Many people go into large amounts of debt around the holiday season. It is possible to not go into debt during the holiday season. Here are nine tips for planning in advance holiday expenses.
1. Figure out how much money that you need each year for the entire year that include all holidays. Once you figure out how much that you would like to spend each year including Christmas holiday too. Make sure to figure out a reasonable and affordable amount that you feel comfortable with spending each year.
2. Save money each month. This is the most important thing to do. You need to figure out how much money that you need to save each month in order to have enough money to spend throughout the year for the holidays. If you decide to have small or large amounts each month then you will already have the money available. You won’t have to go into debt during the holiday season since the money will already be saved. It will help reduce stress since the credit cards won’t be maxed out due to holiday expenses.
3. You can save even more money if you decide to make homemade gifts. It will help reduce the overall amount of money spent during the holiday. Homemade gifts take more time to make instead of buying a gift at the store, but it is cheaper long term. You should decide if it is worth your time to make a homemade gift or if you would rather buy a already made gift at the store.
4. You can purchase holiday gifts throughout the year instead of around the time of the holiday. It is usually cheaper to purchase gifts throughout the year when the prices aren’t marked up large amounts. One thing to remember is that around the holiday seasons stores tend to love to raise the prices on holiday gifts since people are willing to pay the higher price due to not shopping earlier.
5. Look around on the Internet for some excellent deals on gifts throughout the year especially during the slow season. Many companies online, such as http://www.barnesandnoble.com and http://www.amazon.com have free shipping available if you purchase over a certain amount of items. This is a great way to purchase items since you have a large variety of stores to choose from on the Internet and some places that offer free shipping is wonderful since it doesn’t cost a cent more to receive them.
6. You can get a part time during the summer to help you save even more for the entire year for holiday expenses. This will work out pretty good since you won’t have to save money each month if you are able to earn enough money during the summer time. This may be something that is fun to do to earn some extra money during the summer.
7. Another idea is that you can return items to stores. You can get a store credit or sometimes even cash back. If possible you can save the store credit or cash back to use towards holiday gifts throughout the year. It is another way to save even more additional money.
8. You can use reward points or cash back deals from credit cards. If you have enough reward points or cash back deals from credit cards or any other cards then you could also use those for holiday expenses throughout the year. This is another additional great idea. If your credit card lets you get airfare miles then you could possibly even fly for free to visit with family members during the holidays.
9. Another method of saving money to prepare for the holiday expenses is to use a charge card at department stores. Different department stores offer an additional ten to twenty or more savings when you decide to use their department store charge card. If you have a department store charge card then you will often receive coupons in the mail for an additional certain amount of money discount when you spent a certain amount. This enables you to save even more money for holiday expenses and gifts.
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