how to pay for Christmas

How to be a debt free Santa, courtesy of My Parent Rewards

We have all been affected by the economic downturn in America. We are checking our kid’s "Dear Santa" list, scratching our heads and wondering, "How am I going to afford the mortgage, let alone little Johnny’s wish list?" I have been implementing several family traditions over the last five years and have found that theses tips will help take the emphasis off the money, and place it where it belongs, in the holiday spirit of Christmas and the holidays. Here are five practical and fun suggestions that any family can utilize for quality holiday time with family, without a quantity of bills come January.

1. Pass The Rubber Chicken, Please!

A long-standing and treasured hilarious tradition in my family has been passing along the same Rubber Chicken, with special additions created by family members, which reflect the gift recipient’s year. I believe every family with kids should have an inexpensive and preferably funny holiday tradition that the kids and adults look forward to experiencing annually. And even if you have a normal tradition such as exchanging ornaments, get creative in searching out that one-of-a-kind piece.

One great way to decide on your annual holiday tradition is to ask your kids what they most remember about Christmas last year. If it was going out and getting the Christmas tree, then perhaps your tradition is a tree-trimming party. If what was most memorable was going out to breakfast in new flannel pajamas on Christmas morning, perhaps there is now the annual Christmas Eve gift of new pajamas for everyone.

2. Give The Gift Of Gratitude, Not Guilt.

Family members can give a group gift instead of individual gifts. For example, save money by getting one gift for Dad that’s from Mom and the kids, or a gift for each of your children that is from Mom, Dad, grandma and grandpa. Holiday fun can quickly turn into holiday remorse if family members try to one-up each other on the gift giving. If individual gift giving is practiced, make it an even playing field when buying gifts for kids by setting a dollar limit that everyone can spend on the children. Tell children that the most important thing is that you are together as a family. Model gratitude for your children by placing a priority on the connecting and spending time with each other rather than a frenzied focus on what we’re getting each other for Christmas.

3. Have a Christmas Budget Family Meeting.

How many times has the reasoning behind your child’s Christmas list been "Dear Santa: I don’t know why I want this but I just do!" You must investigate why your children are asking for certain items in order to determine what’s really important to them and what will work with your budget. If you plan a family meeting where you are going to be open and honest and talk to your kids about having to scale back on holiday purchases, you’re teaching them self-discipline and you can discuss the bigger picture of what you want as a family. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could spend more time together versus working harder to pay off our Christmas purchases?

Kids have plenty of creative ideas and it can empower them and make them want to get on board when you ask, "What do you think we can do to get out of debt, or not go into debt, as a family this year at Christmas time?" Make a Christmas list right after Thanksgiving, during the biggest shopping weekend of the year, and then put it away for a couple of weeks. When as a family you revisit the list, narrow it down to the three things your kids really want. Then, talk to them about why they want something: What’s so special about this? It doesn’t hurt to quiz them a little to understand if it’s truly something they can’t live without.

4. Teach Children The Meaning Of a "We" Not "Me" Christmas.

The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to teach children about the power of giving of themselves to help others. Inspiring children with the story of Kris Kringle, a child who liked to give more than he liked to receive is a great start. Explain to your children why it’s important to give to others as a family and select a charity that you want to support, either with your time or money or both. Make it a family weekend project in November to start collecting hand-me-downs from everyone’s closets that you plan to give away to charities at Christmas.

5. The More Mini-Moguls, The Merrier.

When you buy a financial investment for your children, it is a gift that can educate your children as well as entertain them forever. Children have the gift of time, and there is no better time then now to invest in your child’s financial future. Children very rarely remember the gifts, but for years to come they will be thanking you for investing in their financial future. Family members can open a high interest savings account, like ING Direct’s Orange savings. Sharebuilder for stocks is a great way to get kids started in buying individual stocks through dollar cost averaging. Start teaching children the value in saving and investing money early, because as we have learned over the last year, when you have the security of money in the bank it’s your number one asset.

