Save some (ginger) bread: How to budget for the holidays

Spend/Save/Invest

Nov 2

The holidays are upon us. Our stores are filled with decorations and seasonal treats. Our relatives are making travel plans. And companies are already pushing their latest and greatest for holiday gifts. Which means it’s time to start planning for the holidays.

An essential step in planning for the holidays is creating a budget for your gift purchasing. This may sound simple: figure out how much you can afford to spend on gifts this year and spend it, right? But pinning down how much you’re going to spend on gifts is only the first step.

From here, it’s important to plan out exactly who you plan to get gifts for and how much you want to spend on each of them. This is important because without planning it out, we can easily go over our budget. People are left off the list. We didn’t plan what to buy so we ended up impulse buying presents at Target, and before you know it you’ve bought three presents that don’t have a recipient and you’re $100 over budget. Oh, and you forgot Aunt Carol. I wonder if she’ll like the mud mask set.

We’ve all been there.

To prevent you from getting stuck there once again, follow this guide to build your budget this holiday season:

Step 1: Decide on a spending limit

And be realistic about it. If you don’t have $500 to spend on Christmas presents, don’t spend it.

Step 2: List out all the people you want to purchase or make gifts for

This one is important. Write out everyone you can think of that you want to get gifts for. For some reason, I have a lot of family members with birthdays between October and January, so I like to put them on my list as well so I don’t forget to plan for that when buying gifts.

Step 3: Plan out what you’re going to buy for everyone on your list

Personally, my list is always super long. So I try to get real about why I want to get them a gift. Often, it’s because I want them to know I’m thinking of them around the holidays. So, the gift I give doesn’t have to be super elaborate. I usually make something in bulk like apple butter or homemade jam to give to my neighbors or bring to my stepmom’s Christmas Eve dinner. It’s thoughtful, it’s simple. And I don’t break the bank by buying 10-20 gifts.

Sometimes we’re getting gifts for people out of social obligation, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just think about what that means for what kind of gift you plan to buy or make.

Step 4: Estimate a price limit for each present

This can be done in conjunction with step three — just make sure you’re being practical about how much you expect to spend on each person.

Step 5: Buy the stuff

I like to have a copy of how much I intend to spend with me as I shop to help keep me on track. If you think this might be helpful for you, make sure you bring a copy of your holiday shopping budget on your phone or written down.

And throughout your budget making and shopping experience, have fun with it! And have a happy holidays.