Seasonal spending can easily put you in the red. To keep more green, try these very merry saving tricks. With freebies galore, holiday budgeting doesn't have to sour the most wonderful time of the year.
Save on gifts
1. Use cash alternatives for gifting. Free up room in your holiday budget by using credit card points, frequent flier miles, and gift cards. You could use your miles to, say, upgrade parents' flights from economy to business class (though you might have to pay taxes and fees separately).
2. Don't spend on gift wrap that'll end up in the trash. Some stores offer free wrapping services or gift boxes, so consider taking advantage. Other options: children's artwork, comics, your recipient's favorite newspaper section, or even packages' paper stuffing decorated with ink stamps. If you receive wrapped gifts, save usable wrapping and tissue paper, gift bags, ribbon, and other adornments to reuse next year.
3. If your recipients live far away, buy from retailers that offer free shipping. Or shop on Free Shipping Day, a day in mid-December each year, when participating retailers offer delivery by Christmas Eve for no extra charge. Some may have other deals for extra holiday budgeting help.
4. Check delivery schedules. To avoid paying rush fees, look up delivery services' mailing deadlines, usually posted online, so your packages arrive on time.
5. Regift. This works especially well with generic presents like gift cards. Just make sure you remove anything that makes it obvious it's not an original gift, like a card or note addressed to you. And don't re-gift something that is partially used. A gift card with an uneven monetary value is a dead (re)giveaway.
6. Look for free-gift-with-purchase deals. Use those freebies, like a cosmetic bag or full-size product with the purchase of a beauty item you were already buying, as gifts or gift add-ons.
7. Use cashback credit cards or shop on cashback sites. If you're spending anyway, you might as well get something in return—just make sure you can pay the credit card in full when it comes due, so you're not hit with interest charges and/or late fees.
8. Keep greetings low-budget. Greeting cards can be a drain on holiday finances. There are family photo shoots, printing personalized cards, and postage. Shoot your own holiday card or search for photo sites or photographers who charge only for photos vs. a whole session. If you have a long recipient list, you could email holiday greetings or hand-deliver cards to those within walking distance or those you'll see anyway.
Learn more ways to save on holiday gifts.
Save on fun
9. Attend free events. Spending time with family and friends is what it's all about, but instead of pricey ticketed events that could harm your holiday budgeting efforts, look on local news sites, community boards, and social media for free events. Think: tree or menorah lightings, caroling events, school or church pageants and concerts, holiday parades, and neighborhood or public square displays. Some of these may even offer giveaways like chocolate coins, dreidels, and candy canes you can use as décor or gift add-ons.
Still want to check out ticketed events? See what's offered by your library and any memberships you have at cultural institutions, like museums and botanical gardens. You might be entitled to free passes to (or at least free parking at) holiday light shows or other wintry exhibitions.
10. Volunteer. Have some family fun decorating trees or hanging ornaments at a nursing home, or sign up to work at a food pantry. Feeding America, Kentucky's Heartland, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, for instance, hosts a Holiday Saturday of Service in mid-December. Volunteers packing food for seniors and kids can enjoy a holiday sweater competition, holiday music, and bakery treats. Another idea: Sign up with friends to respond to letters to Santa Claus and fulfill letter-writers' gift requests. The USPS Operation Santa "Adopt as a Team" option lets a group work together and turn it into a do-good gathering.
Save on travel
11. Avoid paying for accommodations. Travel can dent a holiday budget, so if you're planning on going over the river and through the woods, try getting a free place to stay. You could swap homes, pet sit, or house sit. Learn more ways to save money on holiday travel.
Save on décor
12. Decorate with holiday cards you receive. Your friends and family went through a lot of effort to send you picture-perfect greetings. Hang them up—around doorframes, on banisters, or arranged artfully on walls—to instantly sprinkle the season throughout your home.
13. Bring nature inside. Some of the prettiest centerpieces can come from your own backyard or nearby. So take a hike and pick up pinecones, small evergreen tree branches, and other natural beauties, and toss them in a bowl to (literally) spruce things up.
14. Repurpose extras. Got ornaments or tinsel that can't fit on this year's tree? Bows that aren't making it onto gift boxes? Fill up vases and jars with them for pops of sparkle and color on shelves, counters, and tables.
15. Break out kids' artwork. They're not just good for gift wrap. Those paper snowflakes and snowman sketches can playfully deck your halls. If you don't have your own children, then nieces and nephews, friends, and neighbor kids are likely happy to offer you original pieces. Kids' artwork makes for sweet additions to gifts for postal workers and package delivery people.
The following ideas may help save on décor for next holiday season:
16. Get people's castoffs online. Check online marketplaces and message boards from December 26 to January 7 when people are offloading holiday accoutrements.
17. Pick up in person too. Occasionally, people leave fully decorated trees curbside and in apartment buildings. Collect the discarded lights and ornaments on them for next year's decorating duties.
Save on partying
18. Borrow instead of rent. If you're hosting but don't have enough tables, chairs, or serving items, ask around to see if anyone is willing to lend out their supplies. If they're entertaining a different day, let them borrow your party goods in return.
19. Accessorize the same outfit different ways. Between work, family, and friend parties, your wardrobe budget could get worn out. Instead, wear the same outfit for multiple events, but mix up how you accessorize each time. Maybe you put a blazer or suit jacket over your look for a more formal affair and leave the top layer off for another. Or dress down a look with sneakers for a casual get-together and go well-heeled for a fancier occasion. It'll look like a unique fit each time.