Halloween is almost here and you know what that means? The holidays are coming fast!! Have you given any thought to your holiday shopping yet? Whether you said yes or no to that question, you might be wondering about how to make your holiday shopping more successful.
These holiday shopping tips will help keep you safe and keep you from spending all of your hard earned money frivolously this holiday season. Following these tips will also help you to keep your stress levels down this holiday season. Happy shopping!
Holiday Shopping Tips
Make a List
Make a list right away of who all you need to shop for. Once you have your list of people set, include a list of interests and likes that each person likes. This will give you an idea what to look for when you begin shopping.
Budget
Plan your overall budget. You need to go through your budget and find out how much you can afford to spend for the holidays.
After you get your overall number, then it’s time to break this budget down even further. You need to decide how much you want to spend on each person that you will be buying gifts for, yes, but there are other categories that you need to budget for. Here is a general list to go from:
- Individuals/gifts
- Special Occasions
- Holiday Foods/Dinners
- Holiday Decor
Use Cash
Using cash is a great way to keep track of your spending and hold yourself to your budget. This is especially a good idea if you know that you are prone to spending a little too much.
So head to the bank or ATM and pull out the cash that you plan to use for holiday spending and leave your debit and credit cards at home when you go shopping.
Do Not Shop Online From Public Places
If you are going to shop online, great! There is some serious money to be saved like this. That being said, be careful about shopping online if you are using public wifi (coffee shops, etc). Your information is just not as secure this way and you don’t want to risk sharing your information or identity theft.
