Great ideas to make your holiday more memorable and less expensive.
Money Girl
246 MG 7 Money-Saving Holiday Shopping Tips
Building a portfolio with Fidelity Basket Profolios is kinda like making a sandwich. It's as simple as picking your stocks and ETFs, sort of like your meats and other topics. And managing it as one big juicy investment. That's pretty good. Learn more at Fidelity.com/baskets. Investing involves risks including risk of loss, Fidelity Broker Services LLC, Member NYSC SIPC. Earning your degree online doesn't mean you have to go about it alone. At Capelli University, we're here to support you when you're ready. From enrollment counselors who get to know you and your goals, to academic coaches who can help you form a plan to stay on track. We care about your success and are dedicated to helping you pursue your goals. Going back to school is a big step, but having support at every step of your academic journey. Can make a big difference. Imagine your future differently at Capella.edu. Hi everyone, I'm Laura Adams and you're listening to the Money Girl Podcast. The holidays are supposed to be filled with happiness and joy, but they can also wreck your finances if you're not careful. Besides overspending on gifts for family and friends, there are other financial pitfalls that can sneak up on us. In order to make sure you have fun during the holidays and don't do anything you'll end up regretting after the new year, follow these seven tips. Tip number one, plan ahead. Start planning for the holidays as early as possible. Decide how much you can afford to spend on the whole enchilada, like gifts, wrapping paper, shipping, holiday cards, a party, decorating, travel, and new clothes. If you still haven't paid off last year's holiday expenses, you definitely overspent, so be sure not to repeat that mistake again this year. Why not start a separate savings account that's just for the holidays? You can automatically deposit a small percentage of your paycheck each month throughout the year. So when the holidays roll around, you'll be sitting pretty with cash in the bank. Tip number two, stick to a gift budget. Instead of deciding what present to buy each person on your gift list, like a sweater for Aunt Jane and a new grill for your brother, set a gift budget for each person instead. That way you don't get fixated on buying a particular item, which might turn out to be too expensive. Once you know the total amount you can spend on gifts, make a list of people to buy for and then assign each person a gift amount and remember to include sales tax and shipping where necessary. If you don't have enough money to cover each person on your list, either you need to shorten your list or reduce the amount you spend on certain people. Next, put the list in order of importance. For instance, you might rank spending $75 on mom as a higher priority than $30 for great Uncle Randolph. You should buy the most important gifts first, so you aren't tempted to overspend using a credit card if you drain your budget on low priority gifts. Tip number three, shop online. The Internet is the best way to find the gifts you want to buy at the lowest prices. To make the most of online purchases, check out Ebates.com, where you get cash back at over 1,200 brand name stores. There's no fee to join, points to redeem, or forms to mail in. Online stores typically offer nice holiday discounts and free shipping. Plus, you'll avoid having to fight the crowds, save gas, and a ton of time. I love learning, and anything that makes learning easier. If you're a parent and your child needs some homework help, then IXL is a right for your family. IXL is an online learning program for kids covering math, language arts, science, and social studies. IXL has interactive practice problems for topics from pre-K to 12th grade, and everything is organized by grade and subject. As kids practice, they get positive feedback, awards, and explanations for wrong answers. IXL figures out what your kids need more help with and recommends more topics to practice. There are videos, lessons, sample problems, and learning games, too. One subscription to IXL gets you all subjects and all grade levels. Membership started just $9.95 a month. It's no wonder IXL is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts. I think the positive feedback that IXL gives is really crucial when it comes to learning. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now, and money girl listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com/moneygirl. Visit ixl.com/moneygirl to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Looking for toys that'll get the biggest reactions? Yes, please! Walmart has jaw-dropping toys like for real Daisy Yoga GO! Awesome! Razor Crazy Cart Shuffle! Whoa! Hot Wheels! Bluey 3-in-1 airplane playset and more! Aren't you going to say cool? I'm saving it for the holidays. Smart! Aw, freak out! Welcome to your Walmart! Imagine earning a degree that prepares you with real skills for the real world. Capella University's programs teach skills relevant to your career so you can apply what you learn right away. Learn how Capella can make a difference in your life at Capella.edu. Shop with cash If you insist on heading out to the mall to do your holiday shopping, consider taking your gift budget with you in cash. If you have a tendency to be a little too jolly with your credit cards, spending cash will save you from a nasty credit hangover in the new year. Create an envelope for each person on your shopping list that contains the amount of money you budgeted to spend on them. If you overspend on Dad, you'll have to adjust your budget by taking money from someone else's gift envelope. Tip number five, don't sign up for retail cards. Store clerks are trained to entice you to sign up for a retail credit card at checkout, unless you really need a card or shop at the store often enough to take full advantage of rewards. Don't be tempted. Getting a 10% discount for signing up sounds great, but remember that it results in a hard inquiry on your credit report, which can lower your credit score. Plus, store credit cards typically come with high interest rates that wipe out the upfront discount, and may even cause you to end up paying double or triple what you originally intended to spend. Tip number six, don't spend on yourself. If you're like me and tend to buy yourself a few gifts while your holiday shopping, stay away from your favorite stores. For instance, if you're a gadget junkie, avoid going into any electronic stores. Also, when you're shopping online, stay focused and don't get sidetracked by sale items. Tip number seven, be creative. Though the holidays are steeped with tradition in some families, there's nothing wrong with getting creative. Here are some gift-giving ideas that can make your holiday party less expensive, yet still festive. Do a secret Santa, where each person buys a gift only for one randomly assigned person. Agree to buy gifts for the children in the group only. Buy gifts for everyone in the group, but decide ahead of time to limit purchases to a low dollar amount. Give coupons for free services you can do that you know other people need, like computer work, cooking, yard work, or washing their dog. Give donations to charity instead of buying each other gifts, or spend money on traveling to see loved ones, or taking a vacation together that doesn't include gifts. There's no rule that says you have to continue buying for someone just because you gave them a gift in the past. Many people are eliminating co-workers, friends, and extended family from their gift lists and are buying fewer items overall. When you do something different, it makes the holiday more memorable. Make it a goal to spend quality time with family and friends that doesn't destroy your budget or put you in debt. Books always make an affordable holiday gift, so give someone on your list Money Girls Smart Moves to Grow Rich. It tells you what you need to know about money without bogging you down with what you don't. When you visit Smart Moves to Grow Rich.com, you can download two free book chapters, plus my free credit score survival kit. Also, be sure to connect with me on Facebook. Just go to Facebook.com and do a search for Money Girl. If you're on Twitter, my username there is @LaraAdams with no space. Also, if you're not already subscribed to the podcast in iTunes, that's how most people get the show. Subscribing is free and simply means you'll automatically get each new weekly episode of Money Girl as soon as it's published on the web. I'm glad you're listening. Chaching. That's all for now. Courtesy of Money Girl, your guide to our richer life. [Music] Earning your degree online doesn't mean you have to go about it alone. At Capelli University, we're here to support you when you're ready. From enrollment counselors who get to know you and your goals, to academic coaches who can help you form a plan to stay on track. We care about your success and are dedicated to helping you pursue your goals. Going back to school is a big step, but having support at every step of your academic journey can make a big difference. Imagine your future differently at Capella.edu. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers. For thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices. Plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points. So you can get big flavors and big savings, king supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply.