12 Days of Christmas Blog Challenge- Day 4

Well we hit the road this morning to go back home, but that didn't keep me from participating in a little Black Friday shopping! My sister and I left the house at 5 this morning to head to Target. There were a lot of DVD's and games that I wanted to go after, but of course I didn't find half of the things I wanted, and I came back with things I didn't need. Which leads me to today's topic....

Day 4: Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season

Obviously from my statement above, I'm not the best one to be giving advise on spending wisely. One of the biggest mistakes that I make is picking up a little something extra here and there, leading me to go over my initial budget. However, I always have the best intentions when planning out my Christmas shopping.

Don't use credit cards. Just like I said Wednesday... I heard on our local news one time where it will take you eight years to pay off $1,000 on a credit card if you only pay the minimum payment. Not worth it ladies!

I always make a list of everyone that I'm buying for and decide how much I'm going to spend on each person. This helps me to determine my budget up front.

I also try to go ahead and figure out exactly what I'm getting everyone so that I can stick to the list exactly. This also helps when you're shopping online because you can find better deals on ebay or amazon a lot of times.

I also try and buy a little bit along the way. Even though I'm not one for random gifts...just so that I can get someone something....you can find a lot of good deals this way. I have probably gotten Presley about 10 gifts so far, over the span of 2 months, by buying things on clearance from the Disney Store, Target, etc. It definitely helps save some money, and isn't as overwhelming when you don't have to spend so much all at one time.

Other than that, I just really don't worry about it a whole lot. I enjoy getting gifts for people, and I'm not going to break my back trying to find the best deal...and I'm definitely not going to pass up the ideal gift for someone because its $10 more than I intended on spending on them.

So my best bit of advise for you is to enjoy yourself....plan ahead, don't spend more than you can afford, and don't pass up on a good gift to save a few bucks.