With the current state of the economy, saving money should be a priority this December. Here are 8 tips to help you save money and still enjoy the Christmas holiday.
Avoid Impulse Buying
You don’t have to buy everything that catches your eye.
An effective way to reduce impulse buying is to avoid window shopping in unnecessary sections. For instance, if you’re shopping for cutlery, keep off the clothing section. It’s December, everything looks pretty, and it will be hard to resist impulse buying.
Reduce Your Electricity Bill
Because it’s the Christmas holiday, and the whole family is at home, you want to track how your electronic gadgets are being used.
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Unplugging appliances that are not being used at the moment could lower your electricity bill by 20%. If no one is using the TV, microwave, heater, or any other electric appliance, it’s best to turn them off.
Make Use of Shopping Lists
Create shopping lists of what you want to buy and how much you are willing to spend on each item. For more expensive items, have a cool-off period to decide if you really need them. However, your shopping list will be useless if you can’t stick to it.
Save Money on Meals
Don’t cook more food than you have to. Also, instead of eating at high-end restaurants, consider cooking home meals as they are less expensive. You can also make use of leftovers instead of disposing of them.
Shop Beforehand:
Instead of waiting until December to purchase Christmas decorations and gifts, you can buy them in January when most stores cut costs almost by half. You can then use these for next Christmas.
Track Your Expenses
You can use apps such as M-PESA to track how much you are spending on shopping. This way, you’ll know whether you are spending your money on the right items.
An effective way to ensure you don’t overspend is using cash for payments, rather than mobile services such as Mpesa.
Avoid last-minute Shopping:
Contrary to popular belief, last-minute shopping does more harm than good to your budget.
Create a shopping list for Christmas and start ticking off the items as early as now. Don’t let your procrastination lead you into buying things at higher prices.
Always Bargain
Always negotiate the price of an item whenever the opportunity presents itself. You can save a fortune by purchasing things at discounts.
Focus on Having a Good Time
Christmas festivities should focus more on bonding with friends and family, not expensive gifts and special food. Also, children build expectations based on past experiences, so you don’t want to overdo yourself.
Rather than buying them many expensive toys, focus on creating memories and having a good time as a family. Otherwise, if you focus on lavish meals and expensive gifts, you might have to keep raising the bar in future Christmas holidays.
Conclusion
We hope these tips will help you save money this December. If you have questions or additional suggestions, please let us know in the comments.