How to Avoid Overspending this Holiday Season
With Black Friday coming up and the rest of the holidays looming after, shopping for gifts is on everyone’s mind. In addition to holiday stress, the coronavirus pandemic continues, making this holiday season like no other. Despite travel disruptions and safety precautions, families long to get together and show each other how much they care.
Given the pandemic and ongoing recession in 2020, your spending and giving might need to be different this time year too. It has been a year of asking tough questions, but you may have to ask yourself a few more. “How much can I really afford to spend? What presents are worth the price? Are friends still interested in exchanging gifts?”
We are here to help you answer those questions. Here are our 4 tips to keep you from overspending on the holidays.
Have honest conversations early on.
Talk with your spouse, family members and anyone else important to you about their expectations. If you know what they value and what makes them feel seen, you can still make a gesture that is significant without spending too much. In this way you can also decide if material gift giving is still on the table - maybe others in your gift-giving circles have experienced a change in wealth and would prefer to take the pressure off by not trading gifts this year.
If you have not planned ahead for extra expenses, do not stray from your usual budget
Instead, plan to cut down on your usual personal spending and use it for the sake of others. Pack a lunch, make coffee at home or skip buying that new trendy product from Amazon. It can be tempting to throw extra expenses on a credit card to pay later, but that will only take away from your future spending power. For more on how to create a healthy relationship with spending and saving, read Beta Wealth Group’s 5 Tips for Financial Self Care
Learn from Santa.. make a “Naughty” and “Nice” List
It is ok to not give to everyone you know. Aside from your immediate family and closest friends, we would recommend prioritizing to no more than 5 people you deem necessary. This will also give you the chance to give a smaller group of people better quality gifts. You can still offer a small token of your appreciation to everyone else, like a card or cookies. Just don’t be afraid to go DIY!
Consider hand-made gifts and quality time.
The meaning of the holidays is to spend time with loved ones. That may be difficult to do this year, resulting in grander gifts to fill the gap of limited in-person connection. That does not need to be the case for you. Making someone feel special or seen is so much more meaningful than giving them a gift they did not really need. Creating something yourself that is personalized to your recipient may be just as impactful. This idea requires you to get creative based on your skills, but some simple (and inexpensive) ideas include:
A framed photo of a good memory together
A card with a thoughtful note and baked goods
Catching up with a coffee or drink on you
We hope you find these tips useful as you look to avoid overspending on Black Friday. If you’re interested in learning more about saving and making your money work for you, reach out to one of our trusted financial advisors.