This past year has been a slight struggle when it comes to the holidays. It has been a complete emotional rollercoaster. Even though I have gone through all the holidays in the year as a single mom, Christmas is sort of the hardest, especially when it comes to the financial aspect of the holidays. Lil C’s birthday is at the end of November. He gets spoiled by all of his family, and that is one of the two times a year I do my best to get him what he wants. The other time of the year that I try to get him what he wants is Christmas.
Lil C knew that he had to make two Christmas lists this year – one for Daddy’s house and one list for Mommy’s house. He rambled off his list to me the other day. It was pretty funny…. It basically went like this. “I saw Santa on Friday and I asked him to bring me this, this, this, and this to Daddy’s house for Christmas, and I asked him to bring me a Blue Power Rangers Helmet to Your house for Christmas.” I think he had it broken up this way because he knows that it’s just me supporting us.
In previous years, my ex-husband and I would use the credit cards to purchase things for Christmas, but this year I did it a little differently. However, I do have a little secret when it comes to getting my shopping done for the holidays. My tips:
1. Purchase things throughout the whole year. When it comes to the basic gifts for family members, sometimes you get the best deals right after Christmas. Just as long as it isn’t something that will expire, I keep my eyes open. If it’s a perfect fit for that relative, I just put it in a plastic tub that is marked Christmas.
2. Shop with COUPONS, especially for the holiday toys. I will keep my eyes on the ads every week. Sometimes you will be lucky and find a special % off savings coupon right on the front page!
3. You may have the chance to get gift cards from shopping (Target is usually really good about having sales where you can earn gift cards if you purchase certain things). I hold onto all those throughout the year. When it gets close to Christmas, I use those to shop with.
4. I do try hard to not shop online, but sometimes you just have to! I would really rather keep stores open and people employed, that way they can help bring great holidays to their families. If you do decide to use credit cards this year for your online shopping, make sure you are smart about it. There are plenty of resources out there that can help keep you on track when it comes to how much it will actually cost to use your credit cards. For example: This credit card calculator. This will help you realize how much in interest you will be paying on your purchases, if you don’t have the cash to pay off your balances right away.
All opinions express in this post are 100% my own. I have received compensation for this post.
That’s really sweet that he didn’t want to burden you too much by giving you some long list. We are very poor but I can’t imagine the strength it takes to do it alone. I have much respect for you!
i always purchase Christmas cards and send to my beloved and friends.I always wait for this ocession from year start.
I also shop throughout the year for those I am sure I am exchanging gifts with. Also a few friends and I have made the choice that instead of gifts we go to lunch together and spend our money enjoying each other’s company. So we each spend maybe $20 and have 3 “gifts” taken care of 🙂
This year we decided not to by gifts for each other and only buy gifts for the boys from santa. They are not really old enough yet to understand who they are getting gifts from. At this age its quantity over quality haha