Well, it’s officially holiday time. Yay! Happy Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

This can be a most fun and cheerful time of year but it can also be really stressful, especially on your bank account.

Too often you totally blow our budget around the holidays. Some of us even go into debt to pay for decorations, parties, gifts, etc.

We think we have to spend, spend, spend in order to have a great time. And although spending is a natural part of our American holiday traditions, there are tons of things you can do to celebrate the “fabulously cheap” way.

Here’s what I’ve done to save up to $2,000 every holiday season:

1. Make your parties potluck
If you’ve ever entertained for the holidays you know how expensive the grocery bills can be! Between meats and vegetables and desserts your tab at the supermarket could be hundreds more than usual.

I say why bother buying and preparing all that food yourself!

It’s cheaper, easier, and more fun to go potluck where everyone can participate by contributing to the meal. My friend’s family does that for Thanksgiving – she makes the turkey and provides the cocktails while all the guests bring vegetables, potatoes, and pies.

2. Pick a maximum budget for each present you buy
My parents used to spoil my sister and I with Christmas gifts. We would each get tons of presents and, in return, I always felt like I needed to spend a pretty penny on them even when I could not afford it.

Then a few years ago I suggested that we each spend no more than $25 on each other and, funnily enough, EVERYONE was relieved to do that. Apparently, the high gift spending was becoming stressful for them too but they felt strange admitting that to their kids.

And now we all put a lot more thought into what we buy each other since we only get to spend $25!

3. Do a Secret Santa gift exchange
If you have a big family or lots of friends even limiting your budget to $25 per gift could still break your bank. Instead of buying a gift for every single person do a Secret Santa gift exchange.

That’s when you put everyone’s name in a hat and each person draws one name out of the hat to buy a gift for. This way every loved one still gets a gift but you don’t have everyone going broke because they each have to buy for 50 people.

4. Pay with cash only
Only using cash for your holiday shopping is a sure fire way to stay on budget. Cash makes things simple and straight forward.

If you set aside $300 for your holiday budget then once that money is gone, you are done. No exceptions. With cash there’s no guessing and no calculating to see what you’ve spent so far…that’s why it’s so full proof for keeping you on budget.

5. Use credit cards only if you can pay them off in 3 months
Ever open your credit card statement in January only to find that you racked up waaaaay too much debt over the holidays?!? It’s the worst – in the new year when everyone wants to start off on a fresh foot you are bogged down with old debt from last year.

No problem if you budgeted for this though! If you have to use your credit cards for the holidays then limit yourself to charging only what you can pay off in 3 months.

Any longer than that will have you feeling financially weighed down well into the new year and also you’ll end up spending so much more on those gifts because of additional credit card interest (not worth it!).

6. Make gifts instead of buying them
In this day and age where you can buy anything, it’s easy to understand why people are so touched when you actually take the time to make them something. And I’m not talking about a can covered with painted elbow macaroni like you made in kindergarten.

You can find made-to-order gifts that are sassy, classy, and rival any store bought gift. My favorite thing to make for people is canvas art. That’s where you choose someone’s fave photo and get it enlarged onto a stretched canvas that they can hang. It’s usually fairly cheap for smaller canvases ($30) all the way up to $150 for large canvases.

I like to take it a step further and make pop art out of pictures and then print them on canvas. Look what I made for my mom with this photo of her and I (circa 1981) using this technique:

Here’s a website that lets you make pop art for free out of photos bighugelabs.com/popart.php. And I use canvas4life.com to print my canvases because they are inexpensive and have fast shipping.

7. Give baked goods, like cookies
My little sister is a student so she’s always on a tight budget around holiday time. Instead of draining her savings account to afford gifts she bakes cookies for her loved ones.

To package them all pretty she wraps colored plastic gift wrap around them and ties them on top with holiday ribbon. With the fabulous wrap job, they look so festive and taste great too so everyone loves them!

8. Only buy things that are on sale or have a coupon
Stores give so many discounts and coupons around holiday time it’s a total waste to buy anything that’s full price. This time of year you can save 20%, 50%, and sometimes even 70% with combined sales and coupons.

Before you hit the store, do a Google search for sales or coupons so you know what items are on discount.

9. If you don’t have a coupon, ask the sales peeps what discounts are running
My friend works in retail and they are obligated to tell you what coupons and discounts are available, even if you don’t physically have the coupon. So before you buy anything make sure to ask the sales associate what’s discounted.

And once you pick out your items ask if any of them will be going on deeper discount anytime in the near future. It never hurts to ask!

10. Don’t use the enormous bags retailers give you while you browse
If they don’t have shopping carts, many retail stores give you large bags to carry your stuff in as you browse. RUN AWAY AND AVOID THESE AT ALL COSTS!

These huge bottomless bags only encourage you to pile more stuff into them to buy. If you are shopping in the mall without a huge bag you will probably only buy whatever you can carry in your two arms, which makes it easier to stay on budget!

So those are the tips & tricks I use to save hundreds or thousands of dollars every holiday season. First and foremost though I always remember that holiday time is more about being together with your family and friends, rather than about spending your weekends at the mall.

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