12 money mistakes for the holidays

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December 1, 2:20 PM

by Budget Girl, Frugal Living Examiner

 

1. Spending money on holiday-decorated sweaters (really, outside of your great-aunt Wendy, who would wear these?)
2. Completely over-cooking for holiday dinners.  You can only eat leftovers for so long.  This is a waste of food and grocery money.
3. Keeping holiday lights on overnight everyday during the month of December.  Outside of Christmas Eve, there needs to be a cut-off time for leaving these lights on.  You won’t be in such a festive mood when the light bill comes in January.
4. Stressing over purchasing gifts instead of focusing on having a happy holiday experience.  – In the long run, your kids won’t remember how many toys they got for Christmas, but they will remember the happy feelings, activities and quality time you spent as a family.
5. Shopping for gifts late at night on Christmas Eve.  While you are desperately searching for a last minute gift before the store closes, you are more exposed to paying a higher price for an item or settling for a lame impulse gift.  Try to shop at least a few days in advance to give you time to get the best deals on items.
6. Buying gifts for people that fall into “lower priority” category. Anyone outside of your intermediate family, your best bud or your best client, probably aren’t a high priority.  Consider looking for items in your home to “re-gift” for people who fall under the “lower priority” category or just give a Christmas card.
7. Holiday travel to visit family you really don’t like.  This is a tough economy; don’t feel obligated to pay travel expenses to visit people you really don’t want to be with this year.  Make money an excuse to stay at home.  Make sure to call to send your warm greetings or send a nice package to make up for it.
8. Maxing out your credit cards for gifts – don’t spend more than what you can pay off in one month.
9. Not having a budget for holiday spending – Buy a bank gift card and use only that to buy holiday purchases. Once the money is gone, it’s gone.
10. Not saving any money during the holidays.  People get into spending mode during the holidays, but emergencies happen year-round.  Don’t get caught without an emergency fund if you get into an expensive car accident or someone breaks into your home.
11. Spending money on fruit-cakes.  Just don’t do it…
12. Losing gift-receipts.  You have this funny feeling that your wife doesn’t really like the Christmas gift you bought her.  Don’t lose money on things you can’t return because you lost the receipt

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