Avoid Debt this Holiday Season and Stick to Your Christmas Budget with these 8 Tips

Let's not start the New Year off deeper in debt! Here's how to avoid debt this holiday season and stick to your Christmas budget!

Historically, Christmas shopping has always been a huge time when folks swipe their credit cards or open up store cards and end up in more debt than before Christmas.

And that’s not a gift you want to give yourself or your family. So, my goal is to help you navigate this busy holiday shopping season where our temptations to buy will be high. Even if I frustrate folks with my constant reminders to stick to our spending plans for Christmas, I want you to end the year in a good financial spot. So let’s avoid debt this holiday season and stick to our Christmas budgets so we can start the New Year off right!

5 Things to Help You Stick to Your Christmas Budget

So here are some ideas for using this shopping season to help you stick to your budgets and avoid falling prey to deep discounts and influencers trying to sell you things you didn’t need in the first place.

Go on a social media fast. This year, for Advent, I’m fasting from social media just like I did earlier this year during Lent. I’m not immune to consumer culture, and I’ve fallen into the trap of buying things that I didn’t really need or want only because an influencer convinced me I needed them. To avoid that and to avoid comparing my family’s Advent and Christmas seasons to others, I’m going to fast from social media for Advent. And I recommend if you’re struggling with your mental health during the holidays or you know you’ll be tempted to spend money to go on a social media fast as well.
Use cashback sites. You know I love Rakuten and will be using it all season long. Since I homeschool kids, I can’t really go out to the stores to go Christmas shopping because they are typically with me, so I mostly shop online for gifts. And by using Rakuten, I’m able to earn cashback (yes, actual cash, not points) on most of my online shopping.
Sell items you don’t use. Now is the perfect time to clean up and get rid of the stuff that you don’t need/want, which is just taking up space. The added bonus is that you earn extra cash to buy Christmas items without having to rely on credit.
Buy secondhand. Your kids don’t need brand-new stuff. Nor do you. Secondhand gifts are still gifts. Yes, they sometimes require some cleanup before giving, but they are still gifts. My kids every year get many of their gifts as secondhand gifts. In fact, this year, their big Christmas presents have been purchased through Facebook Marketplace. I promise you, your kids and loved ones will be just fine with secondhand.
Make wiggle room in your budget. If you haven’t already, spend time this weekend going through your budget. What subscriptions can you cancel or suspend? When was the last time you shopped around for insurance? Can you switch phone plans to a cheaper phone plan (y’all know I love my phone carrier, Mint Mobile)? Where in your budget can you make more wiggle room so you can afford Christmas this year?

3 Things to Avoid this Holiday Spending Season

Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive, but avoiding these things is helpful for navigating a high-spending season.

Avoid Impluse Shopping. This is easier said than done. Especially this time of year when spending is high. It’s hard to avoid going overboard shopping and spending too much. But I believe that if we put real boundaries around our money when it comes to Christmas spending we can avoid falling into this trap of over buying.

So before you start shopping – make a plan. List out everyone you want to buy gifts for this year and put that list in order of importance. Then, list out ideas for each person. This research roughly shows how much those different ideas cost and lists the dollar amounts next to the ideas. Then, tally up for each person and then tally up the total among everyone. Is that dollar amount doable for you this year? If not, so cutting back or getting resourceful – can you grab some of these items secondhand instead of brand new?

By making a plan, we avoid the temptation to overbuy because we have a physical plan in place to help us take the emotion out of our decisions. 💻 If you want a Google Sheets template to help you keep track, I’ve got a free one you can download here.
Avoid guilt-giving. It’s another easier-said-than-done thing to avoid. This season isn’t all about spending – it’s about giving, too. And I know that sometimes we can be guilted into giving when we aren’t really financially in a place to be able to give. Whether that’s giving to a charity or buying and giving gifts to someone just because they bought you something. We have to avoid the guilt gift. That’s why I recommend making your gift-buying list above, but also make a list of the charities you plan to give to this season. And remember, there is more than one way to give. You can always donate your time to the charities of your choice if you aren’t financially able to help them this year.
Avoid comparison. Your family’s Christmas doesn’t have to look like what you see on social media or even like the holiday movies you watch. It’s totally okay if your Christmas doesn’t look like anyone else’s because it’s your family’s Christmas.

It’s also okay if this year’s Christmas looks different than last year’s. You aren’t doing something wrong if this year’s Christmas, you can’t afford to do/buy all the things you have been able to in years past. That’s okay. Avoid comparing your Christmas this year to others and to the Christmases you’ve had before. This Christmas is this year’s Christmas, and it’s still a beautiful gift.

If you want more insight into planning for the holiday spending season, check out this replay of my radio interview on how to avoid going into debt for Christmas here.