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The holidays may seem far away now, but they’ll be here before you know it. You’ll blink, and all of a sudden, there will be Christmas lights, ribbons and wreaths everywhere you look, and people will be whipping themselves into a frenzy over the holiday shopping they have to get done, emptying their wallets without thinking. You can avoid this last-minute shopping frenzy this year and break your habit of overspending. How?
Shop Early
Don’t wait! Start your holiday shopping now. Shopping now will give you plenty of time to compare prices and get good deals. You can also avoid expensive shipping fees since you don’t have to rush your orders. You can save your money and simply wait a few weeks for your purchases to arrive.
Take Advantage of Big Sales
Take advantage of upcoming sales events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Green Monday to get great deals on holiday gifts and related purchases.
Make a Budget
Before you hit the stores, you should put together a shopping budget. Set a limit of how much you can reasonably afford to spend for the holidays and do your best to stick to it—better yet, challenge yourself to stay under it.
Use Rewards Cards
Have you racked up lots of rewards? Then, you should see what you can cash them in for. You just might be able to “buy” gifts with all of your reward points, making them essentially free.
Invest in DIY
You could avoid overspending by investing in some DIY! You could grab spools of yarn and knit a cozy scarf as a gift. You could throw on an apron and whip up jars of homemade preserves as stocking stuffers. Put your craft skills to good use.
Arrange Gift Exchanges
You’ll push the boundaries of your shopping budget when you feel compelled to purchase gifts for every single person that you know. To stop yourself from overspending, you should limit the number of gifts that you buy. A simple way to do this is to arrange gift exchanges with your various social circles. You can arrange these exchanges with your friends, your colleagues, your extended family and your neighbors!
The Trouble with Overspending During the Holidays
Overspending can taint some of the joy of the season. You’ll be happy to have your shopping done and a bunch of presents under the tree, but you’ll dread looking at your bank account. You might have nothing left in your savings account. Your checking account could be drained. You could be completely unprepared to pay for any extra expense that comes your way.
What if an emergency expense crops up? Like, a plumber’s bill or car repair? You might not be in a position to pay for it. If you make this all-too-common mistake and you desperately need to cover the emergency expense, you can try to apply for a personal loan. There’s no need to go to your bank during the holiday rush—you can try to get your next loan over the phone as long as you meet the qualifications. With an approved fast cash loan, you can handle an emergency expense quickly. Then, you can make your repayments through a simple billing cycle.
As you can see, overspending can bring you a lot of unnecessary stress. Spend wisely so that you can genuinely enjoy the holidays this year.
