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Episode: 288 - Embracing a Budget-Friendly, Relaxed Holiday Season with Kimberley Gillan

As the holiday season approaches, families often look forward to moments of joy and togetherness, though financial stress can sometimes overshadow these festivities. Many seek ways to create special memories without overstretching their budget. In our latest Debt Free Dad podcast episode, we were thrilled to welcome Kimberley Gillan, author of How Low Can You Go? Nutritious Meals from $50 a Week, who offered valuable tips for a festive, affordable, and meaningful holiday season. 

 

 

 

Alleviating Holiday Financial Strain 

Our discussion started with the reality of holiday spending pressures. With many people going into debt to fund holiday expenses, Kimberley stressed resisting the commercial holiday push and focusing on the holiday spirit rather than excessive spending. 

Cherish Presence Over Presents 

Kimberley shared a touching story from her childhood, where her family emphasized experiences over material gifts. She encouraged listeners to rethink family traditions, focusing on being present and creating memorable experiences rather than spending on costly gifts. 

Crafting Unique Family Traditions 

Families have a wonderful opportunity to create their own traditions. Kimberley urged listeners to embrace rituals that are personally meaningful, whether crafting homemade decorations or organizing a day of games and stories, making the holiday memorable without giving in to commercial expectations. 

Practical Holiday Savings Tips 

Kimberley offered several strategies for smart holiday spending: 

  1. Gifts: Consider giving one meaningful gift from Santa, involving extended family for larger purchases, or starting a Secret Santa to keep costs manageable. 
  2. Meals and Dining: Opt for brunch outings instead of dinners, skip alcohol, and encourage children to try adult meals so you can split food costs. For holiday meals, split catering tasks among family members to save. 
  3. Decorations and Entertainment: Get creative with reused boxes and bags for decorations, reducing both costs and waste. Simple displays at home can also capture the festive spirit. 

Reducing Holiday Stress 

Kimberley also shared tips to keep holiday stress low: plan early, finalize gift lists by December, and adopt new traditions that bring personal joy and relaxation. 

In the end, the holiday season should be about meaningful moments rather than financial strain. Kimberley Gillan’s insights remind us to embrace the season’s true essence. For more tips, visit her website, kimberleygillan.com, or explore her book for frugal holiday ideas. 

 

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Kimberley: https://kimberleygillan.com/ 

Get better results with your finances in 30-60 days - GUARANTEED. Watch this video to learn how! - https://www.debtfreedad.com/payoff-debt-in-60-to-90-days 

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Transcript:

Brad Nelson:  

Hey. So today, guys, we are diving into one of the most wonderful and also financially challenging times of the year. Yes, the holidays are in full swing. Now joining us is Kimberly Gillen, author of how Low Can you Go. Now, kimberly is here to help us navigate the hidden expenses of holidays. We're going to be tackling some tough but timely questions, things like should you go into debt for Christmas? Is it possible to have a meaningful celebration without breaking the bank? And what about all those retail and supermarket traps that hit us during the season of giving? Kimberly will share smart strategies for creating your own low-cost holiday, tips for handling the temptation to overspend and how to keep your holiday food, entertainment and even decorations on a budget. Stay tuned.

Announcer:  

You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experience the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial success. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.

Brad Nelson:  

Hey, welcome to today's show, guys. I am Brad Nelson, founder of Debt-Free Dad. I paid off about $45,000 of debt, have been debt-free now for more than 11 years, outside of my mortgage. I've also been fortunate to help thousands of other people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt-Free Dad. Now, after listening to this episode, guys, if you are an individual who's ready to make some changes, you're ready. You're sick and tired of the paycheck to paycheck life and you want to take your finances to the next level. I've got an amazing resource I'm going to be sharing later on today's show that's going to help you see better results with your finances, seriously, guys, in as little as 30 to 60 days. So stick around for that.

