Christmas can get pretty overwhelming, from the traveling, cooking, and gift giving. With the excitement of the holiday season in full swing, we can easily go overboard especially in gift giving. No matter what your childhood upbringing was like we all can agree that we want our kids to have a better life than ours. Many times during the holiday season is when we feel this extra pressure.
I wrote a post about how we got rid of 1,000 items before 2017. Since having the 4 kids our house has been full of toys and junk! Challenging our family to declutter the house of 1,000 items was tough. But this challenge really helped my husband and I have a little dose of reality before going into the holiday season. The holiday season is definitely a place where we can improve our financial discipline. This year we decided that all it takes is one year of being more frugal, staying on a strict budget, and making some sacrifices so that our financial plan can soar in 2017.
Some tips for not feeling the pressure of Christmas gift giving is to:
- Plan ahead. Whether you buy only for your immediate family or the whole crew the most important thing to do is to plan ahead. It’s ok if you buy for everyone as long as you plan and budget accordingly.
- Stay on Budget. It is so easy to overbuy. Many people do whatever it takes to buy a ton of presents and then regret it in the months following. They either don’t budget or go over and they pay for in the new year and find themselves in the same predicament come next winter.
- Be on the same page. Be on the same page with your spouse or significant other. If you love giving gifts and your spouse does not this can add a lot of added stress and pressure during the holiday season. If you disagree it is vital that you come to some sort of compromise and stick to it.
- Remember the true meaning of Christmas. With all the hustle and bustle surrounding the holiday season, it’s so easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. To be thankful for what we have and not what we want. If you and your family remember the true meaning everything else will fall into place.
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
We want to stay focused this year. We know if we can stay on budget and meet our goals it will lay a great foundation for beating the holiday pressure each and every year. And this will keep us on the road to true financial freedom.
What about you? What do you do to not feel the holiday pressure? Do you have a budget or only certain people you give gifts to? What other tips can you share to help others stay on track?
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