With Christmas right around the corner, a lot of people are trying to quickly plan and budget for Christmas gifts. It has been a year! Many have suffered from job loss or job changes, so a budget is necessary!
If you’ve read any of my other posts or follow me on Instagram then you know I’m very passionate about reducing my waste by recycling and reusing items. Here is 15 things I don’t buy anymore to help get you started on your money saving kick, check that out first!
Okay so now to why you’re here. I’m a very frugal person and in some way always have been. I love thrifting and up cycling items and making them my own. I’m not saying you have to buy people used items, unless it’s me, you can buy me a used gift I promise I don’t mind. But if you do these 5 things right now you can buy them something nice.
1. Make a plan & budget: This is important and should be done first. Make a budget and stick to it. There is no need to go into debt purchasing gifts. Create a budget and then a list of who you want to purchase for. Even write down the gifts you want to buy. It’s like when you’re grocery shopping, if you go in with a list and meal plan it’s easy to stick to your plan and when you go in there with no plan it’s easy to over spend. For that very reason we do Wal-Mart pickup up and have for years. I always shop off list when I go into the store for groceries.
2. Start scanning right now for deals: You have your list, you know what you’re getting so start looking for the best price. I’d suggest starting with small businesses and local companies ( and now I’ll shamelessly plug my small businesses 6440 Graphics ). Stores already have the Black Friday deals posted and some have even started the sales, so take advantage of those if you need to.
3. Unsubscribe from sale emails: Okay you know what you’re getting, who you’re shopping for and from where so unsubscribe from those emails sis. They are nothing but trouble and somehow can convince us that we need to shop the sale. Unless it’s on your list, you don’t!
4. Delete Apps: So the emails I can usually delete no problem but the apps! Oh those are tricker. They send flash deals to your phone and they are so convenient. My card is attached to amazon, Target and Walmart. And the apps it’s not attached too.. I can use Paypal just as easy! So delete them, don’t tempt yourself, not until after the holidays at least. Personally, I had to delete the Shein App, my digital cart was beginning to overflow with loungewear. But loungewear is the only thing on my list if my secret Santa is reading this.
Here is a bonus, try secret Santa with your friends and family instead of buying gifts for everyone. My friends and I did this before, I think it was last year, it may have been the year before. But it’s super simple and fun. We couldn’t meet up because life but we were able to draw names using Elfster. You create a list of items you want, you can even share links directly to the items and then randomly draw names all online! We are still in the middle of the pandemic, so I’d highly suggest this opinion. And this isn’t a sponsored post, just wanted to drop some gems for my readers.
The bottom line is you have to be intentional with your money. And I’ll assume if you’re reading this post that you are or trying to be. It is something I am still working on, but I have BIG plans for 2021 so I am doing whatever necessary to save some coins. And there is no better time to start than the present.
Christmas is really about spending time with family and friends (even if it’s via zoom this year) anyway so be intentional with your money and shop small this Christmas! Since we are all trying to save money here if you shop my Etsy store any time this month use code “WIFEYCHRISTMAS” to save!
Let me know if these are things you already do or did. Or if it’s something you are planning on trying this holiday season. I love hearing from you guys in the comments.
xo