Frugal Holiday Shopping — Survive the Holidays Without Debt

Ok, here we are approaching the holiday season while the economy sags all around us. The good part of this is we can find lots of deals out there as the stores compete for business. The bad part, of course, is many of us find we have a lot less money saved or invested, less credit at a more expensive price, higher costs for monthly bills like groceries, and possibly, less income.

And of course, we all meant to start a holiday savings account last January. But somehow, with higher prices and lower returns, that account either got raided, or never even started in the first place. Don’t feel guilty, but just figure out how to attack this holiday season without it. There’s always next year.

So how can you get through this season without racking up strained credit card bills? Alot of it comes down to being organized. Go ahead and follow Santa’s lead; make a list and check it twice! Then go through your list and assign a budget. If you know you want to spend $100 on teenaged Suzy and $15 on Uncle Tony, you will be able to see if your total budget is realistic. Don’t forget to add in presents you will need for work or social club events.

Now if you get to the bottom of that list, and the total is just unrealistic, this is a good time to figure that out. You know, Uncle Tony might not mind a nicely packaged box of homemade cookies, and Suzy might have to accept a $75 mall shopping card instead of a $100 one!

Shop now, and it next year, remember to start shopping in advance. That electronics device that your oldest son has to have might have been cheaper, and more available, in July. Those people who do their holiday shopping all year around, in an organized way, spend less. If you cannot afford the $500 game system right now, think about giving a $100 gift card to the store where they can be purchased.

Saving towards a goal will be good for John Jr. in the long run anyway! And maybe you can spread it around to all of John Jr’s friends and relatives that a gift card to that store is the gift of choice. Many of them will be relieved because they do not have to figure out what to buy a teenager anyway!

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Tags: credit, holiday season, shopping, spending

This entry was posted on November 13, 2008 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Frugal Retail Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.