In this episode of Money Talk With Tiff, Tiffany Grant dives into practical ways to manage holiday spending without breaking the bank. As the holidays are in full swing, it's crucial to focus on what truly matters: quality time with loved ones and creating memorable experiences. Tiffany shares her personal tips and strategies to ease financial stress while still celebrating the season with joy.

Key Points Discussed

Shifting Focus from Material Gifts to Meaningful Moments

• Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over – now's the time to think beyond the sales.
• Importance of spending quality time with family and friends, or nurturing yourself if alone.

Tip 1: Adding Value with Experiences

• Organize family game nights, cookie decorating sessions, or holiday hikes.
• Gift experiential coupons like homemade dinners or breakfast in bed.

Tip 2: Creative and Affordable Gifts

• DIY gifts: homemade candles, personalized ornaments, recipe jars.
• Budget-friendly custom items: photo books, printed calendars, themed gift boxes.

Tip 3: Saving on Everyday Expenses

• Host holiday potlucks to share costs.
• Use Facebook Marketplace to declutter and make extra cash.
• Compare prices for everyday items and prescription needs to save more.

Real-Life Examples

• Trips with family instead of multiple toys and how these experiences create lasting memories.
• Fun and creative traditions that are low-cost but highly memorable.

Sponsors

• LensPricer: Save over 50% on contact lenses by comparing prices from major retailers. Visit Lenspricer.com for the best deals.

Subscribe to the Money Talk With Tiff podcast, leave a review, and share the episode with those looking to save money during the holidays.

Follow Tiffany on social media @MoneyTalkWithT to share your own holiday saving tips.

Submit your money questions at www.moneytalkwitht.com/asktiffany for a chance to be featured on the podcast.

Connect with Tiffany

• Website: MoneyTalkWithT.com
• Social Media: @MoneyTalkWithT on all platforms

You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears.

It's the Money Talk with Tiff podcast.

Hey. Hey. And welcome to another episode of Tiffany's Take, where I answer your money questions right here on the podcast.

So if you'd like your question answered, just go to www.moneytalkwitht.com. ask Tiffany, and I'll be more than happy to answer. So, so for today's episode, I just wanted to go over holiday spending and saving in particular.

I know a lot of people have been reaching out, like, hey, Tiffany, things are getting a little tight. Do you have any tips on how I can save money during the holidays? So, of course, you know, I'm gonna come with some tips because I love saving money.

That's one thing that I absolutely love doing. And so there's a few things that I can share with you all. Now, I do realize that the holidays are in full swing at this point.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday day are now behind us, but there is still time to save. So this episode will focus on practical ways to ease that financial stress while still creating memorable moments with your loved ones.

Okay, so first, as I said before, you know, Black Friday, Cyber Monday is over.

And I want you all to move past the urgency of sales like that, because really, these holidays, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they're focused on spending. Really, they were created so that way people can spend more during the holidays.

And really, I encourage people to look past the spending part and start thinking about what really matters during the holidays.

And that spending time with your loved ones, whether it's friends, family, whoever, your adoptive family, whatever the case may be, that's what really matters. Even spending time with yourself. That's one thing that I posted about on Thanksgiving.

You know, I was like, you know, happy spend time with your people day. Because that's what I call it, because that's what we really do. And I don't acknowledge Thanksgiving.

But anyway, I was like, happy spend time with your people day.

And even if, you know, because there's a lot of people that don't have their people here, whether they passed away or things happen or what have you, and also thinking about yourself, because you're somebody too.

So even if you don't have people to spend the holiday season with, you can use that time to spend with yourself and just really just take that time to breathe. Take that time to do what you need to do for you. So this can Go for anybody, whether you have family or not.

Also think about how experiences build those lasting memories, while material gifts often fade away. So what we're doing is resetting our perspective on holiday spending.

To give you an example, one thing that I started doing, especially when I was back in the States, was me and my kids would go on a trip as part of our holiday. Instead of buying a whole bunch of toys and plastic that's just going to sit there and collect dust. You know, after the first.

The first couple days, I would only get them like one gift, a piece that they really, really wanted. My oldest son is usually an adult Lego set, and my youngest son, you know, it just changes with whatever he's feeling.

But outside of that, we would go on a trip and that would be our holiday. So for us, that was more memorable.

Like, my kids still talk about the trips that we've taken over the years versus the toy that that was bought, what, two years ago. You know, they don't even remember it anymore. It's probably sitting at a Goodwill or something right now.

So, you know, just resetting what holiday spending could look like I think is really helpful. Hey, money talk family, here's a question for you. Are you overpaying for your contact lenses? Well, stop with Lens Pricer.

You could save over 50% just by buying from the cheapest online store. LensPreicer does all the hard work for you comparing prices from all the major retailers for your exact brand. No guesswork, no hassle.

You get the best price guaranteed in your wallet. It stays happy. It's simple, smart, and seriously saves you money.

So give it a try today@ Lenspricer.com Again, that's Lenspricer.com and see how much you can save, because every dollar counts, right? And then also, I just want to ask you a question. You know, what's the best holiday moment that you've had that didn't cost a dime?

So whether it was sitting in the living room with your family, with your grandparents, and, you know, them telling family stories, whatever the case may be, just think about that and how impactful that was to you and how that stuck with you versus physical items that you may have gotten. So I just wanted to set the tone with that. But let's go ahead and get into the tips. So tip tip number one is adding value with experiences.

So like I said, I started implementing this back in the States years now where we would have experiences or trips versus doing gift giving and things of that nature. But there's also some other things because sometimes trips can get expensive too.

So some other things that you could possibly do is organize like a family game night or a cookie decorating session. You know, me and my kids, we used to always every year decorate gingerbread houses.

