18 Easy Ways to do Christmas on a Budget

If you're looking for ways to do Christmas on a budget, you've come to the right place.  This Christmas more than any other we need to be more conscious of our spending.  

You may not have the funds you usually do around this time of year but you can still have a wonderful Christmas.  And you don't need to go into massive debt to do so.  

Doing Christmas on a budget just takes good planning and follow through.  So make the decision and stick to it!  If you can implement just a few of these tips, you will find that you are spending less and saving more.

So, let's get to it.  Here are the 18 tips that will help you do Christmas on a Budget.

Plan Ahead of Time

The biggest part of keeping your Christmas on a budget is planning ahead.  The earlier the better.  If you wait until October to start, it's already too late.

By then, you're already in the thick of the holiday season.  Distractions abound.  And you probably won't have the time to truly sit down and plan how you want to spend the holidays.

Furthermore, when you do plan, be as specific as possible.  You don't want to leave things to chance.  And you don't want to be last minute shopping because that's when you spend more money then you planned.

Here's what you need to plan for:

• Christmas Location
• Gift Recipients
• The Food

Where to Have Christmas

So to start, decide where you want to have Christmas.  Will Christmas this year be at your house?  Your Mother's?  Or will you opt to have a Christmas in a nice resort?

If you go the resort route, consider turning that into the Christmas gift for your family.  That way it won't be more of a burden on you financially.

Deciding where you'll spend the holidays will help you plan your budget and figure out just how much money you will need.  So do this first.

Who's Getting Gifts?

Next, you'll want to decide who you will be getting gifts for this year.  If you're trying to stay on a budget, you may want to skip out on getting gifts for coworkers, neighbors, and distant friends or relatives.

By deciding now who you will buy gifts for, you set a limit for yourself and your spending.  You have a clear goal for the Christmas season which makes it easier to stick to.  

So make cuts now and follow through on it.  It's much harder to cut later once you've gotten into the shopping spirit.

Christmas Dinner

Another thing you will want to consider is the food.  Decide now with your family how you're going to handle the food this year.  Will the host also prepare the food?  Will you rotate every year?  Or leave it to the hands of fate and flip a coin?

Deciding this early will also help you when you begin to set your Christmas budget.  Which surprise, surprise is what you should do next.

Make a Budget

Ideally, you will already have a budget set for Christmas early so that every month you can stash some cash in advance.  What you don't want to do is to go into debt just to have a good Christmas.

Soooo.  Budget in advance.  Set a number for the total amount of money you want to (or realistically, can afford to) spend this year for Christmas. With that number set, you can work throughout the year to meet that goal.

From there, you can break your budget down into two, maybe three separate parts:

• Gift Budget
• Food Budget
• Travel Budget (if necessary)

Ideally, you would already have some holiday decorations from previous years that you can reuse.  So you wouldn't need to include this.

Now, with your gift, food, and travel budget set, you know how much you can spend on airfare, groceries, and presents.  

If it helps, you may want to do envelops or jars to keep track of your money and spending. 

Write Your List and Check it Twice

Now that you have a plan of action and a budget set it's time to make your gifting list.

Make a list of all the people you will be getting gifts for this year.  And if you already have an idea of what you want to buy them, make a note of that as well.

Make this a hard list and make a point to not add anyone to it no matter what.  However, I'd get a one or two extra gifts in case something or someone pops up later.

Taking this further, go through your gifting list and decide just how much each person's present will be based on your gift budget.  

Now you are ready to put it into action.  

When you go shopping, be sure to take this list with you and refer to it often.  And remember to cross people off as you buy their gifts.  You don't want to end up buying Aunt Susie 2 gifts and Auntie Rose, 1.

This will help keep you from feeling the pressure to buy extra presents for people.  And save you from overspending.

Use the 4 Gift Rule

Have you heard of the 4 Gift Rule?  I'll be honest I had not until very recently.  But it is a great idea for anyone with children.  This rule sets a 4 gift limit per child.

Not only does it help you not over indulge your kids but they can also learn a few valuable lessons from this style of giving as well.

How it works: 

First, you'll need to explain to your kids that you are going to do something a little different this holiday season.  And that they may not get everything they want so they need to think long and hard about what they want most.

Then you buy 4 gifts for each child as follows.

1. Something they want
2. Something they need
3. Something to wear
4. And something to read

By using the 4 Gift Rule, you are teaching them that toys aren't everything and that reading is important too!

Potluck It

Another great way to spend less for Christmas this year is to potluck it. 

Instead of having the burden be all on you for Christmas dinner, why not share the cost with everyone.  You could do a dinner where everyone would be responsible for a dish or two.

That way, no one family or person is burdened with all the costs and time required to make that 7 course meal that is Christmas dinner.

You should decide this early on so no one is surprised by this later.  And so people can call dibs on what they are bringing to the party.

I am the potato salad Queen.  So my family already know that if there's potato salad, I'm making it!

Shop Online

We all know some of the best discounts can be had by shopping online. So instead of going out to the mall, make some hot cocoa, whip out your laptop, and start shopping.  And if you can, combine orders to take advantage of free shipping offers!

A perk of shopping online is that you can avoid the crowds found at malls around this time and avoid the temptation to buy more and eat out.

Also, shopping on sites that give you cash back such as Amazon or Rakuten can really give you some good bang for your buck.

Use Discount Codes

Before you checkout with your online shopping, make sure to do a quick search for any discount codes and coupons you can take advantage of.  

Head over to RetailMeNot or savings.com and start getting discounts on all of your purchases.

Sign Up for Discounts

Many times during the holiday season stores will have special discounts for members or for people  who opt to get on their mailing list or "join the club".

