Do you feel like you're hemorrhaging money every holiday season? I've been there, and want to share some things that help to navigate holiday spending without breaking your budget. Join Co-host Melissa Fradenburg as she unpacks five effective strategies drawn from her own experiences and missteps. Melissa breaks down how to set clear gift-giving expectations, stick to a fixed budget, and make the most from seasonal sales. Learn how to leverage apps or spreadsheets to track your gift ideas and purchases, saving you from last-minute shopping stress and unexpected costs. And if you're tired of the materialism, we've got you covered with fresh ideas on gifting experiences rather than things. Let's redefine the holiday season together - less financial stress, more joy, and lasting memories. Don't miss this episode!
Resources:
Links are being provided for information purposes only. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Pearl Planning cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Pearl Planning makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. Pearl Planning financial advisors do not render advice on tax matters. You should discuss any tax matters with the appropriate professional.
Do you feel like you're hemorrhaging money every holiday season? I've been there, and want to share some things that help to navigate holiday spending without breaking your budget. Join Co-host Melissa Fradenburg as she unpacks five effective strategies drawn from her own experiences and missteps. Melissa breaks down how to set clear gift-giving expectations, stick to a fixed budget, and make the most from seasonal sales. Learn how to leverage apps or spreadsheets to track your gift ideas and purchases, saving you from last-minute shopping stress and unexpected costs. And if you're tired of the materialism, we've got you covered with fresh ideas on gifting experiences rather than things. Let's redefine the holiday season together - less financial stress, more joy, and lasting memories. Don't miss this episode!
Resources:
Links are being provided for information purposes only. The information herein is general and educational in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change, which can materially impact investment results. Pearl Planning cannot guarantee that the information herein is accurate, complete, or timely. Pearl Planning makes no warranties with regard to such information or results obtained by its use and disclaims any liability arising out of your use of, or any tax position taken in reliance on, such information. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation. Please note, changes in tax laws or regulations may occur at any time and could substantially impact your situation. Pearl Planning financial advisors do not render advice on tax matters. You should discuss any tax matters with the appropriate professional.
Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and founder of Pearl Planning. I'm Melissa Freidenberg, financial advisor. We dive deep into topics like work-life balance, financial planning, personal growth and the intricacies of the sandwich generation. Tune in for money conversations that every woman needs to have.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. This is Melissa Freidenberg, and this week is my annual holiday spending episode. I've done a few episodes with guests on this and then I've written a few blogs in the past on holiday spending. I'm going to share some of those ideas from the past as well as share my own experience in implementing them and some not implementing as well as I should, so kind of some things that I've learned throughout the years of trying to stick to a holiday budget, as well as some of those areas that I still struggle with. Just to kind of share some real life experience with you and, of course, share some tips on how you can keep your holiday spending in check so that come January, that credit card bill doesn't have you gasping for air.
Speaker 1:I'm going to share five tips on keeping holiday spending in check, and the first one I'm going to start off with personal story of holiday budget expectations with my daughter, who is and loves the finer things, the more expensive the better. And now this may not apply. If your children are still younger and Santa is still a big thing in your life, this may not be possible. But for those teenagers, I would say college students and even tweens like middle schoolers, this would apply. When kids are putting together their wish list. Give them an idea of the overall spending allocation or budget. And I don't know if you are like this as well, but especially this time of year, I'm in bed kind of early scrolling or reading mostly scrolling, to be honest, but my daughter is also in her bed and she will text me. So she started texting me some Christmas ideas and they were all like super expensive things from Oritzia and skims. She had these shirts that were like I don't know under layers, like base layers, like not things that well, maybe she would wear, I guess, outside, but they were skims, long sleeve tops and my text message response because these, like, I'll call them undershirts. Again, we're not going to question whether she intended on wearing them as outer shirts or undershirts, but to me they look like undershirts and they were $58 each and she wanted them in like three colors. My response was why don't you send me some items from Amazon as well? And all of these items are expensive.
Speaker 1:to school clothing. I don't think generally, parents are doing a good job and clearly not myself of setting this expectation. With this in mind, she went back and she scratched the undershirts I should say from Skims.