Brad Nelson:  

Hey, kimberly, welcome to the Debt-Free Dad podcast. So glad that you're joining us here today. Thank you, it's great to be here. Yeah, absolutely so. As a little kind of backstory for our listeners, we actually had Kimberly on here about a week and a half ago and she's going to have another episode coming up here in a few weeks for you guys. And then she started talking about her tips for holiday savings. I was like, oh my gosh, we have to have an episode for you during the holidays because that's such a big topic, most stressful times of the year. So, kimberly, can you share just real quick with our listeners a little background. You've written a book and you really are helping people more with healthy eating, meal prep and really learning some cool ways to save some extra money in the house.

Kimberley Gillan:  

Thank you. Yes, my book's how Low Can you Go? Nutritious Meals from $50 a Week and it basically outlines the lowest price to meet western dietary guidelines and still have a good life. And I stress all the way through the book that you really need to look after your mental health. Having been there myself, I know that going through financially tough times and often the only place you can get the money from is your food budget to help meet the increased cost of living going through tough times it's a big mental challenge, and so in the book I have a section that's specifically on Christmas and other cultural festivities and the importance of families having rituals, that these things can become even more important when you're doing things tough.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

Brad Nelson:  

And then you had mentioned like, hey, I got some great things that I could share with the holidays, and that's what we're going to focus our attention on today Because you know, I would say the months of like midway through October all of November, December are probably some of the most stressful times for most families who are participating, you know, in holidays, holiday shopping, holiday traditions, and if you look at some of the statistics in the past that we've shared here on this podcast, the average person goes into debt well over $1,000 here in the United States just to afford their holiday spending and for some of them it takes them well over the next year to be able to pay that debt down.

Brad Nelson:  

They're bringing a lot of that stress into that new year and throughout the year and adding it to their finances. So the goal obviously here with this episode is to hopefully help you reduce that. But can you share? Why is it? Do you feel like we are so pressured into this consumeristic side of the holidays? Is it all about advertising? It has become so much and now it's like all the Christmas stuff is out even earlier now and it's more sales and more stuff to buy and it's just become so stressful to navigate.

Kimberley Gillan:  

Yes, Christmas, whether we like it or not, is a highly commercial proposition for a lot of retailers. This is going to be their maximum turnover for the year their maximum turnover for the year. And alongside that there's this whole industry that just works on the psychology of getting you to spend more at Christmas. I talk in my book about supermarket psychology, but retailer psychology at Christmas working on you this is overdrive. It's really big-time stuff. Like, for example, you know, when you're going into the retail stores and you have all the Christmas music and the lights and the tinsels and someone's on a microphone talking about their five-minute sale.

Kimberley Gillan:  

It's overstimulating and psychiatrists have actually done studies on this and it reduces our cognitive function and we are more likely to fall into line, especially when we see other shoppers who are buying big, and it becomes, whether we like it or not, we like to think of ourselves as individuals, but human beings are highly social animals that tend to follow social norms. So when you're in those really busy you know shopping centre outlets and everybody else is spending and it's noisy and it's rushed and it's crowded you are more likely to make poor decisions and purchase more than you intended. Another thing, too, about the whole Christmas, tinsel and music and so forth. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. But the way it's done in these commercial settings is that it tries to give you permission to spend more or to buy that gift for that special someone because they deserve it. And my question to you is do they want you, if they love you, to go into a financial sacrifice? I don't think so. There are better ways of celebrating Christmas.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, that is so good and I 100% agree. It's like it's amazing to me that we will put our finances at risk, more stress added onto our lives, in this whole spirit of giving it. Just, you know, it just doesn't make any sense. It's like, here you are, you want to be a giver, but then at the end of the day, you know, months after this, you're going to be stressing about how you're going to pay for a lot of those things.

