***Today's post is written by my son-in-law, Luke. He wrote it for one of his college classes and part of the assignment was to post it on someone's blog. Feel free to read through it and comment. I am sure he would love the feedback! Enjoy!
Saving Money In The Christmas Season
In my opinion, Christmas is the best time of year. Everyone just seems to be a little more happy then they were a month ago. Of course, there are always things that can get stressful during this season, such as what gifts to buy who and how much. But all this can be easily avoided with a little good planning, so you can fully focus on what is good about Christmas. So here are a couple tips that can help you spend wisely and save money.
Figure Out What Gifts You Want To Get For A Person
One of the best ways to save money is to make a list of everyone that you want to get gifts for, and then make a list of what you want to get them. Some work may need to be put into this, because you have to figure out what everyone wants. But, as soon as you have your list together, it makes shopping for these things a lot simpler. A lot of good deals are online right now, such as coupon sites that can help you cut some cost off. Many of these are hard to navigate, with deals that do not really leave you any better off in the end. However, after some research, I found a site that helps you find the best coupon site out there. http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/5-best-coupon-clipping-web-sites-23634/. They have a list of what they rate as the top five coupon sites to find what you need. My favorite from the list was www.couponcabin.com, which regularly tests to make sure each coupon works, and shows you when the coupon last worked.
Stay Away From Credit Cards
It is easy to pay with a credit card now, saying that you will go ahead and pay it off after Christmas, but unexpected things come up, and even with the best intention you could end up paying more then the original purchase cost. Personally, I would much rather know that my family is in a good financial position then receive a gift from them that they cannot afford. Sure, it may be a little disappointing, but staying financially safe is better then running up a credit card to buy gifts for people. And you can always start putting a little bit of money away each month or paycheck for next Christmas, so you will have the cash to buy everything. The economy is not in the greatest condition, and spending on a credit card is always a risky move unless you have the cash already to back it up.
Relax.
This is the biggest thing you can do to save money. Just relax. Take your time, nobody is rushing you. Stop and smell the evergreens. This will give you time to think about if you really want to spend money in a certain way, or if it is an impulse buy, which are very common around this time. I always like to walk into a store with a plan of what I am going to get. Then, I go to the Christmas decoration aisle, and smile at all the decorations and the wonderful smell. If I still remember what I came to get after that, then I go and get it. If I forgot what it was, it wasn’t that important and I go grab some eggnog. You can never have too much of that.
So in conclusion, there are several ways to save money, and you may want to find what is best for you personally. But the goal of Christmas is not to worry about which gift, or how much, or even anything related to that. It is to realize the importance of each and every person, and just simply relax and be happy. So start there.
