5 Tips to Avoid Overspending this Holiday Season

If you haven't already been inundated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday advertisements attempting to convince you to shell out tons of money for items on sale, consider yourself lucky. It seems that the advertisements start earlier each year, and it is sometimes tough to resist the deals. And brace yourself. The sales often go through January as stores try to liquidate inventory.

It makes sense that advertisers are pushing hard to get us to buy. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend about $902 per person this year on food, decorations and gifts! And that's a low estimate. According to CBS News, Bank of America expects average holiday spending to be nearly $2100. $2100!!!!! That's an entire month's worth of bills for some people!

It is so tempting to want to buy. The deals are Just. So. Good. And, when it comes to getting gifts for others, finding them on sale is always a good thing. But even with sales, it's easy to overspend. Between targeted marketing, where marketers use our online data to sell to us, and internal factors such as emotional spending, FOMO, and the desire to have the latest and the greatest, it's easy to overspend (see this article). Plus, it is just so damn easy to buy stuff online!

With all that, you may need some strategies to avoid overspending this holiday season. Let's dive in.

Unsubscribe From Email Lists

We all do it — we see a deal or a freebie and give our email address to get that sweet, sweet thing that we won't remember in 24 hours. Yes, when we order something online, we need to provide our email so that the store can communicate with us and so that we can track our order. But then, the store uses that email to market to us again and again. And it is so tempting when you see your favorite store is having a sale on taffeta skirts to want to buy the taffeta skirt, even if you know that as a grown-ass person, you do not need a taffeta skirt.

But … it's on sale! It's a great deal!

Not so fast. It's only a great deal if it is something that you need. And if you need something, you may be better off searching for it and comparing prices, anyway. Marketers are great at making you think you need something or that you are going to miss out on a great deal if you don't act now.

While it may seem tedious, unsubscribing from store emails can be a liberating way to reduce your spending. If it's not flashing in your face telling you to buy it, you probably won't even think of getting it.

Some email providers make it easy to unsubscribe. Google, for instance, puts an "Unsubscribe" button in the upper right-hand portion of emails.

**Quick tip: Once you unsubscribe from all those pesky store emails, consider creating a separate email account for marketers. This way, you only have to check that email address if you have done business with a vendor and need to check the order status. It's a simple yet effective way to keep your main inbox clutter-free and your shopping-related emails organized and tucked away until you actually need to see them.

Make Lists

This may seem obvious, but making a list can help you stay on track. Suppose you know you need to buy gifts for seven cousins. In that case, you will have a much easier time keeping spending in check if you have a list of what you want to buy for those seven cousins before you ever enter a store or visit a website. Then, if you stick to the list and don't buy extra (we've all been there — "I was here to buy Lil' Sebastian a sweater, but he would love this stuffed carrot … I'll buy him both"), you will have an easier time staying on budget.

Know Your Triggers and Create Barriers

We all have things that trigger us to buy. One of mine is shopping alone at Target. If I am left to roam the aisles of Target freely without another person who just wants to get out of there, I will easily spend three times as much as I planned. There's so much good stuff!

Another trigger for me is having my credit card information easily accessible. With digital wallets and the ability to store credit card information in the shopping carts of your favorite online stores, it is too easy to hit the "Buy" button without giving things a second thought.

Once you know your triggers, you can create barriers to keep yourself from falling into the spending trap. For instance, if I know I need things at Target but only want to spend what I planned, I will order online and select drive-up for my pickup option. That way, I never leave my car, but I get my cleaning supplies and milk for less than I usually get them at my local grocery store. This technique works for gifts, too. If you order without going into the store, it is more difficult to get distracted by (and spend money on) shiny objects. 

Regarding the easily accessible credit card information, I make it a habit not to allow stores to remember my credit card info (usually, there is a button to opt-in to storing that information). That way, I have to manually enter the credit card information every time I buy something. That extra bit of time is often enough for me to ask, "Do I really need this?" and decide if this purchase is actually necessary.

When It Comes to Gifting, Homemade Can Be a Great Option

If you are rolling your eyes, please bear with me. "Homemade" doesn't necessarily mean you must be a master artisan to make something giftable. But the money isn't always there to buy something spectacular for everyone on your list. 

Suppose you have a particular skill, such as knitting, candlemaking, or baking. In that case, that's a great gift option for many people. And, if you are making large batches of things, buying supplies in bulk is possible, reducing the per-gift cost of whatever you are making. So, think about what you can do. Making a batch of chocolate-covered Oreos as teacher gifts? You'll buy Oreos and some chocolate to melt, and it will take about an hour of your time. Wrap a few of them up in a pretty bag, and you will have a low-cost (per gift) item to give out. 

I'm not suggesting this is the only way to gift, but going homemade or handmade for some gifts can help keep your overall budget down.

Try Using Cash

I know, I know. Cash is such a pain. And some places don't even accept cash anymore (we can discuss the socio-economic impacts of that at a later date). 

But, using credit cards can sometimes feel like spending play money. We don't actually see the money leave our hands — we just tap, swipe, or hit the "Buy" button, and our invisible money floats through the ether to pay for what we buy. We get the thing we bought now, and we get the cold, hard reality of our credit card bill a couple of weeks later.

Cash is tactile. You have to touch it. You have to see it. You have to count it to make sure you have enough. If you walk into a store with only cash to pay for things, you can only spend the money that is physically in your possession. You can't spend more because you don't have it there with you.

Bonus: One Trick for Next Year

You can start planning your spending for next year's holidays right away. One way is to find stores that offer cash back or gift cards. Target (I am not an affiliate … I just shop there a lot) often runs deals where if you spend a certain amount on one type of item, they will give you a $5, $10, $15, or even a $20 gift card. If you plan when you buy these items around when they offer these deals, you can accumulate a decent amount of money in gift cards over a year. You can hold onto them (this is where the digital wallet comes in handy - just scan into the app, and they will keep them there for you) and use them during gifting season. Especially if you are buying toys or home goods as gifts, these can come in handy and lower the overall out-of-pocket spending for next year's holidays.

I hope that you have found this list helpful. What are some of the ways that you avoid overspending?