12 Days Of Christmas Blog Challenge Day 4

Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season

Keep track of your $:

*Know how much your gonna spend! So important to budget. (unless you've got it like that and don't need to budget with your visa black card ;) If you have $700 to spend on 6 people, know that you can spend just a little over $100 on each person!

*Keep track of everything! On paper, notebook, whatever, document that you have spent 45 out of that 100 and can only spend 65 more until your over budget on that person. Sometimes you spend more on your nephew than your Dad, or more on your significant other than your grandma. Being able to see the "math" of it all has really helped me in the past!

Shop Smart/Careful:

*Take advantage of shopping online! Free shipping is amazing, and look for sites that offer a % off your purchase.

*Also be careful of online shopping, its tempting to spend an extra $25 just so you can qualify for free shipping but is it worth it, will it mess up your budget?

*Shop for more than one person at a time, especially online! If you can get gifts for 3 different people in one store, perfect! Saves you extra shopping trips.

Have a plan, don't just shop:

For me, the holidays is the worst time to just "go shopping". If I don't have a set plan, I'm going to end up wandering around the mall, trying to come up with ideas for gifts for others as I'm walking, but in the end, I'll be shopping for clothes for myself, eventually spending money on a pretzel and sitting down with a drink from Coffee Bean because I was frustrated and didn't know what to buy or who I was shopping for. So before you go to the mall, know what stores you need to hit. At least have an idea of who you can get a gift for and in what department, don't just browse! You'll waste time (&possibly money) thinking of things you could have had figured out before you got there!

Thats all I've got! Link up with Aly & Molly!