With the holiday season upon us, now is a great time to start saving. / Image: Bill Dickinson via Flickr CC
As we continue settling into autumn, it can be easy to get caught up in the pumpkin spice lattes, the new season of sweaters and scarves and those spiked eggnogs. This time of year is full of events; there’s “Friends-giving,” Secret Santa, holiday parties and potlucks galore. It comes with the territory but holidays can be a time where we end up spending cash like it’s going out of style.
To keep you sane through the holidays, it’s time to start budgeting for the gatherings and presents you’ll be inevitably investing in. I’m not talking about the kind of budgeting where you live off ramen noodles for a month and can’t have any of those mimosa-filled brunches. These are just some simple changes you can make daily that will make all the difference in the long-run.
- Skip the line and make your coffee or tea at home 5 times a week. Rather than going out every day to get your coffee, skip most days to make your own and in just one week you’ll have saved around an extra $25.
It’s amazing how much you’ll save by simply skipping the coffee shop!
Image: Shutterstock - Having dinner with friends? Instead of dropping $50 on drinks and food out, have each of your friends bring a dish to someone’s house and have a three-course meal with red wine!
- Trying to get out of the house? Rather than going straight to drinks or something that costs money, try a picnic in the park or planning a hike with friends. Enjoy the crisp fall weather while you can, and save money in the process!
- Rather than having a night out at the movies with friends, where you’ll easily spend more than $20 on a ticket and snacks, rent a Redbox or Netflix movie and use even half that money to grab snacks at home instead.
- Start physically putting cash away. It can be easy to say you’ll save, but then forget as soon as you see that new dress at Nordstrom. If you were to start saving just $20 a week from now to Thanksgiving, you would have $100 saved already. Try taking that money out of the bank and physically putting it into a jar so you aren’t tempted to spend it before the holidays.
Do you have any helpful tips for saving money for the holidays?
