Christmas Money Savings Tips !

Since Christmas is now just 4 months away! I know alot of us start thinking about how much to spend. It is always a challenge to save some moola at Christmas!

Making A Holiday Budget

The Christmas holiday season is supposed to bring cheer and good times to all. For many, however, the cheer and good times end up resulting in a heavy debt burden when the New Year rolls around. It doesn't have to be this way. Taking the time to plan your Christmas holiday activities and spending in advance will keep Christmas from being a budget breaker. While gifts are a major expense for Christmas, they are by no means the only expense. Holiday decorating, entertainment, food , wrapping and cards are other areas that will quickly add up if you don't take some time to forecast their costs. SavingAdvice.com has put together some holiday money saving hints and tips that will help you retain the cheer while keeping your pocket book financially healthy during the holiday season.

If you haven't yet thought about or planned out a holiday season budget, today is the day to start. While the mere mention of the word "budget" probably has implanted the image of Scrooge or the Grinch squarely in the front of your mind, planning a holiday budget can have quite the opposite effect. A budget will help you consider who exactly you want to give gifts to and will most likely mean that you don't accidently leave someone off the list. It will also give you the opportunity to plan the gift in advance which will not only save you a significant amount of money, it will give you the time to get a gift that is much more meaningful and appropriate than anything you would find in the last dash Christmas shopping frenzy.

The first issue is to consider the expenses that are likely to come with the holidays. The vast majority of people don't even consider this making it difficult to budget for total holiday expenses. Whether you plan ahead or not, these expenses will come. By taking the initiative early and understanding where your money is likely to go, you can consider ways to reduce expenses or avoid them all together if that is appropriate. Now is the time to sit down and think through your probable holiday expenses which will help to give you good guidelines which you can follow when the holiday rush is upon you.

While gifts are an obvious expense during this season, chances are you haven't worked out how much they will be. If you are like most people, you have a ballpark figure in the back of your mind that you hope you will come in under. Instead of hoping (which will usually equate into failing) to come in under that amount, sit down and make a list of friends and family members with whom you regularly exchange gifts. Once complete, go through your list and designate an approximate price you want to spend on each person on the list. With a price in mind for each recipient, you have a much better chance of remaining within your gift giving holiday budget.

While gifts may be the major expense, they are far from the only one you need to forecast. Other areas where you will need to designate amounts include gift wrapping, cards, entertainment, food, inside decorating, tree, ornaments, outside decorating, lights and travel to name just a few. Since everyone's situation is different, the best way to forecast this year's expenses is to think back to last year and all the things you did during the holiday season while adding in any new ones you have already planned for this year.

Once you have finished this, you will have a number. If that number is within the amount of money you can afford to spend for the holiday season, you're in great shape and just need to keep it at hand so you don't stray too far from the numbers. If you look at the amount and feel like a zero or two too many are at the end of the figure, then you need to consider ways to reduce your anticipated costs.

Reducing Christmas Gift Numbers

GIFTS: Reducing The Numbers: You should already have a list of all your family and friends with whom you regularly exchange gifts. The best way to reduce the costs associated with these gifts is to eliminate as many as possible. With the Grinch once again firmly planted in your mind, we will show you that this process doesn't need to produce that Scrooge-ish effect. Using some simple creativity can quickly reduce the number of gifts on your list while actually enhancing the holiday spirit.

For example, if you have a close group of friends, consider contacting everyone and arranging a gift exchange. By choosing a single person in a group of five instead of giving four individual gifts, you will be able to give a better gift that will be less expensive overall. Better yet, put a ceiling on the price that can be paid for the gift. Chances are that your friends will appreciate you taking the initiative since this will also reduce their holiday expenses and time needed for gift shopping as well.

Another alternative with friends is to forego the gift giving all together. Instead, arrange an afternoon when you can all meet for a few hours to spend some time together in place of giving gifts. Not only does this fit better with the holiday spirit, it will give you a needed break from the pre Christmas hustle and bustle where you can relax and have a good time.

Gift exchanges can also work with family, but they need to be well thought through to make them successful and a lot can depend on the age of the kids. An easy standard method is for all the family members to write down a few gifts they would like under a specified amount of money. Each family member places their list with their name on it into a container and then each family member picks one list out of the container. The family members then choose one of the listed gifts to buy for their designated person. This system can be adapted to fit the needs of your particular family, but it will reduce the overall number of gifts that need to be purchased for everyone. By taking the time to make the family exchange a central point of the Christmas holiday, it can brighten the family holiday spirit as it also reduces overall costs.

