As you know, we are a frugal and thrifty family. Trimming costs is considered a challenge for the TR family that we thoroughly enjoy chasing! We have no shortage of suggestions for ways to get into museums, zoos, and activity centers for free. We rarely eat out or buy retail anything. Our furniture is mostly used and most of our clothes are from funky thrift stores. In short, we practice what we preach. And we have incredible, joy-filled experiences. Our whole family loves shopping for a bargain, and finding new ways to put older items to use. But we aren’t just choosing this life-style. We have to perfect it in order to function.
There are times, especially around the holidays, when we wish we could throw caution to the wind and just splurge! But we don’t. Our holidays are planned events. And we don’t mean that we start stock-piling secret stashes of gifts in October. We seriously plan it out. We tuck away a small holiday fund at the start of the year and we use a spreadsheet to help allocate every penny. By planning and carefully managing our money-flow, even during the holidays, we are able to provide great experiences for our family- from swimming lessons to trips to cool places.
We would LOVE to be able to shower our family with gifts and trips spontaneously throughout the year to take the main focus off of Christmas. But our budget doesn’t allow for those extravagances. Instead we leave little handmade love notes throughout the year. We splurge on frozen pizza for our in-home date nights. And we purchase a small matchbox or a magazine as a treat for the kids when we’re able. Every now and then we manage to save enough for a short family vacation. And we are generally okay with functioning this way. We have a tremendous time together!
Any additional savings that we manage to amass is used only for emergencies. And there are always enough emergencies- tires for the car, antibiotics for a sick child, a slightly larger than anticipated electric bill.
The holidays are the only time of year that we sometimes feel the burden of our lifestyle. When we look around and think, “Oh! To be able to purchase every single thing our kids have on their Santa lists!” When we’re being flooded and ambushed with consumerism, it is hard to keep squared-off shoulders.
But we do a pretty good job of it. Here is a short list of ways we manage the holidays on a limited budget:
>Create a small savings account when and if you’re able, at a bank you don’t utilize for your everyday business. By keeping your holiday money at a different bank, you are less likely to dip into it during one of those emergencies.
>Take advantage of every post-holiday clearance to begin stashing away stocking stuffers, etc. Target is a gold mine about two days after any holiday!
>Stock up on non-perishable grocery items when they go on sale for the anticipated up-tick in holiday cooking. This way we aren’t suddenly hit with a super-sized weekly grocery bill!
>Utilize the Dollar Store – you’d be surprised at their supply of arts and crafts. And they take manufacturer’s coupons!
>Make some gifts on our own. By investing more time and less money, you can make some pretty cool gifts.
>Individually wrap everything. Everyone loves a huge pile of gifts under the tree!
>Recognize your limitations and don’t add the expense of gifts onto a credit card. By planning ahead, we are able to avoid the credit card trap every year. This gives us more spending money during the rest of the year.
And we also recognize that we are truly blessed. Our financial struggles are nothing compared to the trials of many. Although we sometimes wish we had a more generous budget, we find ways to make our budget work for us, so we can still have the festive, fun holidays that we will remember for years to come.
How do you plan for the holiday season?