The holidays are upon us and what better time to start thinking about how we can afford to partake in the festivities without emptying our pocketbooks?

During this joyous time of year, we love to make others happy by gift giving and rejoicing together in celebration, but to spend responsibly takes planning. Breaking your budget to celebrate the holidays will see you ringing in the New Year singing the blues. It’s time to put pen to paper to make a holiday money savings plan!

Finding some extra holiday cash is simple and consists of tallying up your income and expenses and analyzing the best way to find or make additional money.

There are only two options. The first option is to increase the money you have coming in. Getting an extra part-time job, working extra hours at your existing job or even taking on a few side activities.

There are many ways that you can earn extra money on the side. Freelancing in design work, content writing, or coding is always in high demand. Providing services like babysitting, adult caregiving, house cleaning or yard work can earn you a pretty penny. Even selling your homemade goods, crafts or edibles can be a lucrative endeavor.

Of course, putting in extra hours at work, or working a side gig to make more money will be done at the expense of your free time and may drastically reduce the time you have to engage in other activities. That means you will hopefully enjoy the work you are doing, or perhaps option 2 is a better fit for you.

The second option to saving money for your holiday celebrations is to take a peek at your monthly expenses and cut out the waste and luxuries. Sometimes living with simply the necessities is preferable to giving up your free time. There is no right or wrong choice. Let us look at some ways that we can make the act of saving money rewarding.

We all know that a large portion of our budget goes towards food and drink. So it should be no surprise that the number one culprit in wasted money in almost every American household is food. Buying more than you eat and then filling up your trash can when it all goes bad is wasteful. Here are some easily incorporated tips to avoid wasting food and money.

• Try buying groceries for shorter periods of time, perhaps every 3 to 4 days so that your fresh produce can easily stay fresh and desirable. Shopping in shorter increments will eliminate waste.
• Buy Generic. Name brands are not just more expensive when it comes to clothing. Brand named foods are also more expensive than generic or store brand foods and often contain extremely similar products. Grocery stores will usually put the least expensive items either high or low on the shelf because they like to keep the popular, more expensive products at eye level.
• Using tap water instead of buying bottled water can easily save you money, and often municipality water exceed the health standards and regulations those of bottling companies. Doing this will also help the environment as it will stop plastic from filling up our landfills and oceans.
• Stop eating out! Eating out is much more expensive than eating meals you prepare in your home. Not only is it more costly initially, but it is also a single meal, whereas leftovers from homemade meals stretch your food dollar. Pack meals for work and host a potluck meal with friends rather than go out.

Reducing your utility expenses can save you money every month. 

Some idea’s to painlessly save on utilities are:

• Turn down your thermostat and put on warmer clothes or use a blanket. Studies have shown that sleeping at lower temperatures is good for your health.
• Do a nightly electricity check. Before bed go through your home and make sure that everything is turned off. For additional savings, use a power strip for all of your appliances so that you can turn them off each night. Using a power strip will also prevent any energy vampires from trickling away your electricity and money while not in use.
• Turning down your water heater from 140 degrees to 120 degrees can save you money by reducing energy usage. Turn your water heater off when you are going away for three days or longer to save even more.
• Switch to LED light bulbs. While they may be more expensive upfront, LED lights will save 80% of your electrical power compared to incandescent bulbs and 75% when compared to halogen lamps! Many LED lights have a rated life of up to 50,000 hours. That is 8-10 times longer than a typical CFL (most commonly used energy saving bulb). LEDs use no harmful environmental pollutants and are recyclable! It’s a win-win.
• Consider using natural holiday decorations. Evergreens, pinecones, mistletoe and Yule logs are beautiful and cost much less in energy costs than houses that are lit up so brightly they can be seen from space. You can also gather many natural holiday decorations for free, out in nature. If you must use holiday lights, using LED lights to decorate will not only use less energy but reduce your risk of fire because LED lights do not produce heat.
• Rethinking big money expenditures can make saving money for the holidays much simpler. Delaying that expensive vacation you have planned or even replacing it with a smaller one can help free up some holiday cash. Is that new car you were planning to buy going to drain your bank account? Why not wait a year and save that money instead? Delaying large purchases may be hard on your instant gratification want, but it can be an easy way to find money for the holidays.

Even if some of these tips come too late in the season or despite your best efforts you do not produce enough savings, it is important to remember that the holidays are not about spending money. Happiness during the holidays comes from simple, fulfilling human interaction. Having reunited family and friends around are a gift all its own.

Deciding to be happy regardless of your financial situation is a choice, and it’s free. 

A small gesture of affection can have the highest impact if it comes from your heart. If you don’t have a large circle of friends or family, you can find happiness in helping those less fortunate than you and giving of yourself through service projects and charity. Doing this will not only create a sense of purpose but also leave you fulfilled and quite probably with a larger circle of friends next year.