How to survive the holiday shopping season without busting your budget or going crazy.
Shopping Survival Tricks
Are you shopping for the Holiday season? Is it getting too close, too fast? Don’t stress out yet—here are some tips for saving money and staying sane while navigating holiday shopping madness.
Make a List
Write down everyone you plan to buy a gift for, no matter how small the gift may be. Include ideas of what to give each person, along with the maximum amount you’re willing to spend. Don’t forget to list the people who will receive holiday tips, such as your doorman, babysitter, and mail carrier. This will help you manage your holiday budget.
Do Online Research
If you’re unsure of which specific item to buy (for example, you want to buy your husband a digital camera but don’t know what brand or model is best), search for reputable online reviews. You’ll have to pay a small subscription fee, but Consumerreports.org has hundreds of expert reviews on everything from laptops to baby strollers to breakfast cereals. Or check sites with user reviews and ratings, such as Amazon.com or Cnet.com, to find out which products have the most positive feedback. To find the best online price, use a comparison shopping site, such as Pricegrabber.com.
Credit Card Spending
Keep a running tally of your credit-card spending. When you come home from a day of shopping, immediately subtract what you've spent from your checking-account balance. Not only does that give you a visual record of how much you've spent, but also it ensures that you'll have enough money in the account to pay the bill when it arrives.
Have a plan for paying off your bills
If you overspent last year, it's time to cut back. But slashing your budget in half can be like trying to quit smoking cold turkey -- it often doesn't work, and your failure makes you feel worse than before. Instead, come up with a more realistic goal. For example, make up your mind to cut your spending by 20% and pay off your balances by Valentine's Day. Meeting your deadline will give you the confidence to whittle another 20% off your spending next year (use our What will it take to pay off my balance? calculator to set up a repayment plan).
Get easy gifts out of the way early
Set aside money for cash gifts -- to the paper boy, the babysitter, the hairdresser, the trash collectors, out-of-town nephews -- early in the season. That way those presents don't have to come out of the December shopping budget.
Think outside the gift box
Plenty of alternatives are less expensive, and more fun, than buying a gift for every sibling, in-law, niece and nephew. Instead, have a family gift exchange in which you each choose one name and put more thought than money into selecting a single gift.
Our family did this last year, and it was a touching success -- especially when someone puts a lot of thought into it. Like puttin together a photo album of all the grandchildren -- a beautiful gift for any grandparent. You can also buy a single gift for your brother's entire family -- perhaps an "entertainment" basket filled with DVDs, microwave popcorn and gift certificates to the movies. Or for your sister, the new mother, how about an evening out at a restaurant, plus your services as a free babysitter? The best gifts don't cost money
Look ahead to next year
If you came up short on cash this year, start an old-fashioned holiday-club account with a modern twist: an online savings account with a bank. You can easily set up an automatic transfer from your checking account each month, earn a competitive rate of interest, and have a tidy sum when next holiday season rolls around. Customers who bank with Wells Fargo can track their savings goals with an online tool called My Savings Plan.