You know, one child would get one side, the other child would get the other side. You could just do whatever you want. And then, you know, we would take pictures and stuff. So that was cool.

Or maybe a holiday hike, maybe go to the mountains. Me and my kids have done that before. We've gone to the mountains and just went by the stream, we went fishing, you know, whatever the case may be.

Also you can create personalized experience gifts. So like coupons for breakfast in bed or homemade dinner date or there's so many ways you can go with that.

And that's something that kids can give too. So maybe they give a coupon for. They have to do whatever you say without saying anything back for a day, you know, or things like that.

So that's something fun that could be for all age groups is just giving coupons for little things that are free, but it gives you that experience. Also you can attend free or low cost local holiday events.

You know, usually there's stuff going on in your local community, so definitely check that out as well. Now imagine gifting your friends or family an entire day focused on laughter, relaxation or creativity instead of that store bought item.

That's kind of what I'm getting at here. You can always add value with experiences. Tip number two, creative and affordable gifts.

So you could do DIY gifts like making candles or making festive personalized ornaments.

I saw something on social media the other day where they said one of their traditions is they have a holiday party and everybody has to bring an ornament that they make to put on the tree. And they said that that was one of the first ones that they had with their now husband. He bought one and it, it was just really, really cute.

I can't really explain it, but it was really cute. And they still hold on to that memory. They still have that ornament.

And so you can create these traditions that can go year after year after year because you can just throw the ornaments up on the tree every year. That's one thing that we do as well.

So, you know, whenever my kids would make ornaments, let's say in school or what have you, those ornaments will come out every single year and we'll put them on the tree. Another thing is a recipe jar.

So if you're not familiar with the concept, a recipe jar is when you put all the ingredients for something in a jar and the person can just create whatever it is with everything that they that you have in the jar. And so it's a really cute idea, especially for stuff like brownies or you know, something that you can bake. It's really cute.

Or even like oatmeal and stuff you can put in a recipe jar. Also there's low cost custom items like photo books or printed calendars.

I remember my mom, she would usually do like a calendar or a photo book for my grandparents. I've gotten one before calendar, you know, my kids in it. That stuff is so cute and it lasts, you know, forever.

Another thing, you can bundle smaller items into a fun theme. So like a cozy winter box with some socks, some tea and a good book.

You could do like I love you box with a coupon for something that you want to give them and then also a candle or whatever the case may be. Get creative. Right? That's the point. That's the point of this. Get creative and start thinking outside the box.

So that's the whole point of this, is to get creative. If you want to do it themed, you know, just think of a thing, what's the person's favorite holiday or what's the person's favorite season?

And then create a box around that with small things. Tip number three, look for savings and everyday expenses. So think about your holiday prep and your everyday spending for easy wins.

So maybe instead of one person cooking the whole dinner, maybe it's a holiday potluck. So that way you can share the meal costs, maybe comparing prices on everyday items, you know, even prescription needs like glasses or contact lenses.

Decluttering and selling your old items to create extra cash for gifts and or events. It's another idea. I love me a good yard sale to get rid of things.

And to make it even easier, where I have been getting a lot of traction is Facebook Marketplace.

So just putting stuff that I don't even use or rarely use on Facebook Marketplace, I've been able to make quite a bit of money from that thousands of dollars just by getting rid of stuff that I don' even use. So I really want to highlight that these are some things that you can do as well in order to create money instead of spending money.

So let me recap what we went over today. First, you want to prioritize creating and gifting meaningful experiences.

So like I said, me and my kids, we go on trips and that's part of our holiday gift giving. Also you can do things of trips. Is Too much.

You can also do family game nights, cookie decorating, holiday hikes, coupons, you know, whatever the case, may be going to local holiday events. Oh, that's another thing my kids love too. Real quick is going to see the Christmas light.

So if there's anywhere in your local community that does Christmas lights, do that as part of your tradition as well. Second, get creative with affordable yet thoughtful gift options.

So start thinking outside the box on what you can give people, whether it's a photo book, a calendar, a fun theme box or what have you. Because I mean, keep it real y'all. These subscription boxes be making money from doing just that.

So you know my brain is always going to entrepreneurship even with these theme boxes. This might, if you enjoy doing it, this could be something you can create into a business as well.

But anyway, back to our subject at hand and then number three, look at everyday spending as an opportunity to save money as well. Just remember that it's about making memories, not maxing out your budgets. Put them credit cards away. You don't have to do all of that.

Just think of low cost ways to make this holiday the best one yet. And I just want to say thank you so much for supporting the show and thank you so much for joining me and supporting the show.

And I encourage you to save more during this holiday season. I would love to hear how you save.

So if you follow me on social media at Money Talk with T on all platforms, I would love to hear about how you have saved this holiday. Also, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review, share the episode with anyone looking to save during the holidays.

All of that stuff is really helpful for the podcast and I encourage you all to approach the rest of the holiday season with creativity, clarity and confidence. All while keeping money in your pockets and focusing on what really brings joy.

And until next time, if you would like your question answered on the podcast, go to www. Moneytalkwitht.com asktiffany and I'll be more than happy to answer for you. There is also an option on there where you can do a voice note.

I would love to hear some voices other than mine on the podcast for these episodes, so definitely check that out and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. See you next week. Bye.

Thank you for listening, joining and being a part of the Money Talk with Tiff podcast this week.

You can check Tiff out every Thursday for a new Money Talk podcast, but if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous podcast episodes@moneytalkwitht.com or follow tips on all social media platforms at Money Talk with T. Until next time. Spend wise by spending less than you make. A word to the money wise is always sufficient.