Brad Nelson:  

So one of the things that I think a lot of people deal with is the guilt, you know, and especially you know, when we get people who are really serious about getting out of debt. The holidays come around and they begin to start feeling like guilt of I can't give my kids or I can't do the holiday tradition like I've always done, because I really needed to cut back and I really want to get out of debt, I really want to save more money, but I'm just feeling this overwhelming amount of guilt on not participating the way that I used to. Do you have any tips or any sort of advice to some individuals that might be feeling that way, where maybe they feel like their kid's are going to almost miss out or their family is going to miss out because they're not financially in a place right now to be able to do the things that they want to do.

Kimberley Gillan:  

I'm going to use an example from my own childhood. At one point my parents were in such a tight situation financially that they said Christmas, guys, I was uh eight and my brother was six. This Christmas you're getting your school bags because you're going to need those in the new year for starting your new school. That's going to be your Christmas present. And we said that's okay, mom, that's okay dad. I remember that Christmas. I don't remember too many Christmases from my childhood because you know I'm in my fifties now, but we had a really special day. We had our parents fully present with us for the whole day and we did stuff together and that left a lasting impression on me. So my advice, if there was just one thing that I was to say to your listeners, it's be fully present with the people you love on this special day, make memories. It's not about buying stuff, it's not about eating stuff. It's about being together and, in celebrating that close family relationship or friendship relationship that you have, tell jokes, have fun. That's what it should be about.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, I agree, I was fortunate enough when we were kids. We didn't get a lot of stuff throughout the year, but my parents always gave us, you know, a great Christmas, and I would agree with the same thing. It's I can't remember. I remember a few things that I got when I was a kid, but what I remember more is the tradition side of the of the Christmas. It's not all of the presents and all of that. Yeah, as a kid that was fun, but as an adult, what I look back and appreciate were more of the memories, the times that we spent and just the overall excitement of the holidays and things like that. That's the stuff that I related to. So can you talk a little bit about that? How do we build these types of traditions in our families and really focus more on that and the time that we're spending together, versus putting the blinders on and ignoring the material side of it?

Kimberley Gillan:  

I think that every family, every household has the opportunity this Christmas or whenever they decide, to say you know what? We're going to start our own family traditions and these traditions are going to be meaningful and unique and special for us. And if you've got kids involved, they get it, because every family is a little different. You know we all have different traditions. Not all of us follow Christmas. We may have other cultural traditions. This is your opportunity to take and put together family rituals that will see you for decades to come, that are meaningful to you, so it doesn't have to be the commercial, consumerist Christmas that we've all had sold to us year after year.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, how does that conversation go with the kids? Because I feel like if you've got kids and they're used to a certain standard of what Christmas looks like and then all of a sudden. That changes any suggestions on how you get the kids involved with this?

Kimberley Gillan:  

what I did with mine is I explained that in our house, santa provides one special gift. Yeah, and for Santa to, and because we care about Santa's workload, we send him a letter in September, him a letter in September. And when you say to them one special gift, it cuts out a lot of the junk impulse requests, and so that one special gift might be a bike or it might be something that's a bit more than you might normally pay for, but if you're given time, santa can make it happen. So, um, and or sometimes you might say you know what, we're going to get the family, the extended family, to all chip in for this. Um, and santa, you know we'll, we'll let santa purchase something else, but that's if it's a really expensive gift. You know, I can remember times when cousins, uh, or nephews and nieces, were getting something like a laptop that they needed for school, and so a few of us chipped in. So, um, there are ways around it. But, but if everybody gets one special gift that they really, really want, and then from that you can do things like a homemade Christmas.

Kimberley Gillan:  

I know that's a bit challenging for some people, but homemade Christmases can be great. You know, you can have a check filled out to wash the car. You can do homemade chocolates. You can do homemade liqueurs. They go really well. Family members like those that are adults, you know. So, yes, that does require a lot of preparation and so you've got to think realistically about your time. But, um, also, I I agree that, um, chris kringle's I do. You know the term chris kringle, we have it here in australia. Yeah, um, that can work really well.

