Christmas time comes once a year. It makes many people happy with all the gift giving and merry making. Some of the happiest people during the holidays are retailers because of all the shopping that usually begins after Thanksgiving and ends after Christmas. For many people, the holidays are spent spending money for gifts, vacations, and parties. Spending your money is alright, especially if you have it to spend. The problem is when you spend money you don’t have. This is overspending, and we have tips below to help you keep track of your money this holiday season.
How Much Can You Spend?
To keep yourself from overspending, figure out how much you can spend on gifts, decorations, entertainment, and travel. Once you find out how much you can afford without sacrificing the necessities, it will be easier to shop for gifts, decorations, host parties, or travel during the holidays. You can think of this as your budget. Since you know the budget, it is now time to exercise discipline and stick to the amount.
Find Ways To Save
Bargains, sales, and discounts are amazing during the holiday season. Buying discounted items is actually a great way to save during the holidays. You can start early by making a shopping list of all the people you need to buy gifts for. Once sales like Black Friday occurs, you can then browse for gifts online or head down to the shops to find gifts on discounted prices, buy-one-take one or those with freebies which you can also gift to other people.
Resist Temptation
You want to be generous now, but remember you have to pay for it (literally) later so resist all temptation to overspend. If you allotted a certain amount for a person, stick to that budget. If the other sweater looked more gorgeous, perhaps you can find a similar one that is on sale. Find alternatives for gifts and stay within range of your budget rather than overspend.
Use Cash
Spending using your credit card can make you uncontrollable, and most of the time, you end up spending more money than originally intended. The problem with credit cards is that you can pay it at a later date and rack up interest. Being in debt due to overspending can take a long time to reverse. To avoid this, always use cash to purchase your gifts, decorations, entertainment, or travel essentials for the holiday. This way, you can control spending, and if you don’t have cash, you can’t spend.
Give Yourself Incentives
Give yourself incentive to stick to the plan. Reward yourself by indulging a little. For example, at the end of Christmas, total everything. If you did not overspend, treat yourself to something you really wanted, like that handbag or that cashmere sweater. You can also reward yourself with a massage or a trip to the spa. Just remember not to overspend on your treat too.
Be Flexible
If you find that you’ve overspent, don’t beat yourself up too hard. Instead of dwelling on your guilt, find ways to come up with money so that your credit card or wallet won’t suffer too much. Spending on credit is easy but paying it will not be. You can either come up with ways to cut overhead a little bit or find an extra job to offset the charges.