Speaker 1:She did still get things from her list from Aritzia. However, I did notify her instead of me filling the cart. There were Cyber Monday and Black Friday deals at these stores where she sent me items. I said do you want to stick to the items you sent me or do you want to shop around and see what's on sale and fill the cart and let me decide which items from those that you filled the cart with that I actually purchase? And I will say I mean we haven't had Christmas morning, so I'm not sure if she's going to be disappointed. But she filled the cart at several stores and she did a really good job of putting some lower ticket items, some things that she probably would have hit me up for anyway, like at Sephora Beauty Products, and I feel like she was much smarter about the items that she picked, knowing that there was a fixed budget, there is a set limit and you can get multiple things that equal that amount, or just a few if you're going to pick super high-end, expensive items.
Speaker 1:So this is a parenting decision that you may or may not want to do. But it leads me right into tip number one. Regardless of the age of your children or if you even have children that you're shopping for at all, which is setting expectations, it doesn't have to be a dollar amount, but another example of this is with my husband Now. We've struggled at gifting things to each other in the last few years, myself included. I haven't really done a great job. We used to be like more excited about it, I guess, in the first ten years of marriage, and it's just sort of lost its excitement of gift giving.
Speaker 1:But that's it, like we're not going to get each other a big surprise and set the expectation. It takes a lot of pressure off of me, takes a lot of pressure off of him, and I said our gift to each other can be our trip to flora, usually in February when the kids are off, and we also need a new oven, like our microwave broke. Our oven has kind of been broken in the past and sort of been resurrected, but it's terrible and it's from 1987. So I would really love to get a microwave oven combo and they're super expensive. So I just said let's buy this for Christmas. We have to buy it anyway, to be honest, but setting expectations. In the past I have done this with relatives as well, saying to my sister like hey, I'm gonna buy your kids a gift, but let's keep it to $50 a kid and you do the same, and let's just not buy each other gifts this year and we we started that a few years ago and kept it going and it again. It takes up a lot of the pressure and it just sets the expectation and it really does help with the overall budget. So that's really number one, which is setting expectations with a partner, with older children, family members.
Speaker 1:And this does lead me into tip number two, which should probably be the first step, even though it's tip number two, but I wanted to share that story about how this episode came about with Jackie. Tip number two start with an overall budget. Really look at what you have, whether it's in savings or whether you know some. A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, so maybe it's like, hey, I've got three more paychecks for the year and all of that, I can really spend $1,000 on Christmas all together. Right, if that's what you've decided.
Speaker 1:But I want you to come at that overall budget and back into what you spend on each child or each person on your gift list by what you can afford to spend. And maybe you don't have money saved but maybe it's on a credit card and you're gonna pay it off or you get a year-end bonus. I can't help but think of the Christmas vacation movie where he gets the jelly of the month club instead of the bonus for the pool, like. I don't want you to get into that kind of situation of spending money that you aren't positive is coming in. But I'm being realistic that there are a lot of families right now, with inflation as it's been and grocery costs, that probably don't have money saved up for Christmas and are putting it on a credit card and going to pay it off. I'm just being realistic but still set a number. What is that credit card bill going to be? Is it $2,000?
Speaker 1:And when you're setting this overall budget and then backing into how much you're spending on each person on your list, I want you to include things like hostess gifts. If you're going to parties and going to bring those Self-care items like, are you getting your hair done before the holidays? Botox, I don't know, just throwing it out there. This is not my personal list. Maybe it is, you'll never know. Getting your nails done that's something a lot of women do for the holidays. That has to be a line item in your holiday budget. If you're purchasing an outfit or two or three for different holiday parties, that has to be in your overall budget. Whether your budget total is $1,000 for everything or $5,000 for everything, it still needs to be accounted for. So that, again, tip number one set expectations. Tip number two start with an overall holiday budget. Include things like travel, self-care food. If you're hosting, that is a very big ticket item and that can really eat away your budget, and if you don't plan for it, especially if you are either putting on a credit card, basing it on a future bonus or going paycheck to paycheck over the next three for the year. That is very important to include all of those things that are gonna come up, not just gift giving, in your holiday budget.
Speaker 1:Tip number three this ties in with one and two, which is track your gift ideas and purchases. I personally love using an app. It is called Gift List and there's a free version and a paid version. Now I have the free version and it totally serves the purpose. I'm not even sure what the paid version offers that, like free one, doesn't, but again, it's called Gift List. I believe the free version is called Gift List Light, but it is a fabulous app.
