Shownotes
Do you want to save more money for big purchases during holidays and other special events?
Saving is a skill that’s the foundation for any goal — whether that’s to spoil your niece on Christmas morning, to fund a luxury vacation, or reach your biggest financial goals.
Sydney and Kristen go through the six steps to help you manage your finances and save for those special occasions.
Learn how to strike a balance between celebrating the people you love and not going overboard with your spending during the holiday season.
Whether you're saving for Christmas, a vacation, or any other special event, these insights will help you plan your finances effectively and make the most of your celebrations.
- The 6 steps to savings that apply to short-term and long-term goals
- How to find the right balance between saving for big purchases and not going overboard with your spending (especially during the holidays)
- How to let go of the idea that spending is the only way to celebrate so you can prioritize your budget based on your values
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Transcripts
This can be a really tough time for you because you feel like it's
Speaker:within your values to provide things for your family, your friends, your
Speaker:kids, your coworkers, everyone.
Speaker:It's one of the ways if you show love in this way or if you are obligated
Speaker:to support others in this way by providing presents or entertaining
Speaker:or just really anything that would spend money around this time.
Speaker:It can be a really challenging time for a lot of people.
Speaker:Welcome to the Know Your Worth Show, where we teach you how to think about
Speaker:your money differently so that you can achieve your sexy money goals.
Speaker:I'm Sydnee your money Maven and owner of Know Your Worth.
Speaker:And I'm Kristen Sid's Dimepiece bestie team member and busy mama
Speaker:twins here to make sure that those of us without a financial degree can
Speaker:still level up with each episode.
Speaker:Let's get started on reaching your next goal.
Speaker:Welcome to the Know Your Worth podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Sydney, your money maven.
Speaker:And I'm Sid Stein Peace Bestie, Kristen.
Speaker:Woohoo.
Speaker:We are on episode eight.
Speaker:So thank you for joining us.
Speaker:Hopefully you have liked some of our intro episodes.
Speaker:We've gotten to know us a little bit, gotten a little bit of background on us
Speaker:and also what we're going to be talking about on the Know Your Worth podcast.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's been super fun.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It has been for us.
Speaker:Hopefully it has been for you guys.
Speaker:So going forward, we're going to be talking into kind of
Speaker:different segments here and there.
Speaker:So, the eventual episodes that we'll get into, we're going to try to have themes
Speaker:to a lot of the episodes that we record and it's going to be, this kind of section
Speaker:is based on how to manage your debt.
Speaker:This section will be basically how to, purchase a home.
Speaker:This section will be, business basics.
Speaker:So as we go forward into our episodes, we just wanted to make sure that
Speaker:you guys have a picture of what our, goals and some of our insights are
Speaker:and what we're going to be recording.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And Sid and I fly by the seat of our pants.
Speaker:So if you have something that you want to hear about that we haven't touched
Speaker:on, just reach out to us or drop a comment and we will figure it out.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Are good at that.
Speaker:Yes, we are.
Speaker:And today we know it's getting a little bit close to the
Speaker:Christmas and holiday season.
Speaker:Time is a flying.
Speaker:So what we wanted to do today is talk about some tips for
Speaker:saving money for holidays.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then we talked about too, how this can be translated into saving for, any
Speaker:big special event that might be coming up like a vacation or birthday party,
Speaker:you have to plan things like that.
Speaker:So these are pretty basic tips, but Sid always has a spin on them
Speaker:that makes them more interesting.
Speaker:doable.
Speaker:Hopefully this helps.
Speaker:So we're going to break this down into six steps and they can be loose steps.
Speaker:You can combine a couple of them, you can spread them out a little bit further.
Speaker:But we are doing six steps on saving for holidays and special
Speaker:events and they are to set a budget.
Speaker:And if you've been listening along, hopefully you've already set that create
Speaker:a savings plan, then open up separate savings accounts, automate those
Speaker:savings, cut out unnecessary expenses.
Speaker:Shop smart, and then you will be ready to go.
Speaker:Just like that.
Speaker:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker:It is as easy as that though, if you set it up.
Speaker:Thanks for stopping by.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Alright, go on your way now.
Speaker:So, if we start with setting a budget...
Speaker:We definitely want to have a clear picture of what our current finances
Speaker:are whenever we're getting into holiday spending and purchasing and gift buying.
