10 Ways To Avoid Spending Too Much On the Holidays
The holidays are always one of (if not THE) most expensive time of year. There are the presents, the decorations, the travel, and all the little extras that come with the seasons. You may not believe it but there are some ways that can actually help you save money during the holidays.
- Holiday Tips if You’re on a Budget – Ship the presents ahead of time. If you are flying anywhere for the holidays, instead of carrying all those presents with you which the airport will charge you for, ship them ahead of time. It will be much cheaper and much more convenient.
- Try to plan some cheap recreation on your trip. If you have a family, take some board games or card games that everyone can play. You can even bring along some outdoor games or even DVD’s that the whole family can sit down and watch.
- Best Way to Get a Cheap Holiday – Book tickets ahead of time. Airline prices and some hotel prices are often cheaper when you book them well in advance. If you wait to try to score some airline tickets right at the start of the holiday season, you will end up paying much more for them.
- Save Money on Your Holiday This year – Find hotels offering deals. Since many people are electing to stay home and save money, many hotels are suffering during this economic crisis. To draw in business, they are offering special deals for the holiday seasons.
- Ways to Save During the Holidays – Cut back on the number of gifts. This is important if you have a large extended family. You might want to cut back on just get gifts for close or immediate family members or even just for the kids.
- Ways to Save Money During the Holidays – Create a budget and stick to it. You need to decide how many people you are going to buy gifts for and how much you are willing to spend on each gift. If you don’t do your shopping throughout the year then set aside money every month that can be used to buy presents.
- Green Holiday Energy – Use energy saving lights. Holiday lights are by far the biggest source of additional energy usage during the holiday seasons. There are some new LED holiday lights that use only about four watts per strand which is significantly less than regular lights.
- Simplify Holiday Preparations – Comparison shop online. The lines at the stores during the holidays can be a real nightmare. Instead of running all over the mall, do your comparison shopping online to find the best prices before you hit the stores.
- Save Money During the Holidays – Do not send out Christmas cards. Even though this is a long tradition with some folks, the cost of the cards plus the postage can add up to quite a bit if you have a long list. Instead, send everyone free ecards that say the same thing.
- Save Money This Holiday Season – Recycle old gifts. Everyone has at one time or another gotten a gift that immediately went into the closet. Try the option of re-gifting by unloading those gifts on someone who might appreciate them more.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.