Speaker 1:I listed out all of the people that I'm buying gifts for and I started with assigning a budget to each person. I also added in ideas and an estimate cost for these items. So I started, maybe back in like October, of writing things that maybe they've mentioned or I've thought about throughout the year for them then start thinking about what stores I may shop for them at, and when I'm sitting in the car waiting for my kids to get sports practice or after school is a big one. I will start looking online for those items and pricing them out in advance, and it actually allows you to put an estimated cost in and then once you purchase that item, you put an actual cost in and you can categorize it as idea, purchased and arrived. And for me this is a big one because as boxes start arriving on the porch one, I like to pull them in quickly before anybody snoops around at them and JP is my snooper, so he'll like look at the box. Actually he opened a box this year knowing it was a Christmas gift a little turd but also because I don't know.
Speaker 1:I just don't like to be judged. I get the stink eye from Jay when I have a lot of packages on the porch, so I quickly try to take them away, stuff them in a corner and you forget what items arrive. So you have to take an inventory and see, like, did I actually order this or is it still in a shopping cart somewhere? And then this really helps me, having two kids so close in age, keeping that number even I'm spending about the same amount on each child and really seeing that list, being able to keep things on there that have been purchased and then other things that are still ideas. So if I find a few hours on the weekend to go to Target or TJ Maxx, I have an idea of who I still need to shop for.
Speaker 1:If you're not an app person, if you want less screen time and you're more of an Excel spreadsheet person, have at it. If you still prefer paper lists, write it down on paper. But the important part is writing out the budget amount for each line item, including all of the things. And just an example here I have Book Club. This week we do a Book Club Yankee swap and we've also incorporated a mug exchange this year for Book Club. So I have line items in my Christmas budget for these things and these are things that you probably wouldn't think of when you're thinking about what you're shopping for and who you're shopping for, but I like to keep that in there because it is part of my overall spending budget. That is again the gift list app, but it doesn't matter if you use the app or not. That, then also going back to one and two, which is the overall budget, and then making sure that you have all the line items accounted for. Tip number three, which is to keep track, really does help with tip number four, but this is its whole different tip, because this is important Avoid the last minute shipping costs and I should say impulse buys, that kind of like. The last minute planning ahead is tip number four, and I know what you're saying, melissa.
Speaker 1:It's December, december snuck up on me. This episode is going live December 5th, which means that you only have 21 days until Christmas, if Christmas is the holiday you're shopping for, and what that means is now is the time to get online and order things that need to be shipped to family members. I actually went to visit a friend at her office this morning and she is right next to the UPS store in town. It wasn't even open yet and there was a line around the corner and no parking, so people are shipping their gifts off. That has gotten me in years past where I wait till the last minute. I have like one or two gifts left to buy, but they're for out of town family members and then I'm like on Amazon looking for things that are prime delivery and then they don't get delivered in time or I'm just spending so much extra money for that last minute shipping. So if you can shop now on the next week, you can avoid that shipping cost and then the limitation to items that you can send for those last minute gifts.
Speaker 1:But I think the real way to avoid last minute kind of shipping or things that are available to get to your family members would again be to use some sort of tracking or apps so you don't forget about gifts that are on your list till the last minute. I will say I come from a family where my stepmother would literally go out on Christmas Eve and I can come home at like three in the morning and wrap gifts that she purchased that evening. So this is something I've learned as an adult in my own experience. I'm not judging you if you are a last minute shopper just like the thrill but you're gonna end up paying more. That's just how it is. I can't believe we're already to tip number five. Tip number five really incorporates all of these things.
Speaker 1:But if you find that your budget is really tight, a way to make it stretch, I'm gonna give you a few tips here in this section. But this is just kind of you know how to work on a tight budget. I've done this in the past is to purchase experiences that are happening in the future that either you would already pay for or you know that you were planning, such as like a trip for midwinter break. So it doesn't involve actually spending money right now. You can create your own sort of ticket or experience list. Maybe it's something like going to Cedar Point or even going to a museum downtown or a show, a Broadway show that is coming to the Fisher Theater in July, and you don't actually have to buy the tickets if the budget is really tight right now, but printing off like a bulletin from that show and wrapping it up really nice, and you're really gifting an experience at that point, whether it's for, like your parents or again, for your kids, and it does kind of offer you a little bit more space to save up for the purchase of those items.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I like and I'll give an example I thought of. The other day I stopped in TJ Maxx and they had these beautiful charcuterie boards like just actually they're just like cutting boards but they're a little bit longer, but they were very reasonably priced and they had these really cute like cutting things cheese cutters I guess. I don't really know the formal name for it, there's probably a name and it's just escaping me, but I would say you could get like a nice cheese board and cutters for maybe $15, which is on the low end if you're looking at like a family gift and maybe you wanna mix that with something like a gift card to either I'm thinking of these charcuterie places around here like the cheese shop, or cheese to please, or cheese and honey you could get a gift card and give it with a physical item that doesn't cost that much, like the cheese board from TJ Maxx. So that's just a way to sort of package, something that makes it feel more substantial.