Mom Start Saving Money for the Holidays

Christmas stamps: Christmas snowflake stamp In the current economic times, which is still pretty low, people need to be thinking about Christmas and how they are going to pay for it. I’m sure some families will have to get a payday advance and that still might not be enough. Other families may just decide not to get any presents but there are things you can do to make sure that you have money for the holidays. You can get cheap presents with just a little more effort.

I look around me and realize how lucky my family and I are but even we still have to plan for Christmas. We have a budget and we only spend what is in our budget every month. That includes heating costs, clothing, groceries and extras. We even put aside a little money every month into our savings account. Here are a few tricks that I recommend for everyone.

Pay your bills on time, I know it can be difficult for some families but if you organize your bills and everything you are spending money on. I mean everything, keep a journal. All the fees and credit problems that are associated with paying something late are making you pay so much more than you need to.

Turn off recurring bills. If things really are tight consider cutting certain bills out. I know most people don’t want to sacrifice cable, but my family is. We don’t use cable so we don’t pay for it. Many families including my parents are cutting their land lines. I mean who wants a home phone that is just solicitors anyway?

Use Coupons, if you have been reading Mom Start Saving regularly then you know that there are a ton of sites out there that have on-line coupon codes. All you need to do is find them and use them. Even toy companies are printing coupons. Just this week in the Smart Source there were two different coupons for Playskool toys. One of them was for 10.00 off of a Sit and Spin and they are selling at Target for 20.00. That’s getting a toy for half price. Hasbro, Fisher Price, Playskool all have coupons for toys right now, on-line and in print.

Set money aside all year round. There are plenty of ways that you can save money all year round and gain interest on it. You could just put 5.00 away a month, now I know that’s only 60.00 at the end of the year but that could be used for 3 presents if you put a cap of 20.00 on each gift.

Use Credit Card Rewards programs. We use our credit card for every purchase. So we earn points that we can redeem for cash. Even in places like Fred Meyer, I’ll use my credit card, then we are getting Fred Meyer points and credit card points.

Sign up for Points Everywhere. Most stores have points programs now so make sure you find out what they are and how to take advantage of them. You can earn gift cards, coupons, free items. I have earned 40.00 at the Children’s place with their points programs and I get clothes from them off of the dollar rack at their outlet store.

Save your receipts. This is still one I’m trying to work on because I need to get more organized. I always find a rebate after I buy something and I feel like that’s such a waste because I didn’t have the receipt to send in with the rebate form. Also, you’ll be surprised at what you’re going to want to claim on your taxes.

Sell stuff you aren’t using anymore. You can make some quick cash by selling book and DVD’s at half price books. You can also use Half.com Amazon.com Ebay and Craigslist. Ebay is great because sometimes people just get caught up in a bidding war and end up paying more than something is worth.

Re-gift and tell people no. I know it feels like the end of the world when you can’t buy presents. I was there in college and I still felt bad. You can re-gift as long as you follow certain manners in the process. You can always make homemade gifts and those are always loved the most and often kept the longest. You can also always use the word no. I’m sorry, I can’t get you that for Christmas.

Link Up:

If you have an article to add this week please do. This week as a giveaway I have coupons to giveaway.

I have 5.00 off of 50.00 at Sears

I have 10.00 off of Sit and Spin for Playskool

I have 5.00 off another Playskool toy.

I have a 5.00 Free Product Coupon to Sara Lee Bakery item

I have a free bag of already cooked refrigerator Tyson Chicken

Total value:

35.00

To Enter:

Visit Each link from last week’s link up and leave them a comment. Come back here and tell me you did.

You can also add your own link and I recommend that you do because we have another sponsor next week. Please only add links about saving money, coupons or finding free items. You know, anything that is about saving money and in this economy we need all the help we can get. Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS all of those are welcome!

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