Speaker:It's very easy to get carried away, especially if your love language
Speaker:is presents and gift giving.
Speaker:This can be a really tough time for you because you feel like it's
Speaker:within your values to provide things for your family, your friends, your
Speaker:kids, your coworkers, everyone.
Speaker:It's one of the ways if you show love in this way or if you are obligated
Speaker:to support others in this way by providing presents or entertaining
Speaker:or just really anything that would spend money around this time.
Speaker:It can be a really challenging time for a lot of people.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think it can be a really stressful time and I think if you let it,
Speaker:it can rob some of the joy from the season and the holidays.
Speaker:And I think it's growing older that has shown me that it's.
Speaker:I don't want to sound like a Hallmark commercial, but it isn't what it's about.
Speaker:But like Sid said, if it is your love language, it's how you show how you
Speaker:care about people, then you don't want to miss out on that either.
Speaker:So I think there's a nice fine line that you can walk where you can feel
Speaker:like you're celebrating the people in your lives, but you're also.
Speaker:Not bankrupting yourself for them because they wouldn't want that for you.
Speaker:Yep, exactly and I just thought of a tip that I have for parents
Speaker:So we'll throw that in later.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Sounds good.
Speaker:I love it Okay, so then with that budget comes a savings plan and the savings
Speaker:plan you can really make what you want And this is again where you have to
Speaker:go through what your life looks like around this event or this holiday.
Speaker:So for me, I do love to buy presents for people, but I more like to host,
Speaker:I like to have parties and cook and buy wine and bring cheese and, have
Speaker:all of these events and that's I feel like where around the holidays.
Speaker:More of my funds go is there rather than on presents I definitely still
Speaker:buy presents and I, can get carried away to an extent with those depending
Speaker:on who it is, but I feel like I can easily get carried away on the hosting.
Speaker:budget side That's where I really have to focus my savings plan on.
Speaker:And that's where I think sometimes people don't think about those things.
Speaker:It's easy to think about what presents you need to buy for your family, but
Speaker:are you hosting Christmas dinner?
Speaker:Are you feeding ten people?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And those are the ones that, People don't always plan for
Speaker:is those extra big dinners.
Speaker:Are you going out to more holiday parties and happy hours and things
Speaker:like that around the holidays?
Speaker:Holiday clothes and sparkles, jewelry, big earrings.
Speaker:I can't wait for my reindeer earrings to come out.
Speaker:Those are the things that you need to just think about.
Speaker:Where your spending goes around the holidays.
Speaker:Is it presents?
Speaker:Is it food?
Speaker:Is it decorations?
Speaker:If you just, if you're moving into a new house or a new apartment,
Speaker:do you need to buy decor?
Speaker:Or do you want to buy decor, there's a lot of different things that different
Speaker:holidays and this season will...
Speaker:put a strain on your wallet if you're not actively looking
Speaker:for and actively planned out.
Speaker:Let me ask you a question.
Speaker:Are you a, I see something in the summer that would be great for
Speaker:somebody I love for Christmas.
Speaker:I'm going to grab it and save it till December.
Speaker:Or are you two weeks before I'm like, Oh shit, it's Christmas.
Speaker:I am absolutely both of those things.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But my problem is that if I buy things in the summer, I'm
Speaker:not always the most organized.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I will put them somewhere where I can't find them come Christmas.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so I am...
Speaker:There's a joke in my family that sometimes we could write a story called
Speaker:the gift that never came because I also am the person that thinks of the perfect
Speaker:present, but it's three days before.
Speaker:So I have to order it on Amazon and it truly is in route when
Speaker:the holiday or event happens.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Put it in a card.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And I typically have something little on the side that I found in
Speaker:the summer for them or three months before that I've put aside for them.
Speaker:But I.
Speaker:Forget about it until the gift comes or I put it with the card.
Speaker:Yeah, we joke it's the gift that never came.
Speaker:I think I've, been joking about writing that book for let's do it years because
Speaker:that is that is me And I really like to think about like good presents to get
Speaker:people and I want to do every year I want to do a big homemade present for
Speaker:everybody because I love crafting, we know that about me now Yep, and that
Speaker:was supposed to be a birthday present for one of my friends last March.
Speaker:That's still there A couple months later.
Speaker:But I think I have fabric from years ago that I was going to do
Speaker:napkins for every one of my family.
