Cheryl Zhao

We have less than a month until Christmas and you’re probably not thinking about how to save money this time of the year. You are not the same. Regular folks or rich people are all planning to splurge on Christmas gifts and New Year’s Eve parties, fancy clothing and a lot of fun. The problem is that most of these people will start 2019 in even bigger financial mess, since they’ll max out their credit cards, get high-interest loans and forget about their money saving goals. Christmas doesn’t have to be this expensive. And you can still have a great time together with your family, while keeping your money safe and starting the new year properly. Here are 5 tips on how to save money during the holidays Consider giving fewer gifts Is it really necessary to gift all your family members, friends and neighbors? When you have many people on your list, it’s easy to get carried away and over spend. Right now we only buy gifts for our daughter, since she’s the young one and still believes in Santa Claus. We, parents, share kisses and hugs, plus a great time together with our little one. We already have a lot of stuff, not to mention we can always go shop for what’s missing. There’s no reason to spend money on useless gifts, when they really don’t mean this much to us anyway. Create a budget and stick to it Now you know exactly who’ll get presents, so make a list, just like Santa does. Then write a number for your total budget and how much you are willing to allocate for each person who’s getting a gift. Don’t go over your budget and keep yourself from overspending. Start shopping earlier Waiting for Christmas Eve to do your holiday […]