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Episode 260 - Jingle Bills, Not Jingle Bells: A Debt-Free Holiday Survival Guide

The holiday season is often associated with joy, togetherness, and unfortunately, stress—especially when it comes to finances. In this blog post, we'll explore some practical, budget-friendly tips to help you navigate through holiday spending without emptying your wallet or increasing stress levels. Inspired by the experiences and advice shared by financial experts, this guide aims to transform holiday stress into holiday success.  

 

Transforming Holiday Stress into Success  

The thought of holiday expenses can overwhelm many people. However, with a bit of planning and creativity, you can spread cheer without breaking the bank. Here are some actionable tips to manage your holiday finances effectively:  

Setting a Realistic Budget  

It's crucial to set a realistic budget for your holiday spending. Begin by determining what you can afford and stick to it. This might involve saying no to some expenditures or finding alternative ways to give gifts. Keep in mind that the holiday season is about making memories, not just spending money.  

Plan Ahead  

One of the primary reasons for holiday-related debt is the lack of planning. Start thinking about next Christmas as early as January. This gives you ample time to save gradually and avoid last-minute financial crunches. For instance, if you expect to spend $1,200 during the holidays, setting aside $100 each month can help you reach your goal without stress.  

Creative Gift Giving  

Instead of traditional gift-giving, where everyone buys presents for everyone else, consider organizing a gift exchange. Drawing names so that each person buys a gift for just one other person can significantly cut down costs. Additionally, DIY gifts or re-gift exchanges add a personal touch and can be much more memorable.  

Spending Wisely  

If you do need to purchase gifts, take advantage of sales and deals. Shopping early allows you to avoid the rush and get the best prices. Layaway plans, where available, can also be a good option as they allow you to pay for gifts over time without incurring interest.  

Reassessing Holiday Expectations  

It's okay to cut back on gifts, especially if it means avoiding debt. Your loved ones will understand your financial situation, and it's better to have open conversations about holiday spending expectations. Sometimes, the best gifts are those that cost nothing, like spending time together or performing acts of service.  

Dealing with Holiday Debt  

If you find yourself in a cycle of incurring holiday debt and paying it off throughout the year, it might be necessary to take a holiday off from big spending. Use this time to reset your financial habits and set yourself up for future success.  

Final Thoughts  

Managing holiday expenses requires a combination of planning, creativity, and discipline. By setting realistic budgets, planning ahead, and finding alternative ways to spread holiday cheer, you can enjoy a stress-free and financially sound holiday season. Remember, the goal is to make wonderful memories while staying within your means. For those who are serious about improving their financial situation and want to see significant results in as little as 30 to 60 days, visit https://debtfreedad.com and click on the green button at the top of the page for more information. Thank you for joining us, and here's to a joyful, budget-friendly holiday season! 

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Episode Transcript: 

Ryan:  

So today we are decking the halls with budget-friendly tips for the holidays. If the thought of holidays and spending has you stressed, fear not. We've got some merry tips to help your wallet stay jolly and keep your stress in check. We're here to help you spread cheer without breaking the bank. So get ready to turn your holiday stress into holiday success, and let's slay this together.

Speaker 2:  

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.

Ryan:  

My name is Ryan Nelson, and my wife and I paid off about $160,000 in debt over eight years while raising three kids.

Amber:  

And I'm Amber Taylor and we saved and paid off $54,000 in 20 months and I've been debt-free outside our mortgage since 2018.

Chris:  

And I'm Chris Hawkins, and my wife and I started our journey way back and we paid off just under $100,000 in debt and have been debt-free except for our mortgage ever since.

Kati:  

And I'm Katie Hatfield. I have been on my debt freedom journey for six years now and I have paid off on a single income $169,000 and saved thousands more.

Ryan:  

Now, after listening to this episode, if you want to take this a step further and you'd like to get better results with your finances in as little as 30 to 60 days, I'll be sharing details about that later in the show. So Christmas I'll be sharing details about that later in the show.