Speaker:I think about spools of yarn one year that I was going to knit everybody something.
Speaker:Yeah, so I'm, I'm that person where I'll think months in advance.
Speaker:This is what I'm going to do for Christmas this year, but I don't
Speaker:always follow through on it.
Speaker:That's a little bit of my Maybe ADHD a little bit?
Speaker:I was like, is this a podcast on ADHD or money?
Speaker:Yeah, a little bit of both.because a lot of it do go hand in hand.
Speaker:I think that I have such immediate gratification issues that when I buy
Speaker:somebody the gift in the summer that is supposed to be for Christmas,
Speaker:there's no way I'm not giving it to them immediately after I buy it.
Speaker:So all of my gifting is done in the two weeks before Christmas
Speaker:where I'm just like, a nightmare.
Speaker:And then I get to Christmas, and I don't enjoy it.because
Speaker:I'm like I robbed my own joy.
Speaker:I am my own Grinch.
Speaker:Yeah, I do that too.
Speaker:I do that.
Speaker:I have a hard time keeping secrets with giving presents and like, waiting.
Speaker:Yeah, so does Alex.
Speaker:He's, he's actually just as bad as I am.
Speaker:So while creating that savings plan, Yeah.
Speaker:Is again important to figure out where you want to spend your money.
Speaker:And, And, Start making a plan for it, are you allotting 25 a person for a present?
Speaker:Are you allotting 100 a person for the specific people?
Speaker:Which is very nice, but you have to really think about what you want
Speaker:that spending plan to look like.
Speaker:Do you typically do a white elephant with your friends?
Speaker:Do you do a cookie exchange with your friends?
Speaker:Do you need new decorations?
Speaker:Did your outdoor lights go out last year?
Speaker:Do you need to buy new things?
Speaker:Try to start putting together the savings plan for where you want
Speaker:your holiday spending to go towards.
Speaker:Yeah, when you were talking about that, it was really helpful in my family because,
Speaker:It started to spiral out of control where everybody was buying for everybody.
Speaker:And then people started having kids and then you're buying for everybody's kids.
Speaker:And so we just started choosing names and setting a limit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then that happened.
Speaker:It took so much pressure off because we still had the feeling of giving
Speaker:and getting and enjoying together.
Speaker:But it wasn't like, because when you're buying for so many people, it
Speaker:almost becomes inauthentic because you're just checking it off a list.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:How many Fisher Price things can I buy my niece that she doesn't need
Speaker:that light up and are just going to annoy my brother and sister in law?
Speaker:It's just not, it's not authentic.
Speaker:So I think, too talking with your family or talking with the
Speaker:people that you exchange with.
Speaker:My group of friends and I, we used to do our favorite things exchange
Speaker:where everybody bought the favorite thing that they use in their daily
Speaker:life that was like, 30 bucks or less.
Speaker:And then we all, when we exchanged, we talked about why
Speaker:we liked that thing so much.
Speaker:And I ended up like ordering half of the money Amazon anyways,
Speaker:but still it was on me then.
Speaker:Yup.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it was like a really nice bonding thing that was not expensive, but I
Speaker:got to know more about my friends.
Speaker:So I think thinking outside the box.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Pun intended.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Alex would have been proud of me for that.
Speaker:He would have, he would have really liked that one.
Speaker:Finding different ways to allocate smaller amounts of money, but
Speaker:still have a great experience.
Speaker:Yeah, I completely agree.
Speaker:With the The, the favorite things thing is a really good...
Speaker:I like that a lot.
Speaker:Oh, it's super fun.
Speaker:Yeah, I like Oprah's favorite things, except...
Speaker:Yeah, Let's do it.
Speaker:I'm, I'm in.
Speaker:Let's do That sounds great.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Am I on?
Speaker:Done.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I have my savings plan.
Speaker:I know I'm supposed to be saving it.
Speaker:Where do I put it?
Speaker:So I don't touch it.
Speaker:I would open up a separate savings account and have that to just be for events like
Speaker:these holidays, and just start allocating that money right away as much as you can.
Speaker:There are a couple of different options for opening up a separate savings account.
Speaker:For the most part, the banks that we would see and that we'd see our clients
Speaker:and some of our friends use, you could just go in and open up another
Speaker:savings account right within that bank.