Kimberley Gillan:  

My only advice on chris kringle is that put together a generic list. This is usually something you do with work, colleagues, extended family, and everybody gets a present. Um, yeah, but put it. Don't make it expensive. It actually can make this become more of a chore, especially if you don't know the person. So make it a generic list of like socks, chocolates, bottle of wine, choose from one of those. Everybody's going to get a gift. This isn't going to be their special one present, but it will be a gift that they get from the family at large. So when we start saying let's put a $50, $60, and then you've got to go out and think about that person you may not know them very well. That just adds to the stress of Christmas what they call those.

Brad Nelson:  

And so, yeah, very similar, where you draw names and you're just buying one gift for one individual in a group and, yeah, great way, Even for families. We've done that, you know, and it saves a considerable amount of money and that really helps.

Brad Nelson:  

And for your parents out there, we actually shared these numbers, kimberly. This is crazy to me here in the United States and I don't know specifically what the numbers were, but the average child here in the United States has like some upwards of like 200 and some odd toys and they only play with, on average, eight to 10 of those. That's it. So if you think about that, like think about, are they really going to play with it all that long after the excitement wears off? So you know, be choosy and I like your suggestion there of just kind of like one special gift and it's just that one thing that they get that they really want. That's super cool too.

Brad Nelson:  

I want to change shift gears just a little bit and I want to talk more about the other things that go along with the holidays. So things like your festivities, the entertainment that you might go, or maybe even getting into like holiday meals A lot of people tend to go out to eat more during the holidays. Can we talk a little bit about some tips and tricks here to save some money?

Kimberley Gillan:  

Okay, there's quite a lot there. I would say that, as much as possible, try to encourage it to be less about sitting, eating and drinking and doing stuff together. So if, for example, you're going out to a restaurant, let's cover how to save money. Going to a restaurant and that often happens at Christmas time, you might get together with a big group. At Christmas time, you might get together with a big group. I would encourage or suggest that you gather for brunch rather than dinner, if possible. Also, skip the alcohol, soda, coffee. Just get water with the table, if you can. And if you're eating out with kids, I would lean away from the kiddie meals. I know kids can be picky eaters and it's very easy to fall into just giving them the kid meal plan, which is often something like a slice of pizza.

Brad Nelson:  

Right.

Kimberley Gillan:  

But it's a great opportunity for letting kids expand their palate and you don't want to spend a lot of money, so I'll often ask for an extra plate and because serving sizes are quite large, yeah, I'll let the child try some of my adult meal and it's a great conversation and learning experience for them. If you're someone who is a big eater, I suggest you eat before you leave. Have something light before you leave, because by the time you all meet up, there'll always be someone who's running late and then you order and then or they're slow to come out and take your order and you're famished.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah.

Kimberley Gillan:  

That sets you up to go. Oh no, I'm having three courses, you know.

Brad Nelson:  

Guilty. No, I'm having three courses you know.

Kimberley Gillan:  

So having something light to eat before you go takes the pressure off and helps you to make you know, smart decisions. It's not even though the food is important. It's more about the getting together, and I do strongly recommend brunches. I think they're great. They're a great way to start the day and they really work if you've got some vegetarians or vegans amongst you.

Brad Nelson:  

Very cool. And then what about more like at-home meals, because again, that can run high. I mean, we're here in the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving right at the end of November, and so for a lot of people there's a big food expense there. But then about yeah, like three to four weeks later now. Now we're starting to do like get togethers for the holidays, so that can be almost like a double whammy. So what are some ways for like holiday meals that you're preparing at home, that you can save some considerable amount of money?

Kimberley Gillan:  

I think, first off, try and share the catering out equally. If you've got extended family and people from other households, encourage them all to bring something, and if it's going to be a feast, they might need to bring two dishes, two different, different meals, an entree and a main, or a main and a dessert. You know, um, and I think a lot of people do that now. Um, and once again, you know the ham, the turkey, these things.

