Holiday Savings Tips - Meredith Rines

It’s that time of year again – time to bust out our naughty and nice lists, check it twice and make sure all of our loved ones are taken care. But this year, let’s make a deal that we’ll create a plan, stick with it and not do more damage then we can actually afford.

I recently saw some statistics from Chime that I thought was pretty shocking. The fact that on average it takes someone 4 months (FOUR MONTHS) to pay off their holiday debt is beyond scary to me. The point of Christmas is to give and to be together, not to dig ourselves into a financial hole that it takes until Spring to get ourselves out of it. I mean, let’s face it, we all have some pretty big financial goals and if we’re wasting four months a year to just recover from Christmas then we’re never going to get ahead. If you haven’t heard of Chime before, they are a second chance banking company helping individuals build better money habits. Check out some other statistics they discovered:

That’s why I wanted to share some holiday savings tips with you today. That way you can become more informed, better prepared and not be just another statistic. In today’s video I’m sharing my four holiday savings tips to get you off on the right foot this Christmas season. You can watch online or down below:

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Here’s a quick recap of your holiday savings tips to get you started:

MAKE A PLAN

Create a plan for what, who and how much. I shared last year how to create a holiday budget and planner (or you can grab it over in the shop). But the basics of any good plan to save money is to know what you need to buy, who you need to buy for and how much you want to spend. This plan needs to be created BEFORE doing any shopping.

SET YOUR BUDGET

Once you have your plan in place then you can create a budget. Make sure to include all the small details, too. Don’t forget about the gifts to buy for family, friends, co-workers and so on. Include any dishes you have to make, which means ingredients and grocery trips that will need to be made. Christmas wrapping paper, cards, and labels and such that will need to be budgeted for.

SHOP THE DEALS

This time of year, your best bet to find the most money saving deals will be online – or at least that’s where you need to start. So once you have your plan and your budget that’s when you need to do your pre-shopping. Take time to look online for any sales happening or to find the best price for what you want to buy. Make sure you don’t walk into a store without doing your research because that’s when overspending happens.

UPDATE YOUR BUDGET AND PLAN

The reason I love my holiday planner and budget so much is that it actually works as a checklist. You’re able to easily see who you need to buy for still, how much money you’ve spent and my personally favorite, a gift tracker – that way you can see what gifts have been bought, shipped, received and wrapped.