Speaker:One of the other things that I know that my mom was always a big
Speaker:proponent of and they do through the school districts that they work at
Speaker:is they partner with a credit union.
Speaker:And the credit union can set up almost like a Christmas envelope that you
Speaker:would automate a part of your direct deposit from your paycheck to go right
Speaker:into that at a credit union as well.
Speaker:So I know my mom loves that with the credit union that they do that.
Speaker:But similarly, you can open up a separate savings account you
Speaker:could use that Acorns account.
Speaker:I know there's some like.
Speaker:Technicalities with the Acorns account that it's also an investment
Speaker:account, so you just need to make sure that, you're looking at when
Speaker:that would be deposited because they have to sell the funds and things
Speaker:like that on that kind of an account.
Speaker:But opening up a separate savings account is a great idea.
Speaker:And then already just start having that automated is our
Speaker:next tip automating that savings.
Speaker:I know we've talked about this before that for a lot of paychecks, for a lot
Speaker:of payroll companies, you can go on and you can add a multiple savings accounts.
Speaker:So you could have a separate one where you are just pulling that
Speaker:automatically every single...
Speaker:Paycheck, if it's 50 a paycheck is just going right into that account
Speaker:something little just putting it right aside You typically won't even know
Speaker:that something that small is gone.
Speaker:It's filling up your gas tank one more time.
Speaker:It's Yeah, Starbucks a couple times.
Speaker:If it's something that you can put aside and again, it's still your money It's
Speaker:not going somewhere where you can't get it if you do need it for an emergency
Speaker:But automating that as much as possible
Speaker:another way that you can do this where it's not necessarily automating it,
Speaker:but if you're somebody that seeing it when you open up your app or, if you
Speaker:can't avoid that or you want it to be more separate, you can also every
Speaker:paycheck go to the ATM, get 20 out, get 40 out, put it in an envelope and put
Speaker:that aside until the end of the year.
Speaker:And then when you go shopping for Christmas, take that cash and then
Speaker:you are truly limited To that cache.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that's one way you can do that too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's almost like taking the willpower out of it because you
Speaker:don't have to exercise that.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:I have Wells Fargo and there's this feature, it's called way to save.
Speaker:So every time I use my debit card for something, it takes 1 and just
Speaker:puts it in a separate account for me.
Speaker:And we just call it like our fun account.
Speaker:So like when I go to get my hair done, if I have 70 in there from 70
Speaker:times that I swipe my card in the six weeks since I last had my hair done.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, it goes towards that and it's like, oh my God, I had that.
Speaker:I forgot I had it.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Even something like that.
Speaker:So to counts like that.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Those are perfect.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:That's a great way to do it, to just automate those savings as much as
Speaker:possible so it just doesn't feel like you are pulling into your
Speaker:reserves or you're overextending yourself come holiday season.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Another big thing to do is cut unnecessary spending again.
Speaker:That's tough, but if you can really take a look at your budget leading
Speaker:up to those periods of time, think, okay, do I want to go out to dinner
Speaker:this week, or do I want to wait to go to the holiday party next week?
Speaker:Do I want to buy this for myself now, or do I think somebody could
Speaker:get this for me for Christmas?
Speaker:I know that was something my mom always made sure that we did because I love
Speaker:to shop, and it was like, stop buying everything for yourself come November.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Putting it out there what you want.
Speaker:People always want to know.
Speaker:Your parents always want to know.
Speaker:Your grandparents always want it.
Speaker:Your husband, your wife, they always want to know things that they can buy you.
Speaker:So make a little list.
Speaker:And even if it's something like simple like I want a new spatula in the kitchen.
Speaker:Put it on your list.
Speaker:It's simple.
Speaker:It's stuff that's little, but, if it's something where you just have
Speaker:a list of things, or you put it in a Pinterest board things that you're
Speaker:wanting, try to avoid buying them for yourself towards the end of the year.
Speaker:Obviously, if it's completely unavoidable, then...
Speaker:Yeah, there's that but I do have a tip for parents.
Speaker:I have a couple but this is one when my kids start They're
Speaker:four now we go to the store.
Speaker:They'll see something.
Speaker:I want this.
Speaker:I want this I want that and sometimes I want to buy that for him because I just
Speaker:want to make them happy and I'm terrible at It and not terrible at making them
Speaker:happy I'm terrible at saving money when it comes to them So if we're at like
Speaker:Target and they see something that they want They'll say I'm going to get this and
Speaker:I'll say, let's take a picture for Santa.