Kimberley Gillan:  

I know it might be sacrosanct at first, but if you can avoid going for the foods that the commercial, uh, supermarkets and so forth are pushing you to buy, that everybody else is going to be buying that week, well, you're going to save yourself some money and those things will be super discounted the week following, right? So so it's this. Once again, it's about establishing traditions that are meaningful to you. Um, we have a huge amount of christmas songs and there's one of them that's about a, an american um rapper, who's singing about his memories of Christmas in the ghetto and he's saying he has fond memories of macaroni cheese and he lists all these other things that they had when he was a kid at Christmastime and how special they were to him. But these are not foods I recognize as Christmas foods.

Brad Nelson:  

Right.

Kimberley Gillan:  

The same with Thanksgiving. It's about establishing your traditions and sticking to them and saying this is what we do, and if the turkey and the ham are really special to you, have them a week later.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, yeah, it's really so good. I've I've always teased I never gotten my family on board with this is that we should celebrate Christmas two weeks after Christmas, because everything's on sale and we'll get a much better price, whether it's gift giving or food, I mean, everything would be so much cheaper because everything goes on sale right after Christmas. So, yeah, that's great. So what about like other things, like a lot of people do again, festivities, entertainment they're going to see, maybe shows or Christmas displays, and even maybe things like decorations and all of the things that kind of go along with it. Any words of advice there to save some extra money?

Kimberley Gillan:  

Yes, with decorations. I am a big fan of the visual display and we know that it gives you a dopamine hit. So if you're putting your tree up and your Christmas decorations up in your celebrations, make a bit of an effort in the visual presentation. We have a ritual just around the decorating of the Christmas tree on the first weekend in December. That goes back years and when the kids got into their anarchic teenage years they, they got a kick out of finding the damaged christmas ornaments and and hanging those on the tree. You know, like the tin soldier hanging by his neck and yeah it. It is important that you have these rituals, that you embrace that side of things. I actually say avoid being overstimulated when you're out in the shops and everywhere else, but allow that spirit of the season to sink in. Find ways to make that anticipation occur for you.

Kimberley Gillan:  

So that you can enjoy it too, without all the craziness To avoid waste. If I may just talk about that briefly, we have a tradition where every year we get a couple of Christmas boxes and Christmas bags. Year we get a couple of christmas boxes and christmas bags. These are, um, readily available and we wrap them with clear adhesive plastic. You know that we call it contact, yeah, and they'll last. They'll last for decades and we'll reuse those every year. Um, so it saves a lot of waste on wrapping paper. Yeah, santa, of course, will have his in a specially specially wrapped because it's come from somewhere else yeah but but um the um, the regular presents that are just simple presents are come in these gift boxes.

Kimberley Gillan:  

We'll often do things like dad will get this great big, shiny box with a tiny little present in it. Kids find that hilarious. And he'll always clown around with that. So yeah, seeing all those boxes under the tree, it's exciting, and having the boxes and bags available means that you're not spending a lot of time wrestling with scissors and wrapping paper and all that. The wrapping's quick and easy, but it gives you a bit of time each year to go to a bit of trouble with the ribbon or the writing on the gift card.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Such great tips and yeah, great reminders Again. Simple things like saving your boxes, saving the bags from previous years, all great ways just to save on some of those costs, because they do add up. And if you look at the combined of holiday expenses, the gift giving and the food and the traveling and the decorations, it gets very expensive very, very quickly. So any last tips that you'd like to share before we let you go today.

Kimberley Gillan:  

I would say that my last tip will be about alcohol. Yeah, I know that for some families families alcohol isn't a problem, but if you've had problems in the past where christmas just became everyone sitting around, all the adults sitting around drinking, and things turn sour, yeah this is an opportunity to say hey guys, why don't we just this year, see how it goes?

