3 Smart Ways to Save Money This Christmas {starting now!}

8 Weeks to Your Most Organized Holiday Season Ever!

Welcome to week 2 of my simple plan to help you have a peaceful and stress-free holiday season.

Last week we started our Holiday Planning Binders (see below for a note about my planners) and completed the Holiday Snapshot. This week I’m sharing 3 Smart Ways to Save Money This Holiday Season {starting now} by getting organized.

Create a Spending Plan

Finances can be one of the most stressful parts of the holiday season so sometimes we like to pretend that we can spend whatever we want because it’s a “special time of year”. The only problem is that reality tends to come crashing in around the first week of January when the credit card bills start rolling in.

Head off the disaster now by printing my Holiday Spending Planner here and setting a budget for all of your extra expenses for the next couple of months. If you realize that you won’t have enough cash to cover everything, start cutting back now so you don’t end up in a mess later. Read my post 4 Ways to Save Money For Christmas (that we are actually doing) for some specific ideas.

Make a Grocery List

Another way to save money is to add sale items to your grocery list so you can stock up while prices are low. You can find lower prices on many staple items like flour and sugar for your holiday baking, and you can think about purchasing an extra turkey or two for the freezer. Sweet potatoes and pomegranates are bargains this time of year as well.

Make a Gift List

Just like Santa you need to make a list and check it twice. Take time now to brainstorm all of the people you want to buy gifts for this year. Remember that gifts don’t have to be expensive. The point is to let friends and family know that you care about them so you may consider sending a card with a note telling people what you love about them rather than spending money on stuff that will only clutter their house.

Print my Christmas Gift Master List to make sure you don’t forget anyone. 

Once you have created a master list, use this Christmas Gift Purchase List  to set a budget for those gifts and to check off when they have been purchased. Add these planners to your binder.

For those of you who would like to print all of my holiday planners at once rather than waiting for my weekly post I created a page with a list of all of the planners that I include in my binder.

You can click here to see the full list of Holiday Planner Printables.

[Subscribers can print all of the planners in one simple pdf. Click here to subscribe.]

If you’d like a more detailed plan to simplify, save money and stay sane during this holiday season, take a look at my new e-book Stress Free Holidays.

One reader says:

“I love this book! You write in a way that not only makes me laugh, it makes me feel like I can do this, I CAN have a stress free holiday. Thank you!”

Along with real-life, super easy strategies to simplify, you’ll find money saving ideas, gift and family fun ideas and strategies for dealing with difficult family members (yes, we all have them!). I even include 10 Easy Ways to Make Money for Christmas PLUS you will receive my exclusive Holiday Planner FREE!

Click here to see what’s inside!

Read More Organized Holiday Posts Here.

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photo credit: Gualberto107, freedigitalphotos.net