Budget
The 1st thing that you can do is to create a budget for your Christmas shopping. Once you reach that budget you can’t buy any more gifts. That may take some discipline, but it can be done. You can also set a small budget for each person that is on your list as well. That will probably work best if you’re shopping for a few people.
Limit the number of gifts
Limiting your purchases can save you a lot of money during this Christmas shopping season. If you usually purchase everyone in your family 3 gifts each, try getting them only 1 or 2 gifts. By doing that, you should be able to save a little cash.
Draw names
Some families are so large that they have to draw names. Drawing names is when someone writes the name of each family member on small separate sheets of paper. The pieces of paper are then put into a hat or bucket. Each member of the family then draws someone’s name and gets them a Christmas gift. Imagine having a family where you have 8 siblings. It could be tough financially trying to get them all nice gifts. By drawing names, you only have to worry about one person. That will be much better on your wallet.
Take your family to dinner
Taking your family to dinner for Christmas is another way to save money. This idea might turn heads if your family is traditional or used to celebrating Christmas in a particular way. If it does turn heads don’t let that bother you. It’s your gift to your family. I’m not sure how anyone could get mad about free food. This should probably be done if you have a relatively small family. If you have 20-30 people in your family you might want to stick to drawing names.
Ask people what they want
I will be the 1st to admit that I’ve wasted money in the past by just buying random gifts for people. I’m sure some of the things I purchased in the past are collecting dust in their closets. To save time and money, you can ask people what they want this year for Christmas. I actually did this a few weeks ago. I’m usually a last-minute shopper, but I’m finished and I still have money left over this year. You may be surprised at some of the simple things that people may want.
How do you save money on Christmas shopping?
Jason Butler
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.
One thing that’s really helped me is forgoing the gift certificates this year. I usually was buying a more personal gift to go with the gift certificates, so now I’m just buying (or making) the gift. Thanks for the suggestions.
Luckily my family isn’t really into gifts; we do cheap toys or jokes for the adults (nurf gun fights are fun and you can get the cheap guns for a couple of dollars each; throw them away when Christmas is over).
I save gift cards to shop with at Christmastime. I also try to look for cashback deals with my CC or with apps like Ibotta. None of that replaces setting a budget, though!
My extended family switched to Secret Santa last year and it went a lot better than buying for everyone. There’s just too many of us now.