Amber:  

So Christmas, do we need, like, some Christmas music? I feel like.

Kati:  

Jingle bells yeah right.

Ryan:  

I'm not in the mood for Christmas, right?

Amber:  

now.

Ryan:  

I know, I know, I think every year we've done this episode. Chris, you mentioned it before we started this. Or Katie, I think you said it's hard to think about Christmas when it's 88 degrees, but I feel like every year we've done this. We kind of all feel the same way, like oh, it's like the last thing we want to think about right now.

Kati:  

I have the air conditioning on right now, so yeah, not thinking Christmas.

Chris:  

In a way we're a little late to the party.

Amber:  

I mean shouldn't you start thinking about next Christmas in January? Yeah, you probably should. It would be a good time to start a thinking fund or start planning for that right.

Ryan:  

We should. But I will say I mean I'll throw myself on the sword, especially before we got out of debt. I was always surprised when Christmas came around.

Chris:  

What it's the same time every year why I was going to say Right.

Ryan:  

It's not a mystery, but when we were in debt, I mean I just remember, as the holidays got closer, just this dread of like we're going to be in debt, we're going to be charging stuff, Just that feeling of like how are we going to pay for all this? Even though, like you said, Chris, yeah, in January I should have started, but we never did and it was always like it's all the way in December. You know, and my wife and I just talked today like it's already going to be end of July here, pretty soon. I mean it goes quick.

Kati:  

And in January you're probably, if you're in debt, getting your credit card bills from Christmas and dreading having to pay those. So let's try and prevent that.

Ryan:  

Well, I think there's some interesting statistics here. We'll just kind of walk through these a bit. So some holiday spending statistics from 2023 indicate a significant financial impact on many Americans. Some of the key findings included so increased in, or an increase in, the holiday debt. So about 36% of Americans incurred holiday debt in 2023. And that's a rise from previous years. However, the average debt amount decreased from around 10%, so around $1,381 it was, and it decreased to about $1,249 in 2023. And this marks the first year-over-year decrease since the survey began in 2015.

Amber:  

But I mean, even if I was still in debt, I'd probably be spending the same amount of money and just going more into debt. To be honest with you, like if I still had that mindset right, I'd be like ugh. But to prevent that, I mean now is the time to really think about it. If you didn't think about it in January and think how much do I normally spend during the holiday season and how much do I need to save between now and then, each and every month or each paycheck, and just split that up and put it in an envelope, put it in somewhere savings that you could actually save that, so you're not the statistic of the 36% of Americans who incur holiday debt.

Chris:  

And I'll say this you know, yes, prices have gone up. I did up our Christmas budget by 200 bucks this year just to account for that. So, but that's again, that's something I sort of do. I do a yearly cash flow plan, so I'm always working a year in advance, sort of. But when you do this for 19 years, you kind of get to the point where you can think a little bit more long-term down the road. But yeah, I recognize that last year, the amount that we set at the beginning of the year for Christmas at the end of the year, it was a little tough, so we were able to increase it this year. But again, that comes back to planning in advance and I think that's probably going to be one of the messages that we're going to share with folks is now's the time to start thinking about this.

Kati:  

Yeah, paying Christmas with cash is always better than swiping a card when we can do it.

Ryan:  

I remember when we used to like really think my kids are going to love this present, it's going to be so awesome, I can't wait to give it to them. And then they get it and like a week or two or three or a month later it like sits in the corner. They never touch it again and I'm gonna be so angry because now I'm paying this debt off for this gift that I thought they'd love and that they said they wanted and they don't even like it. But I will say when you pay cash, yeah, it still stinks, but you're not sitting there so upset that you're paying it off all the time.

Chris:  

Well, this is sort of on topic, but sort of off topic. Having had three children myself, you're right. There's a lot of things that you buy for them, or grandparents buy for them, or aunts and uncles buy for them. They got so many people buying presents for them that it's like one after the other, oh cool, oh cool, and they just kind of throw them over their shoulder and move on to the next one. It's all about unwrapping the next present and then they want to take open all of them right there and inevitably you miss three or four pieces that get lost that day. And you're right, most of them never get played with or they get played with one or two times. So I'm glad you brought that up, because that's something for people to think about. Do you need to buy as much as you do? Does it make you a bad parent?