Speaker:So we remembered that this is what you want.
Speaker:They get to hold the unicorn or whatever the hell it is.
Speaker:I take the picture, I show them the picture.
Speaker:Do you think he'll like this?
Speaker:Oh, he's going to love it.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:They put it back on the shelfbecause they know it's coming later
Speaker:or they will forget about it.
Speaker:And then I actually have a running list.
Speaker:Of stuff that I know that they want.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So then you don't buy it right then and you their little gratification check mark
Speaker:is like, yeah, I got my picture with that.
Speaker:Santa's going to get it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I don't know.
Speaker:I think it's a good all around.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker:Do for first days St.
Speaker:Patrick's Day.
Speaker:Valentine's Day.
Speaker:It doesn't matter.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:And then you have all the pictures.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:And the same thing works for me as an adult person who
Speaker:wants immediate gratification.
Speaker:If I see something that I want, I will add it to the Amazon cart or
Speaker:I will snap a picture of my husband or my mom's always asking like,
Speaker:what do you guys want for Christmas?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:At this point I don't even want anything half the time except for
Speaker:like peace and quiet, but like just snapping that picture and knowing, okay.
Speaker:Exactly or put it in the safe for later make a list on Amazon.
Speaker:Yeah Yeah, I have like an Alex list on Amazon, so every time I think of
Speaker:something for him and I go and I'll put it into my list for him, and then I
Speaker:know whenever it comes to his birthday or at the end of the year, I can go
Speaker:through and be like, okay, this has held true, like this is something he would
Speaker:really want, I'm glad I didn't get this, because this isn't for it anymore, this
Speaker:isn't something he wanted, or he impulse bought this for himself the day after
Speaker:he told me that he wanted it I can kind of like trim down the list from there.
Speaker:So definitely creating those lists is a really good way to, but that also helps
Speaker:with our final tip of shopping smart.
Speaker:So if you create lists throughout the year things that you see on Amazon, things that
Speaker:you want to buy for yourself or for your kids or for your family, there's a lot
Speaker:of apps out there now and tools out there.
Speaker:And we can link some of those in the show notes that help you to
Speaker:alert you whenever things go on sale on Amazon or on other sites.
Speaker:So you can.
Speaker:Put things in your cart.
Speaker:You can put things in your save for later But you can also add those to your watch
Speaker:list and then you'll be alerted whenever they hit like the lowest they've hit in
Speaker:30 days or the lowest they've hit in six months It'll tell you and it'll send you
Speaker:an email To break out what those prices are at and then you can buy the things
Speaker:that you want for Christmas at the lowest price That you can see available and that
Speaker:way you can hold those At your house, but you've gotten the best deal on those
Speaker:if that's what you're looking to do.
Speaker:Still spending within what you've set for your saving budgets and things
Speaker:like that, but If you can set those up that helps you to shop smart.
Speaker:I always find that I want things for Black Friday, and then the day comes and goes
Speaker:and I think I'm not going to buy anything.
Speaker:I shouldn't spend on Black Friday, but then like three days go by and I'm like
Speaker:I should have bought this appliance that Alex said he wanted, or I should have
Speaker:bought this, cooking equipment from my mom that she said she needed, that is a
Speaker:great day to buy it, or Cyber Monday, or Amazon Prime Day, or things like that.
Speaker:If you have a list of things, and you have those alerts, you'll know whenever they're
Speaker:going to be the cheapest, and then you can just make sure that you buy it too.
Speaker:Get a hold of those deals.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:, another thing I wanted to point out too is I get older like experiences.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:with my friends and exchanging gifts.
Speaker:Like generally none of us need anything.
Speaker:I would rather and value like, Hey Syd, let's set aside a time that's
Speaker:just for you and I to go out and have cocktails and cheese and sit and talk
Speaker:to each other and get dressed up pretty.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And that's like our Christmas present to each other.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And I'll do that with my kids too, because when you have kids, there's
Speaker:just so much crap in your house and I'll say to my in laws, you could
Speaker:get them their 700th My Little Pony that I'm just going to trip over for
Speaker:every night for the rest of my life, or they really want swimming lessons.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And people get just as much joy out of knowing that your kids
Speaker:are doing an experience, or let's all go to the zoo together, or
Speaker:an annual pass to this or that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That you can do multiple times.
