3 Financially Responsible Holiday Habits to Adopt This Year
The holiday season can be a time of joy, but it can also cause financial stress if you’re not careful. The holidays are an opportunity to enjoy the company of friends and family, but they also come with additional expenses that might leave your wallet feeling light.
Financially Responsible Habits for the Holiday Season
In this blog post we will discuss three financially responsible habits for the holiday season that may help alleviate some financial stress during this special time of year!
Go For DIY Gifts Instead Of Buying Costly Gifts
Do you really need to buy your loved ones expensive gifts this holiday season? If you love the idea of buying a gift for someone, but don’t want it to break your bank account then consider doing something they’ll appreciate even more- DIYing! Even if you have zero crafting skills, there are so many easy ways to create thoughtful and creative homemade gifts. A great example is baking cookies or brownies with an attached note that reads “I didn’t know what else to get you so I made these myself”. The best part about giving handmade gifts is knowing how much time was put into them! It will be apparent by the amount of thoughtfulness behind each gift. Although this may not seem like the most financially responsible habit during the holidays, it can be an amazing way to show your loved ones how much you care.
Budgeting Your Food and Not Buying More Food than What Is Needed
Food is a huge expense during the holidays, but it doesn’t have to be! The key to staying on budget during this holiday season is planning ahead and sticking with your plan. If you’re hosting dinner at home make sure you know what ingredients need to purchase before going grocery shopping. This way you can avoid buying unnecessary items that might go bad or increase food waste. Also if cooking isn’t an issue try having everyone bring their favorite dish so there’s less work for you (and more variety). If you have family over and someone else wants to show courtesy and buy something off your list, let them do it. It’s a good gesture from them and you should respect it. It will also save you some money. It shows that they care and you accepting them to do it shows that you are close to each other.
Putting up decorations that don’t require electricity/running up the utility bill
One of the biggest expenses during this holiday season is energy bills. While you might be tempted to put up your Christmas tree and decorate every single inch of your home, it will cause a huge financial burden by using too much electricity. This does not mean that you can’t have an enjoyable-decorated house! Instead try going for decorations such as string lights, candles, or festive looking pine cones. These items won’t cost nearly as much in terms of utilities so they are great options if there’s a budget conscious person in the household spending money on these things matters.
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Also remember keeping track of utility usage throughout winter months helps prevent overspending due to unexpected increases around December time. Although these ideas may seem common sense, many of us fall into the trap of overspending during holidays. By adapting these financially responsible habits you can embrace all that is good about the holiday season while keeping your finances in check!
Why Is It Important To Be Financially Responsible During The Holidays?
It is very easy to get carried away during the holiday season. However you have to keep your cool and be more responsible during the holidays. It is very important as it will save you a lot of money that you would otherwise spend on needless things. If you are financially responsible, it will also help your family members.
Make sure that you are not spending more than your income or what you can afford. Do it without dipping into money set aside for other things like savings of retirement investments. A good way of budgeting during this time is by planning ahead before going grocery shopping. Buying random items on a whim might cause food waste. Having everyone bring recipes they know how to make will also reduce some financial burden off of one person actually cooking everything themselves. Putting up decorations using candles, string lights or pine cones are great options as well. Because these won’t run up the utility bill too much so they’re perfect for someone on a budget.
What Is The Most Important Thing To Remember When Budgeting During Holidays?
The most important thing to remember when you’re trying to stick to your holiday spending plan is not to be extravagant with things like food, decorations and energy bills. Try doing something more frugal if you are looking for ways of saving money during the holidays. By being financially responsible now it will help save up later in life as well which can prove very beneficial if there are major expenses that come up down the road such as college tuition or retirement planning.
Josh Dudick
Josh is the owner and lead writer at Daily Wisely. His career has taken him from finance to blogging, and now shares his insights with readers of Daily Wisely.
Josh's work and authoritative advice have appeared in major publications like Nasdaq, Forbes, The Sun, Yahoo! Finance, CBS News, Fortune, The Street, MSN Money, and Go Banking Rates. Josh has over 15 years of experience on Wall Street, and currently shares his financial expertise in investing, wealth management, markets, taxes, real estate, and personal finance on his other website, Top Dollar Investor.
Josh graduated from Cornell University with a degree from the Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management at the SC Johnson College of Business.