A Very Thrifty Christmas

Christmas is without a doubt the most expensive holiday, and it's honestly not a surprise. The average American spent $942 per person in 2019. Yes, you read that correctly, $942...and now I feel more frugal than I've ever felt! Was this average for a couple or a family of 6, I would hope that makes a difference! Well, I'll tell you this, I spend far below that average number. I hope this blog will help you lower your Christmas costs as well as alleviate some of that guilt that may come along with that smaller receipt total.

1. Start Early!

Oh, my goodness, you guys, I start shopping early every year. October has just arrived and I am actually behind! I typically start my Christmas gift shopping in August. If that seems insane to you, please understand that this means I only have to buy 1 gift per paycheck or whenever I see a deal instead of going crazy in one night or a few days before Christmas. By shopping early the guesswork of figuring out how much I'll need is eliminated, and the chance of me over drafting or using a layaway service is zero! This also means by December I'm only buying stocking stuffers far away from the hoards of last minute shoppers.

2. Let Gift Cards Be Your Guide

One cool trick I've learned is a whole new way to use gift cards. The first way to use them is to start buying gift cards in the Summer, and then you can do all of your Christmas shopping either in one night, maybe Black Friday if that's your style, or you can use them one at a time when you do start your shopping. Gift cards take the hassle of budgeting off of your to-do list and makes for a no-brainer shopping experience. Want to spend only $20 on your niece but $100 on your husband? Gift cards will eliminate overspending, keep you on your budget, and if you're not good at shopping for others like me, just give them a Visa gift card! This is also wonderful for a Secret Santa or pulling names out of a hat, everyone can just add a gift card. Easy!

3.) Decorating

You guys, Wal mart already has Christmas trees out. Is it me or does it always seem like Christmas displays start earlier and earlier? Anyway, one great trick I've learned actually comes from...Dollar Tree. Did you feel a small twinge in your stomach just now? Like a tacky twinge? A saving sensor? A cheap-o-meter? I can assure you no body will know the difference. Every year I can take my kids to the Dollar Tree and let them go crazy and buy whatever they think will make our house look festive. Know why? Because everything is a dollar. When I moved out, my step-mother gave me an old wooden crate full of collectible designer ornaments. Wouldn't you know the second my oldest boy could walk every single ornament he could reach got broken? By year 2 only the top half of my tree was decorated. By the time my second son could get a hold of those same ornaments, we were down to half. Now we're down to about 1/4. So All of those nice breakable dainties go on the top of my tree, and the sparkly plastic ones from Dollar Tree go everywhere. The best part? They don't break. I have Dollar Tree ornaments from the first time we bought them about 6 years ago. Before you ask, yes you can buy full tubes of ornaments for $1, not $1/per ornament unless they're special like sparkly reindeer, giant decorations, etc. Of course, we also tend to do a lot of DIY crafts for not only the tree but for the rest of the house as well, the kids love it, I cherish it, and why buy decorations when you can make them for free or at least far cheaper than you would made by someone else?

4. Rip-off Wrapping

Knock it off! Wrapping paper is pretty, it's shiny, it's flashy, but it's also outrageously overpriced, and only has one use unless you're planning on saving what you can for next year, it's a one time use purchase which is wasteful! There's frankly no need for it other than aesthetic, and there's other ways to accomplish this without the hefty price tag. I've used brown wrapping paper, everything matched and looked cute! I've also used newspaper - some of you just gagged I'm sure, don't worry, I'm not offended. Recycling boxes aren't a bad plan either, especially for gifts who's shape give it away. I've even seen people use cloth as a creative way to conceal gifts!

5. Re-think Those Gifts

I can see the angry messages now. Christmas isn't the only time you can buy and give that expensive gift, save it for an anniversary, birthday, or another special occasion that's just for that person. Saving all of those pricey gifts for the holiday where you have to buy for everybody is a surefire way to run into financial issues. I tend to buy high priced items for birthdays, and Christmas means more gifts with smaller price tags.

By the way, why not re-think gifting in general. Does your family have everything? Why not take a family trip instead where you can make memories. Or while your at it, why not buy gifts for those who have nobody, the homeless, the orphans, the sick? Christmas is about giving, after all.

6. Non-traditional Dinner

My family has done this many times, not just for Christmas, but even for Easter and Thanksgiving. Instead of going with the traditional ham, turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole, pie, and so on and so forth, why not go in a completely different direction? We've done an Italian smorgasbord with lasagna, spaghetti, bread and oil. We've done a more mix and match menu where I just made stuff everyone liked such as twice baked potatoes with bacon, homemade yeast rolls, 3 Cornish game hens, sugar cookies, gingerbread cake and entire pan of sweet potatoes for me! Why not switch up your dinner this year to something different and fun?

7. New or Used?

Again with the gifts! It is the biggest part of Christmas, right? Is it nice to buy all of those gifts brand new? Sure! Is it mandatory? No way! Let me tell you a secret since it's just you and I, I do a lot of thrifting. Oh, yes. And by thrifting I'm not just talking second hand, I do include amazing deals in this catagory as well. Of course I use Goodwill to my full advantage, but I also have used sites like Wish, and cyber deals on sites like Amazon, as well as other apps like Mercari. I suppose I'm just a cheapskate, but I honestly don't like to pay full price for much of anything, but I'd much rather spend $5 on a new shirt instead of double, triple, or quadruple that price.

8. Craftastic

If you're creative like me, you're family might request one or more of your products as gifts, which is a win win. For example, this year, my nieces all asked for homemade dolls and paintings, which not only saves me the money of shopping for them, but it gives them something unique and special as well. I've done soup mix in a- jar, brownie mix in a jar, homemade sugar scrubs, crochet blankets, and even care baskets full of goodies. Do you envy or pity my family? Think of something you could make this year instead of buy.

9. Pot Luck

If you typically have large family get together's for Christmas dinner, don't leave the work up to those throwing the dinner, make it a pot luck to ease the burden as well as make the dinner more unique and memorable. You can also do this for a church gathering.

10. Use Your Hat

I briefly mentioned pulling names out of a hat and using gift cards, If you have a large family like me, this means your expected to buy for both sides of the family, well, I stopped doing that. I now only buy for the children, my in-laws get a gift card, my parents get something small like a decoration or gift from my children, and we pick names so you only have to buy for one adult. buying for over 40 people is a great way to lose your mind quickly, no thank you!