How to Save Right Now for Holiday Spending

Even though Halloween is weeks out, and most retailers are littered with decorations for October 31, you’d be hard pressed, even this early, not to see holiday decor making its way to the showroom.

But are you truly ready for the holiday shopping season?

That season is fast approaching, and that means most consumers are thinking about anything from their holiday buying to how much they’ll be spending, and doing their very best to manage their finances over the next two months of shopping.

The finances part often times falls by the wayside when budgeting isn’t part of your buying decisions or you simply don’t have the extra money set aside to buy what you want for everyone on your list.

What tends to happen is trying to appease and please your friends, family or even co-workers but having to resort to credit cards and borrowing money to buy gifts, rather than rely on would-be savings set aside for this season.

The average person spends roughly $1,000 on holiday shopping, a number that has grown in recent years to get to that point, with increases versus 2016 and 2017.^[1]

Another study has the 2017 number at just under $900, but that was a pretty hefty jump from 2016, which was around the $752 mark.^[2]

The $1,000 barometer is ironic in that most consumers and Americans don’t have that kind of money set aside for emergencies, much less holiday spending and shopping.

The idea of taking what money you have saved in an emergency fund and using it for gifts seems ludicrous in the event your car breaks down, roof springs a leak or the kids suddenly need braces at the same time.

A 2018 study has 57 percent of the U.S. population with less than $1,000 in their savings account, with $4,000 being the high point for most.^[3]

Even at $4,000, consider that spending $1,000 on the holidays means 25 percent of what you have saved is going to gifts, food, decorations or anything else holiday related.

That’s a significant chunk you’ll dole out for one season, and that’s when the masses might be tempted to take on more debt as a result.

Once again, the $1,000 plateau rears, in this case, its proverbial ugly head as Americans aren’t afraid to take on debt as a result of the holidays.

The average debt assumed by U.S. shoppers is just over $1,000 ($1,054 to be exact) after the 2017 buying season, a five percent hike versus the previous year.^[4]

Consider that, as part of this study, half said they’ll have it paid off in three months, but 29 percent said they’ll need closer to five or more, with a $25 payment (minimum) means you’ll be paying on it until 2023.

Yikes. Hardly the holiday festivities you were dreaming about this season or any, really.

Even more troubling is that five percent of holiday shoppers get that holiday debt total in the neighborhood of $5,000.^[5]

Rather than add to your holiday stress and plight with spending that isn’t working for you, you might want to consider saving now, rather than figuring you’ll “figure it out” when the time comes.

Here’s how to save money now for the holidays:

Cut the cord, save money: Cancel cable and a few other expenses on the short term

Do you have an old box of movies or DVD’s lying around? No, this isn’t a call to action to start watching all of them, but maybe dig a little deeper for the holiday favorites.

Die Hard? A Christmas Story?

Then again, you can always partake in a streaming service, such as Hulu or Netflix to get the job done.

Plain and simple, you can save money for the holidays by cutting expenses, namely that cable bill that is grossly out of control, among other expenses that are weighing you down financially.

The average cable bill is up 39 percent from 2011 to just a few years ago (2015), and is more than $100 on average, topping $103 in 2016 with no signs of slowing down.^[6]

Consider that if you cut the cord from now until the end of the year, those three months of missing out on cable means you’ll be $300 richer for the holiday shopping, which is almost a third of the average holiday spending budget.

Granted, this is a short-term fix for something that you should have been saving money for all year long, but better than going into debt as a result of some gifts.

If you need another large amount of money put back into your pocket, consider also skipping the take-out and dining out.

The average person spends 5 percent of their income annually on take-out food, almost $262 per month.^[7]

That means if you cut that by, let’s say, half, you’re still making $393 in that three-month time period.

Between the cable and the food, you’re already at $700 or 70 percent of your total holiday budget, on average.

Season helpings: Don’t discount part-time, seasonal work for extra income

So, it’s easy to say the way to save money for the holidays is to make more money, to work more or take on a second job, right?