If it is free to do so, I say go for it!  By signing up, you can take advantage of the special offers they have available.  That could be taking 20% off your total order, buy one get one free deals, and so much more.

So while you're out and about doing your Christmas shopping, keep an eye out for these Members Only discounts.

Use Cash Back Cards Wisely

Take advantage of your card's cash back bonus to rack up some points that you could use to buy gifts, groceries, or plane tickets.

You can be strategic and when shopping, just stick to one card.  That way, you can build up a good chunk of change in cash back points.  

Also, buy taking advantage of their special cash back bonus categories, you can rack up even more points a lot faster.

A word of caution.  You don't want to get into unnecessary debt just to get a few extra points.  So be careful with how you use your cards.  And only buy the things you planned to buy in the first place.

Use Those Old Gift Cards

I know I'm not alone in saying that there have been numerous times when I would go through my wallet and find an old half used gift card.

It's like Christmas has come early!  But wait!  Before you go out and spend it on Starbucks, consider using it to pay for some of those Christmas gifts you still need to get.

It may not be much but every little bit count.  And if you are a bit of a hoarder like me, you may realize you have quite a bit of money left on all those forgotten cards.

Get Creative with Wrapping

If you want to save money on Christmas this year, skip out on all the fancy gift wraps, bows, ribbons, and name cards.  Keep it simple.  It doesn't have to be fancy to still be nice.

You could use newspaper, nice bags you got from previous shopping, boxes you saved from last years Christmas and so much more.  

You could buy a block of white butcher paper and make an activity out of it with the kids.  You can color and draw on the paper for decoration.  Get creative and have a little fun with it. 

Living in Japan has really opened up my view on wrapping presents (and bentos).  Here they use a furoshiki to wrap their bentos but it is easy enough to do for presents as well.  

Simply grab any beautiful cloths, scarfs, towels, etc. and use it to wrap your gifts.  You could even budget it in and buy some nice fabric that you can use again and again.

Just be sure to get back your beautiful cloth so you can use it again next year!

Shop Secondhand

Don't be afraid to go gift shopping at secondhand stores.  I know there is a negative image of thrift shops but you can actually find great deals and occasionally, new, unused products there as well.

What you don't want to do is over exert yourself or your wallet.  So if you already know you're on a tight budget, check out your local thrift shop.  You never know what you may find.  

Besides, the people who truly love and care for you won't care where you get your gift from.  They'll be happy to just have you there celebrating the holidays with them.

Don't Forget About Groupon

Back in the day Groupon was it.  It was the thing to do even when there was no special occasion to do so.  

Groupon offers discounts on practically everything.  You can plan luxury vacations, get memberships to gyms on a steep discount, and buy passes to laser tag to name a few.

You have to be careful not to spend too much on Groupon though.  It is addictive getting all those sales and deals and you don't want to overspend.

But it is definitely worth checking out if you already know what you want to get and just want to check and see if you can get it on discount.

Think About Alternative Gifts

A big way you can save this Christmas is to think outside the box when it comes to gifts.  You don't always have to go the new laptop or fancy electronics route.

There are plenty of gift alternatives that can help you stay within your Christmas budget.  For instance, you may decide that this year you are going to donate your time or money to a charity.  

Or you may decide, as a family, to do Secret Santa.  That way you're not buying gifts for everyone, just one person.  A big money saver.

Further, you may want to get crafty and DIY your gifts.  Make some bath bombs, knit a scarf.  The skies the limit.

And don't worry.  You don't need any particularly special skills to do DIY. Just open up YouTube and I'm sure there is someone who can help you whip up a nice present in no time.

Do Family Gifts

Instead of buying gifts for each and every member of your sister's family, why not buy one big gift for the whole family.  This could be something simple like a board game everyone can enjoy or something fancy like a Disney World vacation. 

Of course, whatever gift you decide to give will be from your whole family as well.  No need to have every member of your family buy something.

Do Gifts for Children Only

As we get older and move into adulthood, Christmas takes on a different meaning for us.  I know that I for one find it less and less necessary to receive gifts.  After all, if I wanted something, I would just buy it.

So it can a great idea to limit the gift giving to children only.  This could save you thousands as you no longer feel the pressure to buy something fancy for your doctor brother just to impress him and his wife.

Skip the Christmas Lights and Fancy Decor

If you truly want to keep Christmas this year on a budget, you should skip the Christmas lights and fancy decor.  

Sure it might be nice to have the fanciest house on the block.  With your house decked out in changing lights, a blow-up Santa, and reindeers. But your electricity bill will be through the roof.

Not to mention, all that waste can't be good for the environment.

Of course, you can still have lights on the Christmas tree but I wouldn't keep those lit all day.  Just in time for the Christmas festivities only.

Limit Your Gift Shopping to One Day

If you want to do Christmas on the cheap, you're going to want to do a one and done sort of thing when it comes to shopping.  

You don't want to find yourself gift shopping on multiple occasions, as this just increases the likelihood that you will spend more than you should.

By limiting yourself to just one day or, at least, one weekend.  You give yourself a time frame to work in which will keep you focused and on task.  

And once you're done, you're done.  No need to revisit gifting ideas or look around for more sales.  You can move on with your life and truly enjoy the holiday season.

All in All

Christmas doesn't have to break the bank.  There are numerous ways you can reel in the spending and keep your Christmas on a budget.  

Years ago, my family and I decided that we were over spending a ton money every year for the holidays and decided to do homemade gifts. This has personally saved me hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Hopefully, you will be able to do the same.  So take these tips and use them to have the best (and most budget-friendly) Christmas to date!

Got any more Christmas tips?  I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Happy Holidays!