3 Tips to Help Your Budget Survive the Holidays

The holiday season is a busy and expensive time for individuals and entrepreneurs alike. It's when our best-laid plans go awry and we deprioritize our routines, diets, and budgets until the new year, when we hope to get back on track. To help, here are my top 3 budget tips to financially survive the holidays.

Tip #1: Calculate Your Non-Negotiables

As a passionate budget advocate, even I have to admit that the holiday season isn’t really the best opportunity to start a budget for the first time. It’s a very busy and tumultuous season for many of us.

That said, I still am a strong believer in the power of getting your financial situation out on paper to help you see what you’re really working with. Our minds have a way of playing tricks on us, especially with our finances. You may think you have way more or way less money to work with than you actually think you do, so taking a moment to actually SEE your numbers can make all the difference.

You don’t want to wait until your January credit card statement arrives to find out you couldn’t afford your holiday. That’ll destroy your financial New Year’s Resolutions right out the gate.

So, without overcomplicating anything, I want you to sit down and total up your non-negotiable bills and expenses that you need to be able to pay through the holidays (and a little after).

You want to be able to at least roughly estimate your monthly cost of living — and always round up generously!

When you know this number, then you’ll better be able to evaluate how much of the cash you have in the bank (and what you expect to earn in the coming weeks) can actually be set aside for your holiday plans.

You don’t have to be exact down to the dollar at this point, unless you’re feeling inspired to start a proper budget. But you need to have a rough idea. Knowledge is power when it comes to making your financial decisions!

Tip #2: Plan Your Holidays

I have had holidays that bring me joy and priceless memories, and I have had holidays that felt like pure chaos and consequence. How about you?

In my experience, the difference between the two was how well I planned an intentional holiday season.

Chaotic holidays typically look like saying yes to everything, buying gifts as I see them (gift-giving is my love language and is thus a budget downfall for me every year! 😬), overbooking myself, becoming wasteful, etc.

For my business, it can also look like not planning strategically around promotional opportunities, not leveraging the influx of sales I tend to see due to my industry, etc.

Most of these issues are remedied with proper planning.

If you’re not much of a calendar person, at least use one for the holidays. If you’re not much of a meal planner, at least use one for the holidays. It’s going to make such a difference.

Things that you can be more intentional around in this season:

Your schedule regarding events, holiday parties, business opportunities, etc.
Your travel arrangements
Your meal plans (not just the big holiday dinners, but also your regular daily meals during this busy time)
Your gift lists (not just the big gifts for your close loved ones, but also consider gift exchanges at those parties you’ve been invited to, and the random favors/ornaments/cards/etc you might send out)
Your promotional planning for your business (if holiday promotions make sense for you)
Or, your “slow season” planning for your business, if the holiday season is a time where your industry sees lessbusiness (so you can spend this time cutting back, refining processes, making plans for the new year, etc)

Tip #3: Don’t Feel Pressured to Go Big

Especially in a more consumerist-driven setting like we experience here in the U.S., it can be really hard to resist the pressures to go big with the holidays.

We’re pressured to attend or host events, to travel, to buy gifts, to buy bigger gifts, to decorate extravagantly, to plan large launches and sales events in our businesses, and more.

But we don’t work that way around here! We strive for contentment and alignment with our personal, true values. Consider this your reminder to live our your life and run your business during this season in the way that’s right for you.

If you want to limit the number of gifts you give your kids, that’s your choice.
If you want to make handmade gifts for your family instead of buying gifts, that’s your choice.
If you don’t want to run the Black Friday sale so you can just step back from your business for these months, that’s your choice.
If you want to say no to hosting Thanksgiving this year, that’s your choice.

Never blow your budget just to keep up with the Joneses. Deep down, you know what’s right for you, your family, and your business. Trust yourself! And give yourself an abundance of grace.

How to Do Better Next Year

I hope these survival tips help you regain some sense of control over your finances for the holiday season. But I want to leave you with one big tip that’ll make next year 10x easier for you if you implement it.

Set up sinking funds for the holidays!

Instead of waiting until the expenses hit next year, you can start setting aside a smaller, digestible amount of money each month leading up to the holidays. Whether you’re able to save a lot or a little, any amount of cash you’re able to reserve in advance will help to alleviate the costs.

You can set up one broad fund for the holiday season, break it up into different funds for each holiday, or break it down into specific subcategories, depending on how detailed you like to be with your budgeting.

Personal subcategories might look like: Gifts, travel, entertaining/meals, decorations, etc. Business subcategories may be: client gifts, promotional ad spend, gifts/bonuses for your team, cash cushion to cover a slower holiday season, etc.

Click here to read more about How to Level Up Your Budget and Empower Yourself With More Cash Using Sinking Funds!

Are you ready to take your financial journey to the next level? Then you may be ready to check out the More With Money Academy!

This ever-growing collection of online courses and trainings are specially designed to support entrepreneurs like you on your path to financial wellness. The Academy contains carefully designed courses that are easy to understand and implement so that you can be empowered with the practical concepts, streamlined systems, and powerful mindset to transform your business and personal finances.

Click here to explore what the More With Money Academy has to offer!

Pin for later