While that makes a lot of sense, it isn’t always practical based on that pesky 40 plus hour per week job you have currently.

But part time, seasonal work can, for some, equate to money to be spent solely on the holidays, whether that’s delivering packages or working retail, two of the more popular jobs during this time period.

A stronger than usual job market has led to seasonal work should mean more opportunity for most.

An indicator of that was the back to school seasonal push with retailers such as Kohl’s and J.C. Penny, as early as July and August. Kohl’s, for example, offered season positions in June and July at 300 of its 1,100 stores, with JC Penny putting about 18,000 seasonal workers on at that same time.^[8]

One reports shows that even working as a holiday Santa is lucrative, with the pay between $10 and $200 per hour, along with jobs as a cashier (up to $13.32 per hour), retail sales (up to $18.66 per hour) and product demonstrators (up to $21.70 per hour).^[9]

Generally speaking, retail is the way to go and an influx of added retail jobs started in May of this year, and was a serious numerical upgrade in total jobs from previous years and quite a jump from 2012.

Retail jobs in May were up to 776,000 jobs nationwide this past May versus the 654,000 last year and 352,000 in May of 2012, cited as a 4.0 percent jobless rate in June.^[10]

Simply put, seasonal work is going to be on the rise, and you can benefit from it financially for the holidays.

Sell, sell, sell: Dig out that closet, garage or attic and start selling old stuff

You may ask yourself, “who wants this old stuff?” or “why would anyone want this?” but you’d be surprised how lucrative, to a point, selling your things can be.

Online auction sites are being used by millions, and that means you can take what you’d consider unused or useless product and turn it into extra cash for the holiday season.

eBay, largely considered the hub of online shopping, is being used by 175 million people worldwide, so surely you can find someone to partake in that old video game console or DVD’s you’re ready to part with today.^[11]

You also can’t overlook the likes of Amazon, too, which has sellers who make a pretty penny with online stores that are lucrative and often transform into full-time jobs for sellers.

Even if full-time isn’t what you’re in the market for, you still can benefit from online selling to the degree of a few hundred dollars, even if it’s job an eBay auction as a one-time deal.

Old furniture, seasonal items, clothing you’re not wearing or doesn’t fit anymore (good or bad) and electronics are surprisingly popular in an online marketplace that is growing, as far as reselling items you’re no longer using.

So what is the answer for this silliness that is spending money that you don’t have on the holidays?

Any of the aforementioned ideas are solid, but why do we put so much pressure on spending as it translates into holiday enjoyment? You can almost look at this from the wedding day perspective, in that most justify this sort of spending due to the “experience” that is the holiday season.

Same as the average wedding is $30,000 for one day, most shoppers and consumers argue that this day is important enough to go into debt, and budgeting, while apparent, hardly is adhered to by most.

About 65 percent of Americans say they set a budget for the holidays, but most exceed that number to the tune of 77 percent who say they can’t stay on budget and only about 37 percent plan to do any budgeting even after they’ve gone over budget.^[12]

That sounds like a lot of misguided buying, underscored with the best intentions to stay on track, for the most part.

Even though that 77 percent figure translates into going over budget by not much, you’re still missing the mindset of sticking to a spending amount and seeing through what you’ve promised.

The key to this is starting a savings plan for the holidays before Black Friday, and even though that’s only a month and change away, you still can start saving for the holidays now and have that money set aside, cash in hand, no credit cards and feel good about buying what you wanted, enjoying the holiday experience, only this time devoid of digging yourself out of debt once the smoke and wrapping paper have cleared, and all you’re left with is a credit card balance that follows you into the new year.

Most New Year’s Resolutions fall under the category of losing weight and saving money, which is the third most common decree by the population at 37 percent, just behind the exercise and also eating healthier.^[13]

But rather than have a steady diet of overspending during the holidays, use moderation but ultimately plan ahead and start saving now.

Rather than scrambling later.

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