Speaker:Over the year rather than just like a one and done gift that lights up.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I completely agree with that.
Speaker:In the past year I've gotten my friends at cooking classes.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:For my family we do really, for my sister and I at least, we try
Speaker:to get our family like trips.
Speaker:So we'll do like, they buy us like a trip to the Finger Lakes every year.
Speaker:They go on Airbnb and they rent a house in the Finger Lakes.
Speaker:And we've done Atlantic City a few times.
Speaker:So we try to go back and forth on some of that stuff where we're buying trips
Speaker:and experiences too rather than just...
Speaker:Presents things.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Another cool thing I've seen parents or people do figure their
Speaker:kids like they'll tell relatives something to read, something to wear.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:something to play.
Speaker:Something to do.
Speaker:So stick to those four categories and not more than one thing.
Speaker:. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like a book, something to wear, like those kind of things.
Speaker:And then I also saw this, which I loved.
Speaker:You get a big like Santa Sack.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you tell your kids like you're going to trade Santa, some of your.
Speaker:Toys that you love, but you're over, that are still in good shape for the new things
Speaker:that he's bringing, if this is in your value system, Santa, and all those things.
Speaker:So they gather up all those things, they donate them to kids who need them,
Speaker:and then whenever the new things come in your house isn't like exploding.
Speaker:So you get to have that feeling of giving, and then they get the kid
Speaker:reward that they need of getting.
Speaker:And also cleaning too, like you're like, getting rid of a few things.
Speaker:Yes, that's a really.
Speaker:I should do that with Alex.
Speaker:You 20 hats.
Speaker:Yeah, and you can buy 20 more then, okay.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:We can do this if we get rid of these.
Speaker:We can get each other presents getting rid of a few things.
Speaker:Or selling a few things.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:selling things that you don't use anymore.
Speaker:Like that celery juicer that I brought when I was going to eat
Speaker:celery every day or drink celery juice and heal my whole health.
Speaker:And I did it for a week and I was like, this is stupid.
Speaker:There's someone out there who wants to start their celery juice journey.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Sell that for 40 bucks and put it in my Christmas.
Speaker:You would make their Christmas.
Speaker:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker:They'll be healthy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'll have 40 bucks to buy my kids.
Speaker:And one other thing it's, I just noticed here a tip is like if you have a skill
Speaker:like stained glass or like creating something and that's the way that you
Speaker:love people, like homemade gifts are a great way to celebrate the holidays.
Speaker:They really are.
Speaker:They really are.
Speaker:I love homemade gifts.
Speaker:I love homemade gifts.
Speaker:I don't have a lot of people that I get homemade gifts from anymore.
Speaker:I don't have any skills, but I'm going to make you something.
Speaker:I can't wait.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It will be something that you wear, and I don't know what it's going to be.
Speaker:I can't wait.
Speaker:I can't wait.
Speaker:That sounds amazing.
Speaker:But I think all these tips can be used for any special event, really.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I completely agree.
Speaker:I also think that one of the things that we have a tendency to do is go overboard
Speaker:with certain things with Christmas, too.
Speaker:I know for the first two years we were in our new house, I went
Speaker:so overboard with decorations.
Speaker:Like, you do inflatables in your front yard?
Speaker:No, I don't do inflatables in our front yard.
Speaker:We're not an inflatable front yard family.
Speaker:Mostly because our front yard's all rocks, so we really can't do
Speaker:inflatables in the front yard.
Speaker:But also, I just feel like they're going to blow away and I'd be like, terrified
Speaker:that they're all going to blow away.
Speaker:Yeah, I can't do the inflatables.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Are you guys an inflatable front yard family?
Speaker:I have never been an inflatable front yard family, but my kids would love it.
Speaker:I was waiting for the butt.
Speaker:Yeah, I was waiting for the butt.
Speaker:So I could like get behind it now.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:You can come over and ride my inflatables.
Speaker:That sounds amazing, that sounds amazing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'll just work that into my budget, a 400 reindeer.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that sounds so good.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, I love it.
Speaker:I love Lights like I love lights outside.
