It's that time of year again. When you start seeing the Christmas trees and decorations go up in retail stores and shopping centres, it marks the beginning of the festive frenzy.
This might trigger some stress when you think about how expensive Christmas can be and then how you can actually afford it all.
When it comes to special occasions like Christmas (not to mention birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day, weddings and other celebrations), we often know way ahead of time that we'll be hosting an event, or needing to buy presents for specific people or occasions.
However, Christmas is usually when personal finances take the biggest hit for most households.
While it gets drilled into us that we need to plan, budget and spend consciously to meet our living expenses and financial goals, wouldn't it also make sense to apply the same thinking to special events and gifting?
Christmas can be a busy, stressful and expensive period. In this article, we give you a few tips and tricks which could save you some money and plenty of stress!
The first step to getting yourself organised for Christmas is getting all your lists in order. Let's jump into it!
At Christmastime, we always think about spending on the Christmas tree, decorations and presents. But what about the food and drinks; travel expenses to spend time with family; Christmas gift wrap, cards and postage; or even the special professional Christmas photo with Santa?
Do you have guests staying over the holidays which might mean more food, bathroom toiletries and utility usage? You might even want to add charitable donations to others in need to your list.
Mapping out your expense groups will give you visibility over everything that you'll need to allocate funds for – avoiding any costly shocks closer to the date – as well as helping you to plan ahead and coordinate activities.
Top tip: In the gift expense group, it's a good idea to discuss and agree the gift-giving arrangements with your extended family. For some, only gifts for the children and not adults are expected. Other families choose to do 'Kris Kringle' or 'Secret Santa' – or even the gift-stealing 'Bad Santa' version for a bit of fun!
Don't you find that when you're under pressure to buy a last-minute gift, you usually end up spending too much, buying at a premium, or even being disappointed with the gift you've bought? Forward planning for presents gives you the opportunity to keep an eye out for sales and avoid doing a late dash to buy at full price or at a premium.
This list will essentially be your go-to guide for planning your gift-shopping. It should include:
When you know the who, how much and what, it puts you in a better position to stick to your budget, be mindful about your gifting, and avoid unnecessary overspending.
Top tip: Conscious gifting is an important practice that directs us to carefully consider what the recipient would like actually to receive. Gift giving should always be thoughtful, based on what you know about the person and your relationship with them, rather than giving them something that might end up contributing to more landfill. Remember, a gift doesn't have to be large, fancy or expensive, it simply needs to be useful or meaningful and valued.
If you're the one designated as host for Christmas this year, good luck to you! Hosting can be stressful with all the grocery shopping, food preparation, cooking, hosting and clean up, but seeing everyone happy and content is priceless. Bear in mind that you don't have to do it all alone – you can allocate and request specific items, or everyone can contribute dishes to share!
If you're not hosting, lucky you! But that doesn't mean you get to just dine and dash. Ask the host what you can contribute – be it a dish, assistance on the day or something else – as any efforts you make will be gratefully appreciated!
With a grocery list, it's harder to watch out for good deals or buy ahead of time, but it's certainly possible for non-perishables.
Make sure you don't wait until the last hour for fresh food items, as you'll be risking empty shelves or having to battle with a fellow shopper for that last kilo of chilled prawns!
After you've made your lists to plan out every Christmas expense, you can then put everything together and see what it's all going to cost you. Eek!
When you see all the costs on a page, you can decide whether you're able to commit to everything or you might need to massage the budget a bit. Some things might be unnecessary and shaved back, or dropped off the list altogether. Other items might have higher priority and you need to allocate more money for it.
Depending on what you're most comfortable with when managing your budgets, you can automate setting aside money each pay check and designating a 'Christmas bucket' of funds for the year, or factor it into your monthly expense planning.
In any case, your Christmas budget will be super-helpful in making sure you can plan ahead to ensure that you have enough funds to cover all the expected costs. It'll help you better manage your cash flow, so you'll be able to take advantage of this joyous time with your loved ones, rather than spending time stressing about money.
Top tip: If you need somewhere safe to stash your Christmas funds, RentPay's buffer feature could be a good option where you can regularly set aside a bit of cash in the lead up to the festive season. If you don't end up needing these funds for Christmas, you can use it for something else or leave it in your RentPay account to put towards a future rent payment. Win-win!
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Now that you have a clear roadmap of what, for whom you need to buy, and how much you can spend, you'll be armed with a shopping list (or even a spreadsheet if you're super-keen!) of items you can work through and tick things off as you go.
The benefit of a good gift list is that you'll know exactly what's needed and what you'll be spending, plus you're less likely to drop the ball by forgetting to buy something or missing a special date.
Now, onto the important part – let's get shopping!
We've put together a list of 12 approaches to consider when buying your groceries, presents and festive decorations. These could could each, but ideally combined, come in handy for saving you a tidy sum of money!
