Stick to a holiday budget

The holiday season is one of giving, which often means it can easily become the season of spending too.

To help take the stress out of the holiday season, consider creating and sticking to a holiday budget. Not only will a holiday spending plan help lessen your stress, but it will also keep you from overspending and potentially racking up debt this holiday season. Learn how to start budgeting for the holidays in order to make the most of it, and lessen the blow to your wallet.

Now that you know where your money is going, determine how much you have available to cover holiday expenses this year. It's important to take a hard look at your budget and decide how much money you have leftover to spend during the gift-giving season.

When you are considering this amount, be sure that you only use money that you have set aside or extra money that you can find in your budget. It's important to not plan on spending more than you have saved initially with a plan to pay it off later.

Divide your budget according to the different spending categories you'll have this holiday season.

This means assigning a specific amount for each gift, as well as each outing, office holiday party, or another event. If you're traveling to your grandma's in Florida, for example, the travel there and the gift you purchased for grandma would be two separate categories. Knowing how much you have to spend on each gift will help you narrow down ideas before you shop.

Do most of your shopping online. Shopping online can save you money and time, as it gives you the ability to comparison shop to find the best price. Don’t forget to look for free shipping codes and allow plenty of time for your gifts to arrive.

Make DIY presents for those closest to you. For those creatives out there, homemade holiday presents are a great way to save money, and show the gift recipient how much you care about them.

Gift experiences rather than physical items. While physical presents are great, sometimes experiences can be more worthwhile. Instead of getting an at-home cooking set for your daughter who wants to be a chef, for example, consider purchasing cooking lessons for the two of you to do together. That way, she gets real-life practice and you two get some quality time.

Start saving early. If you put aside money each month to cover your holiday expenses at the very start of the year, you will stress a lot less about your holiday spending when the time comes. Consult last year's budget to see how much you spent, then divide that number by 12. This is about how much you need to put aside each month in order to cover the next year's holiday spending. Keep in mind that costs tend to rise year-over-year.

Keep your budget realistic. It can be challenging to manage the pressure and desire to give holiday gifts, leaving many people to make tough choices over what to cut in order to give. It may feel heartbreaking to skip gifts or give much less than you would like to, it is likely to be much less burdensome than taking on debt or cutting spend on necessities.

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