Your Ultimate Guide to Holiday Budgeting

At Community West Credit Union, we understand there's a fine line between embracing the holiday season and maintaining financial responsibility. The holiday season creeps up on us more quickly every year, leading to financial stress and panic buying to cover those last-minute gifts we forgot about (we're looking at you, teachers' gifts!) Navigate the holidays without breaking the bank with these tips and tricks to help you stay on track!

Set a budget for the holidays... and stick to it!

Start by creating an overarching holiday budget. Around the holidays, we all feel the pressure to get big, extravagant, expensive gifts for the people we care about the most. To prevent overspending, make a list of everyone you plan to purchase a gift for and set a maximum amount for each person. Gift-giving isn't the only thing you should budget for. Be sure to include any necessary travel expenses if you plan to head out of town, as well as any expenses if you're hosting a holiday party like decorations, food, and supplies.

Start holiday shopping ASAP

You don't need to wait for Black Friday or days before the holidays get here to start your shopping. Allow yourself more time to bargain hunt throughout the months — or even the whole year — to help space out costs.
Pro-Tip: Keep a running gift idea list year-round for those on your list. You're more likely to gift them something they actually wanted or forgot about come the holiday season!

Avoid impulse buys

We're all bombarded with emails, flyers, TV ads, and tempting signs and displays in stores boasting about incredible deals that are so below the retail value that you couldn't possibly pass them up. Did you know most of the time, those "deals" aren't actually as good as they are advertising them to be?
Pro-Tip: Avoid picking up items you don't actually need by bringing a list of items you need to purchase and sticking to it when out shopping.

Consider experiences or handmade gifts

You don't have to be overly crafty to gift something from the heart! Spend the day baking or cooking together, creating a scrapbook or photo album, DIY Game or Movie Night — the options are truly endless!
Pro-Tip: Cookie exchanges are a fun, relatively cheap way to exchange "gifts" with a friend group or coworkers without the added stress of finding perfect gifts for a group of people that typically come with heftier price tags.

Consider a Holiday Club account

Contribute to a higher-yield savings account year-round for a stress-free holiday season. Make deposits at your own pace throughout the year, and come November 1, those funds will automatically be transferred into your regular savings account just in time for the holidays!

After the festive season, take time to review your spending and budget. Based on what methods worked well for you and what needs improvement, make adjustments for the next year.