Speaker:I want roof lights, but Alex did a good job putting them up on our roof growing
Speaker:up My dad was always afraid of height so he wouldn't get on the roof to do
Speaker:it So as soon as we moved into our new house, or we were looking for a new
Speaker:house I told Alex that was like one of the things I wanted was like yeah roof
Speaker:lights and What's funny with that is that?
Speaker:Our roof is so steep that we've had multiple roofers turn down projects
Speaker:at our house because it's so steep.
Speaker:So Alex got up there for me and put the lights on the roof.
Speaker:Yeah, that is a Christmas gift in itself.
Speaker:Yeah, I risked my leg for you.
Speaker:But in the past like two years since we've been in our house for like
Speaker:five or six, this I think will be our sixth Christmas in our house.
Speaker:We've really gotten over We're putting up all of our decorations, and
Speaker:we're not, we don't even have kids.
Speaker:We're not like, my parents are like, oh, it's exhausting to do all the decorations.
Speaker:I'm like, I know.
Speaker:And meanwhile, it's only been like five years that I've been doing it.
Speaker:They've been doing it for much longer.
Speaker:And so I know that I love it.
Speaker:And luckily Alex loves it too, so typically I'll go to work one day
Speaker:and I'll come home and it's all done because he likes to surprise me with
Speaker:them, which is like a dream come true.
Speaker:But I've found that if it were up to me anymore, I wouldn't have as
Speaker:many decorations as I do already.
Speaker:Knowing that, again, with the decorations, if you're buying
Speaker:new, You should get rid of things.
Speaker:You should clear out, you should get Facebook Marketplace, donate, Goodwill,
Speaker:just give to your neighbor, give to someone that's buying a house because
Speaker:they're so excited that's all they want is to decorate for the holidays, if they're
Speaker:anything like me, but then it just becomes so exhausting to have so much decoration.
Speaker:So I know that that's something that is absolutely not within my
Speaker:budget anymore is decorations.
Speaker:I just...
Speaker:I'm good.
Speaker:I don't need it anymore.
Speaker:Sometimes I get sucked into the displays and the things like that and I'm like, I
Speaker:don't think I have this snow crusted tree.
Speaker:It would look great on my mantle and then I get home and I have like
Speaker:four that look exactly like it.
Speaker:Take inventory of what you have before you go.
Speaker:I know it's tempting.
Speaker:It's so tempting.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:Alex and I, whenever we travel, what we buy whenever we travel
Speaker:is a Christmas tree ornament.
Speaker:And so that way it's nice because when we travel, We don't pick up too many things,
Speaker:t shirts and things like that here and there, or just like stuff here and there.
Speaker:But it's also then we can pack it away.
Speaker:Yeah, but then at Christmas it's fun that we go through all of our ornaments
Speaker:and we can relive all of our trips whenever we get to the holidays.
Speaker:So that's what we do.
Speaker:And that's like the only new decor that I add that I add.
Speaker:I have a lot from that first year.
Speaker:I need to really get rid of some of it, but yeah, and for me, it's the hosting,
Speaker:so I have all the table scapes, I have all that stuff, and I use a lot of that,
Speaker:but if I have to buy anything else, it will really only be within that value set
Speaker:of like hosting, it won't be, and like wanting people to come over and eat and
Speaker:enjoy and celebrate, so it won't be on the yard ornaments and stuff like that
Speaker:at our house right now, because, yeah.
Speaker:Someday I can picture a house filled with.
Speaker:I think as soon as our, our one day eventual kids ask Alex for it, yeah, he's
Speaker:just going to go ham on the front yard.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I hope this was helpful into just aligning your thoughts for, for
Speaker:Christmas and, and things coming up.
Speaker:And that it does not have to be as stressful as it can be sometimes.
Speaker:We know that it is a hard time, so hopefully this was helpful.
Speaker:Give you some, a little bit of insight to make things a little smoother,
Speaker:a little easier, a little more joy filled, and that you can have the
Speaker:holidays be happy and stress free.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you have any tips, please let us know too, because we share them, and...
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:We're all doing this life thing together, so help us help
Speaker:you and help everyone else.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:And we'll link some of the stuff in the show notes for the types of
Speaker:savings accounts that you can have and how to automate some of those.
Speaker:And then also some of those shop smart tools for tracking
Speaker:when products are cheap.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Hopefully those will help.
Speaker:Let us know if you guys need anything else on this and we'll jump right on it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Bye guys.
