Wealth Management Blog | Elaine King

Now you can enjoy Christmas – your pocket doesn’t have to suffer! - Elaine King - Family and Money Matters

Written by Elaine | Aug 12, 2016 1:36:39 PM

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year where family and friends come together to have fun, eat great food and share quality time. At the same time, Christmas is the time of the year where buyers become more impulsive and companies and brands become much more aggressive in terms of the advertising they bombard us with every day. Take a look at this article about the 12 steps of compulsive buyers here.

Is it possible to enjoy Christmas without these excesses? Is it possible to enjoy Christmas without your pocket suffering in the process? Of course! Follow these simple steps and you’ll go in the right direction this year:

Simplify your decoration: do you have endless Christmas decoration boxes that you don’t need? Recycle! Try to sort out your decorations and keep the ones that give your home a subtle Christmas touch. Donate what you don’t need to a home that does need it, a home in Peru, for example.

Have a DIY Secret Santa: Make an agreement with your co-workers, family or friends that all of the Secret Santa gifts will be home made this year. Are you good at sowing? Make a scarf! There are thousands of ideas in places like Pinterest about how to make gifts that look like they were purchased in a store in a few simple steps. Try it out! Look herefor ideas.

Set a budget: Establish a budget and stick to it. The important thing is that you understand that a budget isn’t an idea, it’s a necessity. If you don’t have one, visit this Also consider using an app or a search engine before going shopping to make sure you get the best prices in the United States. Try Red Laser here.

Have a “Contribution” Christmas dinner: Tell your friends that Christmas dinner will be “contribution” style this year. This means that everyone will bring something to the dinner party. This way, you’ll not only save money since making dinner for a lot of people can be very costly, but you’ll surely have a great time praising what each person brought to the dinner table. Here are some ideas to make it international.

The most useful tip? Share quality time with your loved ones, take a deep breath, give experiences rather than material gifts and live in the present. There are many ways to overcome the festivities and save money at the same time. For more tips, be sure to follow me on Facebook andTwitter. Merry Christmas!