Save Money On Early Christmas Shopping With These Tips

We are only a few months away from Christmas right now and it’s the biggest holiday event of the year if it’s something that you celebrate. It’s not a secret, though, that we tend to overspend throughout the months leading up to it. We add high budgets to all the kids and our friends and family and if you can afford it, that’s a great way to celebrate. However, you might not be flush with cash and you may decide to spread the cost – which is the smart way to shop for Christmas.

You need to plan a budget carefully to be able to get to Christmas without getting into debt. You don’t have to be in debt and we’ve got some tps to stop you from overspending for one holiday a year.

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1. Buy gift cards. No, we’re not talking for your friends and family! Of course, you can do this, but by buying The Card Network gift cards, you can put your Christmas spending money to one side easily and know that you can use those gift cards to buy gifts for others. So, if you have $200 of your budget to spend, you can load that into a store gift card and then use that gift card to buy your shopping!
2. Stick to a budget. Make a list of all the people that you buy for and stick to a budget per person. You can save so much money if you allocate an amount per person because you know exactly what you’re going to spend on everyone! 
3. Set a day to shop. You can drip feed your shopping, but it’s often easier to choose a day and get all of your shopping done. Choose days that are synonymous with the sales. When you do this, you can ensure that you get everything bought in one day.
4. Plan your list in advance. Plan ahead with the list you have and you can break down the stores you need to head to. If you plan your shopping early, you can save a LOT of money!
5. Always buy a little more. If there are buy one get one free offers on, take them up. You can then have extra gifts just in case of last minute Christmas parties or events. You then have backup options to consider.
6. Be open to Secret Santa. Pitch the idea to friends and family and make life easier on everyone’s budget. If you only have one person to buy for instead of 10, you’re going to make an instant saving and your wallet won’t be crying at you!  Everyone ends up with a gift and no one is left out. 

It may be July, but planning in advance for Christmas is the best thing that you can do. If you’re paid monthly, there are only 5 more paydays before the season starts and the earlier you plan the season, the better. You need to make sure that you are staying away from debt this year, and Christmas is not a reason to owe the bank!