring out your budget.
Setting Your Food Budget For the Holidays
This is a big category, especially if you plan to host lots of family and friends. Setting aside money for this area is a great idea. On the free printable, I’ve included a sheet for where you plan to buy food and the foods you are going to buy. Start planning ahead by seeing when your local stores put those foods out during the season. Canned items and freezer items can be bought months in advance and that’s one less thing to think about. Make sure to stock up as soon as you see these items hit the shelves.
Budgeting for Decorations
Decor is one of my favorite areas to shop for. If you want to see how I decorated our front porch this year, head on over to my porch post and take a peek. I always try and look for items that are on sale and ones that I will use year after year.
I’m enjoying the minimalist mindset this year so I’m only using what I absolutely love, and what I don’t end up using goes to Goodwill. A great way to stock up on discounted decor is when it’s the beginning and end of the seasons. That’s when things tend to go on sale and it’s usually really good prices.
Budgeting for Gifts
First things first, you need to sit down with your significant other, or whoever you will be buying gifts with, and really map out who you are buying for and how much you will be spending. We have SO many family members, but moving away to another state has cut that down drastically. Now we buy gifts for fewer people:
- Kiddos
- Each other
- My parents (they recently moved here too) and brother
- My niece and nephew
- Whatever family member comes to visit which is usually my MIL
- Pets
While you are sitting down with your family and talking about holiday shopping, come up with a budgeted number for each person/family you are buying for. It’s a good idea to add an extra $100 to that, just to be safe. Once you’ve got that figured out, add that to your budget printable.
I don’t know about you, but most of our budget and money goes to the kiddos. We LOVE to spoil ours and can’t help ourselves! Once you start shopping, you can write down each gift and track how much you’ve spent. With a set amount, you are able to stay accountable for that number and stop once you’ve hit it.
If you don’t end up spending that amount, you can either use it for other people or add it back into your account. Makes it really nice and easy to keep up with your set amount.
Free Holiday Budgeting Printable
Now that you’ve gotten your numbers figured out and exactly who you are buying for, you can add them to your FREE Holiday Budgeting printable that I’ve created for you! Not only is it really helpful, but it’s also pretty which is a bonus! I’d love to see you using it, so make sure to tag me when you do! It has three beautiful holiday-themed lists for you and feel free to print as many copies as you need for all the things you need to write down. And visit my printables page where you have access to all my other FREE printables!
Holiday Budgeting Printable: Download Now
Resources
Here are a few other great posts I found about budgeting for the holidays. I hope you’ll click over and take a peek!
There you have it! My holiday budgeting tips & tricks to make this time of the year a little less stressful. And a big tip is to save your receipts! Especially for gifts like clothes and such that might not fit them, then they can easily exchange for the size that does! I hope these were helpful and I can’t wait to slay this holiday season right alongside you.
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Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out Kelsey Farley! If you get inspired to make your own white chocolate mocha, I’d love to see it! Share your experience on Instagram with the hashtag #kelseyfarleyblog and tag me @kelsey_farley so I can follow along and share your photos on my page/stories. Make sure you subscribe before you leave so you can snag your FREE Weekly Meal Planner. I hope it inspires you to take control of making dinner for your family and make sure to tag me when you use it! I love you guys, and I’ll talk to you soon.