Speaker 1:Another very popular mom tip and again I'm not reinventing the wheel here, I'm just trying to share some ideas with people If you have kids that are into certain sports like they're coming up in the next season and you know they're going to need a new pair of skates, a new pair of basketball shoes, that can be a way to sort of buy now, including in your holiday budget. But these are items you would most likely be on the hook for anyway. And again, I'm not reinventing the wheel here. I'm just trying to spark some sort of idea for you. If you're really feeling like you want more items under the tree for Christmas for your kids, but feeling like your budget just isn't allowing it, you're sort of taking future purchases that you know are coming up and putting them in the Christmas file. Moms have been doing this for centuries, whether they know it or not. I certainly buy socks and underwear as filler gifts. I've been doing that for years and you probably have as well. But again, just sparking some ideas, because these sporting things are getting so expensive and if there are things that your kids want to do, like summer camps or training for a particular sport that they're into and you would be paying for this type of activity in the summer or in the spring anyway, it is a way to sort of package that. So, again, packaging smaller ticket items in future purchases, whether it's trips, or just considering things that you're already on the hook for in the future as a potential gift. I hope that that sparked some ideas for you.
Speaker 1:Just reminders to sort of refresh and share some of my weaknesses my biggest this is outside of the five tips for holiday spending, but I am going to share with you my personal weakness, which I, feeling such a brat, admitting where my holiday budget goes away is that I don't shop much during the year, like I'm a more of an online shopper, but during the holiday season I will go to the actual mall or take a few trips to home goods or TJ Maxx or Target more trips than usual and I buy stuff for myself. It's really hard to resist the urge because I feel like I'm touching and seeing and smelling candles and I just need them. So that is something that I've been really bad about this year. My budget's kind of in check. I still have a few more gifts to get for people, but I have a really hard time of getting away from the one for you, one for me and finding awesome things that I really need to have.
Speaker 1:So I actually what I'm working on resolving is I created in the gift list app a space for myself and I am trying to resist the urge to actually purchase these items, as I see it. But I will list them because I'm the kind of person that will buy stuff for myself. But then, when my birthday comes around or you know, somebody asks me what I may want for anniversary or birthday. I'm kind of like I don't know. I don't really know Because I don't know at the time. But I will actually add things to that list for myself, even if I'm not buying them, because I'm thinking of things that I saw or I liked. And then I do, even though I am 40, I'm 44, I did just turn 44. Oh my gosh, I can't think if I'm 43 or 44. I just had a birthday. Anyway, I'm old.
Speaker 1:My mom still always gives me like $150 cash for Christmas, like I'm a child, like I'm a teenager, and I absolutely love it. Truth be told, I probably end up just putting the cash in my wallet, handing it to my kids for lunch money or McDonald's or whatever I'm giving them money for. But my goal and again this is do as I say. I'm going to do, not what I've actually been doing, because I've been buying stuff for myself as I shop, which is a terrible habit. But my goal is to keep a list of things that I saw and liked and either save those items to hint around about when a holiday comes up or somebody's looking for something to buy for me, or to buy it myself with holiday money that I get mostly from my mom. Nobody else really gives me money, but just a thought and again, more like a confession. I'm not perfect.
Speaker 1:I am a work in progress, but I hope that you found my holiday spending tips helpful. Please like, share and comment if you have some tips to add to the list, because I may even need them for myself at the rate that I'm going. I hope you have a wonderful and stress free holiday season or low stress, comparatively and thanks for listening. Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. If you found value in our conversations, please take a moment to like, follow and subscribe wherever you're tuning in from. It helps us continue to bring these values to you. We have valuable insights every week. Head over to women'smoneywisdomcom. There you'll find tools, tips and a supportive community to help you gain financial confidence.