I’m still in shock that we are less than 100 days away from Christmas. This time of year is always my favorite. The smells, the dropping temperatures, and the yummy things baking in the kitchen. It all leads up to my favorite time of year…Christmas! I’m the crazy person who starts preparing for everything Christmas in July. Unfortunately, that’s not just the fun things like shopping lists and yummy recipes. It also means we start to set our Christmas budget.
We try to set our budget several months before Christmas. This allows us to find ways to bring in extra income, save up cash, and shop sales to get the best deals. This year we have pulled together 5 simple ways we are going to save for Christmas on a tight budget. None of these involve dipping into our already tight monthly budget. If you are on a tight budget, I hope you find some of the suggestions helpful!
1. Swagbucks
In the past, I’ve mostly just used Swagbucks to save for things I want on Amazon, but don’t want to spend my own hard earned cash on! But this fall that’s all changing as we are ramping up for Christmas time. Swagbucks is a great way to earn gift cards by doing searches and answering simple poll questions. You can do a ton of different things to earn Swagbucks which can add up very quickly.
And, no, this is definitely not a gimmick! Just in the past week, I’ve cashed in $15 worth of Amazon gift cards! I’ve set a big goal to try to earn $150 worth of Amazon gift cards between now and Christmas to add to our Christmas fund. If you want to try to add a little bit to your Christmas budget, Swagbucks is a great place to start! Remember, even earning a couple $5 or $10 gift cards will make a dent!
2. Selling at Consignment
We are constantly sending unwanted and unused items around our house to the consignment store. We usually get $10-$30 at the beginning of each month just from selling our unwanted junk. However, last month we began using the Konmari method to really clear out the clutter and head into a more minimalistic lifestyle (I will talk more about this a lot over the next couple weeks so stay tuned). This has caused us to send several van loads of unwanted items to the consignment store.
We are hoping this will yield at least $200 over the next three months which we will be able to add to our Christmas fund.
3. Clearing the Clutter on Craigslist
While in the midst of getting rid of our junk, we have come across a couple larger items that we decided to sell on our own. We did this for two reasons. 1. We only make 50% of what an item sells for at the consignment store. 2. The items were larger pieces of furniture and would be a little harder to get to the consignment store which is about an hour away. If we are able to sell these items we should make around $100 which we will also add to our Christmas fund.
If you are struggling to come up with money to pay for Christmas, try looking around your house. You may have the funds sitting right in your house and don’t even realize it! Find things you don’t really love, use, or have the need for in the near future and sell it for cash.
4. Overtime
We are very blessed that my husband’s job has the option of overtime. It’s not something that’s always available, but it is something that he can try for and most likely get at least a handful of hours each month over the next couple of months. We are hoping to get at least $250 from this source of income to add to our Christmas fund before Christmas.
I realize this is not an option for everyone, but if it is definitely take advantage of it! Yes, overtime isn’t always the most fun thing to do, but it can be a huge blessing to your family. It definitely is to ours!
5. Make a List & Check It Twice
In other words, set a budget, create a list of who you want to buy for with items you want to buy for them, and, (here is the kicker) actually STICK TO IT! We will usually sit down sometime in July or early August and begin to make a list of what we want to get our boys for Christmas along with a few ideas for everyone else we plan to buy for.
We set a budget for each person/family as well as a budget for things like Christmas cards and postage, stocking stuffers, Christmas baking, teacher gifts, wrapping supplies, and anything else we may spend money on during the Christmas season. This is all included in our Christmas budget and comes from our Christmas fund. If your list of items exceeds your budget, it’s time to cut something or start looking for better deals.
Some of you might think that creating a list will limit you from shopping sales and having the freedom to find better deals. I don’t think this is the case at all! Simply use the list as a starting point and place where you keep track of the budget for each person! If you find a good deal, just substitute it for another item on the list. The shopping list can definitely be negotiable. The budget cannot.
Something else I want to mention is that we try not to go overboard on gifts for our kids. Generally they will get 3-5 gifts under the tree as well as a few stocking stuffers. This year we will definitely not be going over this limit for two main reasons. We want to stick to our budget and we don’t want to bring in unwanted clutter that will just end up at the consignment store in 6 months.
If you are also on a tight budget for Christmas, I hope these suggestions will help you to save cash and keep from going into debt this coming Christmas season.