Now fall is well and truly here, the leaves are changing to golds and browns, the nights are starting to draw in and the woolly hats, scarves and gloves are ready to go, it is more than likely that you are too busy enjoying the arrival of the autumnal season to even start to think about the holiday season.
However, if you and your family, like most people in the wake of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, are working on a strict budget, it is strongly advisable that you start planning for Christmas and spread the cost, so you and your family have an enjoyable and stress-free Christmas time.
When You See It, Buy It!
Even if you are on a family outing whereby purchasing Christmas gifts are the last thing on your mind, when you see something in a gift shop on vacation or a sales aisle in the store on the way to the beach, grab it when you see it. At home, designate a special ‘gifting’ box where you can safely store the items you buy so, come Christmas, you will have a good head start. However, to ensure that you don’t forget what you’ve bought, make sure to keep a list somewhere (out of sight of others) that you can refer back to time and time again.
Additionally, just after Christmas in the new year sales, be sure to grab reduced Christmas wrapping paper, bows, boxed, and even decorations to store with the gifts ready for the next year.
Keep An Eye On The Sales
Every year, high street stores and online retailers have colossal sales, and they are always around exactly the same time every season. For example, when summer is drawing to a close, there is always a wide plethora of online clothing and accessories brands that have a huge end-of-season sale, offering coupons and copious discounts on clothing, Women’s shoes, handbags, and a whole host of other fashion and accessories. Additionally, concentrate on stores that are lesser-known and stock a much lower quantity of mass-produced products, as these tend to be extortionately priced simply due to high demand.
Homemade Gifts Are The Best!
Homemade gifts are a beautiful way of simultaneously saving money on store-bought items and showing your loved one how much you know and love them.
There are so many advantages to concentrating on homemade gifts for the holiday season, including emotional and sentimental attachment, the ability it affords you to create personalized gifts, the unexpected and surprise element for your loved ones on Christmas day, and, most importantly, a significant and substantial saving for you and your family in terms of budget, costing and affordability.
Start A Christmas Fund In January
In the new year, it would be a fantastic and extremely prudent idea to start a Christmas fund, whether that is opening a specific Christmas savings account and start putting in whatever amount you can, however minimal, every month. Even just twenty dollars a month will mean two hundred and forty dollars to spend in December and can make a real difference for those last-minute gifts.