Nearly 1 in 3 holiday shoppers expect to go into debt to pay for all their shopping expenses, but you don’t have to be one of those shoppers that has to take out their credit cards to pay for gifts. Especially if you are already working towards paying off your debt.

Here are some of our tips to maintain your budget during the holiday season:

Make a budget

The first task you need to do before going holiday shopping is to create a budget. It’s not the most fun step, but it’s necessary if you want to avoid spending too much money.

Start by writing down a list of your valued relationships that you want to show appreciation towards this holiday season. You might even want to organize this list by priority. For example, you will definitely want to buy your parents something, but the babysitter you occasionally use may fall towards the bottom of the list. This will help you determine if you’re spending your money wisely on people that you care about the most.

Then put a dollar amount of how much you want to spend next to their name.  Once you’ve done that task, you can add up how much you want to spend on holiday shopping. You may discover that you are spending more than you can on holiday gifts after this exercise.

You may need to adjust your list or price point to accommodate your budget. An affordable budget will be different for everyone, but luckily you can find great gifts at a variety of price points.

Be proactive

One great method to not overspend this holiday season is to plan ahead of time. Waiting until the last minute may mean you miss out on some deals or do some impulse shopping.

By planning ahead, you can carefully consider the purchases you want to make. It will give you time to look for sales and discover any good deals. Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t the only days to find promotions. You should look for sales consistently to find great deals. Many stores also utilize a price-match policy, so it may be worth it to do your research for the best deal.

If you know that one of the presents you want to buy is expensive, then you can be proactive and start saving for it in advance. Putting money aside specifically for holiday shopping can prevent you from going into debt or depleting your accounts.

Choose Improve Credit for consumer credit counseling

The holiday season doesn’t have to be stressful for you or your budget, but if you find yourself in hard times right now, Improve Credit is here to help.  We offer a variety of services, such as credit counseling services and personal credit repair, that will help you learn how to better budget your money and improve your credit.

Please contact us at (704) 877-8739 and schedule a free consultation today.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!