Gails Blog

Now that the kids are back in school, it seems our attention has turned to dealing with the upcoming holiday season. A lot of people have been writing to me to ask about how to plan for the holiday season without blowing their budgets or their minds. Ha! You needed to have had a plan at the beginning of the year to really do the holidays justice without making a mess of your spending plan. If you’re just starting to think about how you make it through with your sanity, you’ll need to get creative.

I often recommend that people set aside 1/12th of their Holiday Spending Plan starting in January. Since planning is the key to everything, knowing how much you’ll need to spend on everything from gifts to wrapping, food to wine, hostess gifts to decorations, postage to travel, cards to photos, makes the whole thing work.

I always start my holiday shopping well in advance of the rush… I started this weekend, as a matter of fact. I went to a store that was having a moving sale and got almost everything I bought at 30% off. I brought it home and stuck it in the bottom of my closet. I know exactly who will get what, how much it’ll be for each gift, and how much under budget I am.

If you don’t want to blow your brains out on gift-giving, pretend you’re Santa: make a list and check it twice. Who doesn’t need to be on there? To whom can you give a token gift to commemorate the season?  How can you make your gift list fit within your budget? Secret Santa works at work, why not also amount a brood of siblings?

Once you have a list, jot down your gift ideas for each person on your list.

Routinely I ask my kids (I have four plus two spouses and a grand) for a list and then work to fill the list by comparison-shopping online before heading to the store.

Don’t self-gift while you’re shopping. The One-for-me-one-for-you approach to holiday shopping is just an excuse to be self-indulgent. According to an American Express survey, more than three-quarters of us buy something for ourselves while shopping for others.

If you’re a recent convert to the philosophy of only spending what you can afford to pay for, then you may have to take the drastic step of letting your peeps know that the largess of yesteryear simply isn’t possible anymore. You might find relatives and friends hugely relieved.

The very best gifts don’t have cost a penny, or very little. Offer up your time babysitting, cooking meals, house cleaning, massaging, sewing, knitting, transporting, or whatever else you’re good at. Clip a picture of the service you’ll provide and be clear on how often, as in “I’ll babysit one weekend a month from February to June.” Or better yet, make your own coupon book.

Unless you’re very good about paying your credit-card balances off in full every month, shop with cash this holiday season. Why? Because if you take a card, you’ll think you can spend more and then you’ll get stuck paying the minimum. At 18% interest, for example, $500 in holiday spending would take seven years to pay off and cost $365 in interest. Ouch! According to credit counselors, nearly 1/3 of us are still paying off the bills we racked up last year.

Before tossing anything into your shopping cart ask yourself why you are buying it. Are you just fulfilling your duty to give a gift? Are you showing off? Are you trying to keep up? Or are you giving something you can afford that your friend, sister, son or partner will truly enjoy receiving?

Your mom, dad or BFF aren’t going to be happier that you put yourself in financial stress rather than giving them something that might be slightly less and within your means, if they really love you. If they are judging you on your pressie, then they don’t really love you and you shouldn’t be buying them ANYTHING.

Make sure you get gift receipts for anything that may not fit and include them with the present. Routinely people accept gifts gracefully because they are good people, only to be stuck with something they’d never wear, never use, never regift. What a waste. Loads of people say, “if you need the gift receipt, I have one”, but the gift recipient may feel it is rude to ask for it. Avoid the potential yuck and just include it in the present.

I know a lot of people like to use gift cards to make the holiday season easier to manage. I’m not a fan of gift cards since you’re translating real money into retail dollars you can only spend in one place. (Blog to follow.) But if it works for you, just make sure you choose a reputable retailer.

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