Why buy something when you can get something for free? That's what's great about swapping goods – you get to give away something you don't want (and free up space in your home) for something you, or someone you know, actually needs. Check our your local 'Buy Nothing Group' and community Facebook groups, or look for official swap meet events.
Nothing speaks volumes for how much you care about someone when you actually put in time and effort (and sometimes a bit of trial-and-error or frustration!) into producing it. Your handiwork guarantees that your gift will be unique and from the heart!
Everyone appreciates when someone takes time away from their busy schedule to do something nice, especially when it's for no particular reason! A nice gesture would be to offer to help the recipient with something that would save them time, apply your skills where needed, or plan an outing or event to spend precious time enjoying each other's company.
It's true what they say about one person's trash being another's treasure. Secondhand stores are jam-packed with weird and wonderful furniture, clothing and accessories, home décor, knick-knacks and more. You can often score a steal and even sometimes find brand new items, unboxed and with the tags still on! You'll also be supporting a good cause as these stores are often operated by charitable organisations. Facebook Marketplace and garage sales are other opportunities to look for cheap bargains.
A quick and easy way to instantly save money is to do a simple online search of the item to see what at price it's being sold by different retailers. This price check to compare prices only takes a few minutes, but it means you can avoid over-paying and ensure you're getting the item at the best price.
There are plenty or store rewards and loyalty programs out there offering discounts and cashbacks, so it can be challenging to keep track of which ones you've joined, then you end up forgetting to use them anyway! It might be worth being more selective by only signing up to a couple, but be super-focused about making the most from them. RentPay's shopping rewards partner, Paylab, offers up to 15% off at top retailers in Australia – your savings you've earned can then go toward paying your rent or get stashed away in your RentPay buffer!
We all know popular and premium brand names put a price mark up on their products, but did you know that a branded item might cost you a whopping 40% or more than the unbranded, generic equivalent? There are certain items which may warrant reaching for the brand, such as for personal taste, quality, fit, etc., but often the generic version is similar or even sometimes better quality! Don't be duped by brands and their pricing tactics, decide for yourself what you consider as 'value'.
When you know you need to buy a few or many of the same items (think: Christmas stocking stuffers), then it's often smarter to buy in bulk to take advantage of economies of scale. You can save money by purchasing larger packaged amounts (e.g. bulk/share packs of chocolates) or in larger quantities (e.g. buy a dozen bottles of wines to receive a discount). You can also sign up to a bulk retailer (like Costco) to realise some serious savings.
While retail stores regularly advertise discounts and promotions, being disciplined to spend only during the most recognised major sale events might be a good strategy. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, end of financial year (EOFY) and Boxing Day sales are just a few examples. There are plenty of opportunities to avoid paying full price on items if you're organised and patient enough!
Shopping locally not only means that you're supporting local businesses, you'll also save money by avoiding shipping fees through selecting the 'click and collect' delivery method. In addition to shipping fees, buying something online and waiting for a parcel to be delivered can be fraught with other issues, like delays in timing, receiving damaged goods that can't always be easily exchanged or returned, or even worrying that a delivered parcel will be stolen from your front door. Getting your goods locally is a better option in so many ways!
This one is for the super-organised planner. Retailers often stock up on goods for a particular season or occasion, but when it's over they're always keen to get rid of stock to make way for the next lot of items. For example, in the Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales period, you'll be able to pick up Christmas trees, decorations, gift wrap and cards at a fraction of the cost – and not have to worry about buying it in the following year. Just make sure that you have enough space to store it until you need it!
If you're someone who's responsible (not susceptible to impulse buying) and pay off your credit card balance each month like clockwork, avoiding any interest, then credit cards can be used to your advantage. If there's a purchase or an expense you can't avoid, then you could be earning credit card rewards or points as a bonus if you have a points-earning card. They also often come with complimentary purchase protection insurance which you'll definitely appreciate if you ever need it.
Top tip: While putting purchases on interest-free laybuy might not save you money upfront – or the temptation of instant gratification – it might mean you can keep more money elsewhere for longer to earn interest, or it'll at least help you to better manage your cashflow and budget with smaller repayments.
Phew, that's a lot to take in. But that's Christmas, isn't it? It's hectic, noisy, chaotic, fun and filled with laughter, but it's kind of a big deal in most places!
While the festive season can certainly make a big dent in your finances, planning ahead and being organised will mean that you're not overspending and can enjoy the Christmas and New Year holiday period guilt-free.
Make those important lists (expense groups, gifts and groceries) and then budget what you can afford to give you a clear idea of what you have to spend.
Apply a few (or all!) of our '12 thrifts of Christmas' to save money (every little bit helps, right?) and keep you on track for some fantastic festive celebrations, as well as ensuring your future goals are intact!
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