Kimberley Gillan:  

try an alcohol-free Christmas. There are some great alcohol-free versions of your favorite drinks now, and if you're busy doing stuff, that can also make it different. If you are setting up new rituals, this can be another one of them, and it will save you a lot of money. If you're in a family where you're not huge drinkers anyway and you're just wanting to save money, think about spritzes, punches, sangrias those situations where you mix alcohol with you know something refreshing, even your old fashioned punches, so long as you can make sure no one lets the kids near it. So that's probably the last tip for today.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, I do have one more. What about, you know, just reducing the overall stress of the holidays? You know it can, not only just the expensive side of it, but just you know you're running all over the place, the time, the shopping, the you know, and it can just seem like you lose the enjoyment out of it because you're just so stressed about it. Any tips for that?

Kimberley Gillan:  

That's a great question. I think that getting on top of Christmas early and sticking to your plans, even just those simple things of I'm going to have one present to buy for my child or children, one present each or you know I'm going to organise it through Santa and I may have a present in a Kris Kringle white elephant that's a big step forward. You know, so often it'll be one person in that household who's got to go out and buy 30 gifts or 20 gifts or something crazy.

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah.

Kimberley Gillan:  

And it makes it easier to get these things out of the way. I do recommend that you have all your gift giving sorted before December. That allows you to start getting into those other rituals around the Christmas tree and catching up with friends and family and not going oh my goodness, how am I going to fit it all in? Yeah, and just sharing the load, but also finding things that make Christmas magical for you. I had a tradition for many years with my best friend, when the kids were little, that on the first week of December every year we would get one special Christmas ornament for each other to put on our trees. And all these years later I get out all my Christmas ornaments and I remember Helen for for the Christmas gifts that she's given, even though I don't get to see her anymore. So these are the sorts of things that you should think about. How are you going to find the magic for yourself?

Brad Nelson:  

Yeah, so good, kimberly, thank you so much. Where can people learn more about you and some of the resources that you guys offer?

Kimberley Gillan:  

Okay, I'll probably be putting an article up about saving on Christmas which will expand a bit more on this and that'll be available on kimberlygillencom and it's L E? Y for Kimberly, you can also. I've also got a section in my book how low can you go? Nutritious meals from $50 per week, specifically dealing with cultural celebrations, particularly Christmas.

Brad Nelson:  

Awesome. Well, kimberly, thank you so much for joining us and sharing these great tips and also just great reminders during the season. It's been awesome to have you again. Thank you, it's been great. All right, guys, if you want to pay off debt, save more money, take control of your finances and you're an individual who's ready for some change, you're ready to give up that paycheck to paycheck life and you start to see some amazing results. Seriously, guys, in as little as 30 to 60 days, all you have to do is head over to adephridadcom, click on the green button at the top of the page and we're going to show you how you can get started.

Kimberley Gillan:  

Let's talk about that baby. Let's talk about your money. Let's talk about all the good things.

Brad Nelson:  

All the bad things that may be, let's talk about that.

Kimberley Gillan:  

Let's talk about that. Tune into Dead Free Dad.

Brad Nelson:  

Tune into Dead Free Dad. All right, as you guys know, that sound means it's time for the celebrations of the show. Today we're kicking off with Angel. Angel says I cleaned out my garage and I sold a few things for extra money. Since joining Roots, I haven't used credit cards, which is awesome. Angel, fantastic wins for you, great job.

Brad Nelson:  

Jess says I'm decluttering, still Canceled some monthly payments no longer needed, saving $75 in her budget. Also, I paid $489 more towards debt this past month. Jess, congratulations, awesome wins. And Kim double-checked my budget and was able to lower my internet bill, which is awesome. I love the celebration. It's a great reminder for all of us Make sure you're shopping around those services getting the best rates at all times. Great win, kim. Congratulations. Hey, as always, guys, congratulations to all of you guys who are taking a stand for your financial life and are wanting better. Hey, we get that. Getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and hopefully with your consistency and discipline, we promise you guys, this will be some of the best work that you guys do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode.

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