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Creating a holiday budget can feel like you’re sapping all the joy out of your winter celebrations. Today, I’m sharing insights that will help you plan from a place of abundance, whatever your budget is this season. After all, the whole point of this time of year is to rest and celebrate with our loved ones! To keep yourself focused on what matters, use this guide and holiday budgeting worksheet by my friend Julia, AKA The Self Help Planner.
I think you’ll realize there’s a lot more to budgeting than picking things to buy and assessing their costs. I find that when I’m trying to save money, the process begins long before I decide what I need to purchase.
This process mitigates the need to shop less after the holidays to make up for any huge expenses, and it also feels more celebratory to begin with. After all, shopping is only fun if it’s supporting your happiness in the long-term. (Otherwise, it’s fun now and bad when you look at your bank account.) Use these steps to create a holiday budget that not only saves money, but redirects your focus to what matters.
How to Use the Holiday Budgeting Worksheet
Step 1: Take a look at what you have and list useful items on the Holiday Budgeting Worksheet
First things first – before I buy anything, I like to open up the closet and see what I have in boxes already. Examine last year’s decor and wrapping paper. You don’t have to ONLY use what you have, but plan to use up the remaining gift wrap and try to plan your home decor around your favorite items from last year.
Add the things you plan to use from last year into your holiday budgeting worksheet.
Starting with what you have is where the abundance mindset begins.
Step 2: Figure out what can be made from what you have or already plan to buy
My biggest complaint about holiday decor planning tips I see is that people overlook the power of customization. Imagine if all your holiday gear – gift wrap, wardrobe, and home decor – was a little more personal to you and your family. Instead of ending up with a slightly mismatched or too eclectic bunch of things over the years, you could have a cohesive vibe that’s unique to your home!
Plus, doing custom projects during the holiday season is a great experience to share with your loved ones. This is way more fun than simply giving gifts, in my opinion – spending time together customizing your stuff is an amazing way to create positive memories together.
Beyond that, modifying stuff you own already will build up appreciation for what you have, diminishing your desire to go out and buy things that aren’t as special because they haven’t been customized to your needs. This is almost always cheaper than buying something new.
Consider the following:
- Narrowing your holiday color scheme. Saturated colors, or pastels? Traditional colors, or eclectic ones? Try spray painting or altering what you have.
- Monogramming pajamas, stockings, cold weather accessories, mugs, etc with iron-on or painted decals
- Reuse household items to make more sustainable, thoughtful gift wrap. Do you have old books that can be cut up to make gift wrap, or stickers or stationary you can use for tags and cards? What about something reusable, like leftover fabric from old projects, scarves you don’t wear anymore, or cloth storage bags?
- Using functional decor like blankets, curtains, shower curtains, hand soaps, body washes, bath and kitchen mats, etc. to maximize your usual home expense budgets instead of using a new holiday budget
In the worksheet, come up with creative ways to adjust what you have to better suit your needs.
Bonus tip: sometimes modifying or making something unique can be cheaper AND more special than buying a new gift for someone. Consider giving “project” gifts!
For example, I recently made an amazing gift by designing a board game in Canva, printing the box sides, board, cards, and pieces at Walgreens, and gluing them onto a board game I bought on Facebook Marketplace for $10. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever given!
Create detailed plans for what can be modified or created at home, using mostly stuff you already have. Make this FUN! Get others involved, too. Abundance is about celebrating what you have. Budgeting should be the same way. Even if we’re not handling money just yet, this is how you set yourself up to spend less and get more.
Step 3: Fill in the gaps on the holiday budgeting worksheet with things you absolutely need to purchase
First, list things (including any craft supplies) that you need to buy on your holiday budgeting worksheet.
Then, separate those things into categories. For example, I want to buy the following items in December:
- Holiday throw blanket
- Seasonal soap
- Thymes Frasier Fir Candle
- Holiday cards (custom)
- A tree
- Gifts for loved ones
- A piercing for myself
- A new ornament for myself
- Ingredients for Christmas dinner
- Ribbon to dress up my homemade wrapping paper
Separated into categories, we have…
- Home decor
- Holiday throw blanket
- Seasonal hand soap
- A new ornament for myself
- Thymes Frasier Fir Candle
- A tree
- Gifts
- Holiday cards (custom)
- Gifts for loved ones
- A piercing for myself
- Ribbon to dress up my homemade wrapping paper
- Food
- Ingredients for Christmas dinner
Make a note beside each category about how you’re offsetting expenses on each one. The point is to remind yourself that these expenses are curated, important, and worth it, since you’ve already put thought into how to make the most of them. Note things that make you feel excited about these purchases. If you can’t think of anything, consider removing them from the list. Maybe you just aren’t vibing with what you thought you’d want to buy.
- Home decor:
- Some of these are from my usual household expense budget (hand soap, blanket)
- I’m reusing last year’s decor in creative ways, by putting them in different places or in different combinations
- Gifts:
- I am making a handful of these, and they’ll be super personalized and meaningful
- I am creating gift wrap out of an old copy of the Iliad, then making custom art on each wrapping in festive colors
- Food
- I already have a number of the ingredients, so my grocery budget won’t be much higher
- I’m splitting dinner costs with my BFF who will be celebrating with me
- I’ll have leftovers! So groceries the following week will be less expensive.
Step 4: Assign dollar amounts to everything you have to buy
This is where we get into the nitty gritty of how much you’re actually spending. Look up prices for each item you need to buy. This is when you should start gathering coupons for any craft supplies, decor, or gifts. If the math isn’t mathing, look for cheaper options where you can.
Try using a value-based spending approach, where you decide what you think each thing is worth, and then you look for deals that fit your value budget.
- Home decor – $192
- Holiday throw blanket – $15
- Seasonal soap – $7
- A new ornament for myself – $20
- Thymes Frasier Fir Candle – $50
- A tree – $100
- Gifts – $326
- Holiday cards (custom) – $20
- Gifts for loved ones – $200
- A piercing for myself – $100
- Ribbon to dress up my homemade wrapping paper – $6
- Food – $75
- Ingredients for Christmas dinner – $55
- Festive napkins and other table setting items – $20
(These are not real numbers, btw! I haven’t chosen gifts yet…)
Bonus tip: Use cash-back apps like Rakuten, Honey, or Ibotta to get 2-10% back on some of these if you shop online. I’ve found that it goes a long way during the holidays!
Extra bonus tip: Spread out these expenses over the course of a couple of weeks or at least a few days, so that you’re prolonging each dopamine hit when you make a purchase. It’s a good excuse to shop early, a way to avoid last-minute rushes, AND it keeps your process nice and measured over time instead of dropping $500 on everything in one sinister afternoon and causing guilt.
In Conclusion: Shopping is Not The Whole Story
When budgeting for the holidays, it’s easy to skip over the “abundance” part and go right to “what do I need to buy?” I think you’ll find that focusing on and cultivating what you already have and love will help you become less attached to the chaotic process of shopping, so your budget will go a little longer and feel like so much more.
I hope your holiday celebrations are wonderful and feel abundant, celebratory, and cozy. 💙
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