It seems like the older I get, the faster the Christmas holidays come around. For me, I have taken care of avoiding the debt since I have not celebrated Christmas for a very long time since a lot of the people close to me have passed away. I just don't feel it anymore. However, it was a problem in the past.
The last seasons I celebrated, I cut way down on Christmas decorating. It was once an obsession for me to decorate to the max. It was beautiful, but expensive. Anyway, that is where I started and just became very aware of where every penny was going. Not being cheap, just frugal.
Another thing I cut out was the large open house Christmas celebration where we set up a large buffet of food that was outrageous now that I think about it. It seems like we would invite everyone we knew. It got out of hand fast and got bigger and bigger every year. The smart thing would have been to make it a pot luck celebration where everyone brought a plate of food. Well, it went away the last few seasons I celebrated.
Mary at Everyday Cheapskate has an excellent article with lots of tips on how to save money during the holidays.
Click here to go to the article.
I know it is early to start posting holiday stuff, but it takes time to start planning in order to save money.
