Christmas is just eleven weeks from today! We’re counting down the weeks with tips to help you keep your Christmas season, stress-free and under budget. We’ve already talked about adjusting our Christmas planning philosophy, and starting a game plan for gift giving. If you missed those posts, it’s not too late to catch up!
Planning can go a long way to help you stay within your Christmas budget–that’s a big part of why we’re doing this weekly countdown! But what if you need to find a few ways to help expand that budget? Here are a few ideas to help give you a little wiggle room in your Christmas fund:
- Go bare bones with personal extras: If you’re concerned about your holiday budget, start by cutting the non-essentials from your everyday budget. Better to give up some dinners out or a new outfit than pay interest on Christmas gifts because you had to charge them all.
- Rebates and Rewards: When I get Ibotta deposits, SavingStar deposits, Ebates, Checkout 51 deposits, Snap rebates, or any other rebate checks or bonus gift cards (like with a Target deal), they become part of my Christmas fund. Any credit card rewards (like my Discover Cashback Bonus) I have available can be used as well.
- Swagbucks: If you’re using Swagbucks for your search engine, you can rack up points for freebies. You use it just like Google to search the web, and every so often they reward you with “bucks.” You can cash in 450 Swagbucks for a $5 Amazon gift card to help pay for gifts.
- Earn money by cleaning out: If you have kids, chances are there are clothes or gear around your house that they may have outgrown. You can try selling them on eBay or taking them to a consignment shop to earn a little extra cash. It won’t be what you paid for them, but it beats having them take up space in storage once you’re done with them. There’s also Craigslist and some local buy/sell/trade groups on Facebook (just remember to meet in a safe, public place to make a sale!).
- Offer your skills and services: There may be something you could do to help pad your Christmas fund this year. If you’re artistic and could create homemade gifts to sell, you could earn some money. You might be able to do some holiday baking to sell. Many people would pay for experienced child care or home cleaning services. Are you a techie? Offer your services. Get creative, and you might be able to earn a little cash to help you stay out of debt.
This week’s action plan:
Consider the ideas listed above–could any of them work for you? If you haven’t signed up for Swagbucks, Ebates, Ibotta, Checkout 51, Snap, or SavingStar, do that today! Take a moment and check to make sure any rebates you’ve qualified for have been submitted. Take some time to go through some of your things to see if there’s anything that could be worth selling, and take the time to head to a consignment shop or take some pictures to post online.
Do you have any other creative ways to add to your Christmas fund? We’d love to hear about them in the comments or on Facebook. Come join the conversation!
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