Reducing Holiday Gift Costs

GIFTS: Reducing The Costs: Once you have made all the appropriate reductions to the number of gifts you are planning to give, the next step is to see if there are ways to reduce the cost of the gifts. Again, while this at first glance may seem like a Grinch-like move, in reality it is likely to produce a gift that is much more appreciated since you will be taking the time to think through and consider the gift thoroughly. To be able to pull this off successfully, you will need to start doing that preparation well in advance. As Christmas comes closer, the time to think through, prepare and execute a gift for less money becomes more and more difficult.

While not everyone is crafty, self made gifts can go a long way to reducing costs. Gift baskets of homemade cookies or other selected items are easy to put together and can be made to fit the recipients particular tastes and likes. Another wonderfully simple gift is a photo of you and that person. By taking the time to consider if there are gifts that the person would enjoy that aren't prepackaged at a store, you will likely be able to save money while giving a gift that is appreciated that much more.

An option that may be appreciated far more than a material gift by some people is giving your time. This can also be an excellent gift for those of you reading this article at the last minute that are in a panic and likely to buy an expensive gift with time running out. Simply take some nice quality colored paper and put together a coupon book for the recipient that they can redeem at any time. A coupon for a 30 minute back rub will always be highly regarded and it doesn't cost you anything but your time. Add in coupons for a walk in the woods, a day at the beach, a game of tennis, a visit to a favorite museum, a picnic lunch or any other activity the recipient would enjoy and you have given a wonderful gift at practically no cost. Another advantage of the coupon gifts is that if there are activities that will cost money, they get spread out to other times of the year when money may not be so tight while making your Christmas gift last far longer than a single day.

In the same respect, but at the opposite end, you can give a gift of memories which will likely be treasured for a lifetime. Simply find a nice jar and cut different colored paper into small, note-sized pieces. Write a single memory you have had with that particular person on each sheet and place it in the jar. Continue doing this until the jar is full. Add a nice ribbon around the jar and you have a wonderful jar of memories to give.

Another option that can work well to save money with the right people is delaying Christmas until after the holiday. If there are gifts that you know will be greatly discounted in the after Christmas holiday sales, delaying the purchase will allow you to get the person more for less money. This can work especially well with children if you take the time to explain and give them the option of a lesser number of gifts on Christmas Day, or more (for less money to you) a few days after. Not only will the children understand the concept, you will be teaching them invaluable money management skills.

Planning ahead will also allow you to consider non traditional shopping sources to find that perfect gift and reduce your costs. If one or more of the people on your list is a collector of certain types of items, searching flea markets, discount shops and online auctions may produce something far more appreciated than a typical gift from the local department store at a price that is much easier on your pocket book.

Saving Money On Your Holiday Greeting Cards

Cards: As with your gifts, you should have a list of all the family and friends with whom your regularly exchange holiday greetings. In the same vein, the best way to reduce the costs associated with giving cards is to eliminate them. The computer age has made this more possible than ever. With email available and a large number of sites that offer free email greeting cards, you should first determine who on your holiday card mailing list it would be just as appropriate to send an electronic holiday greeting to. By doing so you eliminate the cost for cards, envelopes and postage. For those with long lists, it may even make sense to sign up with some of the premium electronic greeting card companies that charge a fee. Since their memberships are usually good for an entire year, you have also taken care of all your other holiday and birthday greetings.

While switching all your holiday greetings to electronic cards would be the ultimate goal for card savings, there are still probably a few people on your list to whom you will want or need to send a real holiday greeting. If you had planned ahead last year, you will already have a number of boxed cards that you picked up at a fraction of their price at the after Christmas sales last year ( if you didn't, then now is the time to write a reminder on your calendar so that you will be prepared for next year). Even if you know you didn't prepare, you should locate your holiday card box since chances are you will have a fairly large number of holiday cards from years past that you simply have forgotten about. If these are still appropriate, you don't have to do any card shopping until the New Year when all the sales appear.

If you find that you do need to purchase some cards, buying boxed cards will save you significantly over individual cards. Where you shop for the cards will also make a difference. You can find virtually the same holiday cards at the large discount stores at a fraction of the price as you can at your local card shop.

Another option is to make your own cards. Depending on how artistic you are, you can make your own or if you are less so, using the scenes, pictures and photos from old holiday cards to create new ones. Find your favorite poem to write inside, or create one yourself. Having taken the time to create a card will be highly appreciated by most recipients in that it shows that you were will to spend valuable time on them.

For those who use the holiday season to catch everyone up on what has happened over the past year, a holiday newsletter may be appropriate. While most of these can be sent over the Internet which will again eliminate all the postage fees, the ones that can't can easily be printed with a holiday background eliminating the need for a card. By taking the time to see where you can eliminate and reduce your holiday card costs, you should be able to cut this expense significantly compared to if you had gone to your local store and purchased cards for everyone