Amber:  

I don't think it does I don't remember all the gifts I got when I was a kid or like ooh, I got 20 or 10 or 5.

Kati:  

I don't remember that I don't have kids, but I have a niece and nephew and they are 5. And usually after we give them something in a big box, they would rather be in the big box with markers and coloring and whatever came out of the box, so they have a great time. And when I have toys at my house for when they come over, it's the same thing. I have boxes that stuff has come in and they would rather play with those than some of the toys.

Ryan:  

So, as we kind of talked through this, some of the tips for people and I think you know, amber, you mentioned on this too but I think setting like a realistic budget, not only for what you can afford but I think for also I'll be honest, I'm still like this at Christmas I do have that feeling of did we get them enough? Even though when I let that feeling take over, then I'm usually mad after my kids are older now, but during the times when they were younger, if I let that feeling take over, I was usually mad. I let it take over because it was just stuff, it was just something to open. That's just well. Then this one had nine presents. We got to have nine presents for everybody and then they're like oh, socks, whatever, you know, they don't even care. But I think setting that realistic budget is a huge like what can you realistically afford?

Chris:  

The important thing. There is two things. If you're just now thinking about it, your afford. Well, an important thing. There is two things. If you're just now thinking about it, your realistic budget probably isn't going to be as much as you would like, but that's okay, folks, it's okay.

Chris:  

People are not going to judge you based on how many things that you give them or the value of things that you give them. Sometimes, what you give them gifts is not what they would treasure the most spending extra time with you. Or you know gifts is not what they would treasure the most spending extra time with you. Or you know, if you're a kid and you can't give your parents a present, you know, babysit your siblings one night and let them go out. I mean, there's so many things that you can do and give that doesn't involve money. Time is a very precious one that you just got to think about. What can I do? And let me stay true to who I am or where I'm trying to get to, and remember, folks, this is only temporary. You get yourself out of debt. You can always increase that budget in the future if you feel like you want to sort of make up for lost time.

Amber:  

And I mean don't be afraid to cut people off your list. We used to buy for extended family and oh, we're seeing this person. Oh, this person happens to be coming up for the Christmas. I'm going to buy them something. Don't think you have to buy everybody something. Keep it to your immediate family. There's nothing wrong with that.

Kati:  

Yeah, or do something, because a lot of times it's like, okay, I'm giving them a $50 gift card to something and they're giving me a $50 gift card. It's like why, why are we doing this? It's just to exchange that. Um, last year, our family, the adults cause it's just my sister has the two little kids Um, we decided we were going to take a family cruise and that was going to be like the gift, that was the surprise on Christmas. So we booked it way in advance. We got a great deal on it and then we also had something to look forward to in February, after Christmas, after we surprised the kids with it and we had a fantastic time and I would take that 10 times out of 10 sitting there opening presents that you may or may not use or may or may not like.

Ryan:  

You'd probably be surprised if you had just an open, honest conversation with your family about this, like about presence and spending money. You might be pleasantly surprised at how many people would be like thank you.

Ryan:  

Because, you're feeling this pressure, and so is everybody else. But if you just brought this up in a sense of like I really can't afford this anymore and we're really trying to cut back, and like here's what we'd rather do, like some of these other things like we just talked about, I think you'd probably find a lot of people that would be like, yes, like we would love to do that, cause I think I'm the same way, katie. I don't love getting the gift card, just so I turn around and give you a gift card. How about we not do that? And if we're going to spend money, let's spend money to do something together, rather than or just say we're not going to do that.

Kati:  

Before my sister had kids, we did cut out like we're not doing gifts, please stop doing gifts, because we'd all moved and downsized and all the things and it's like we don't need more stuff. We're trying to get rid of stuff Like we don't need more stuff. We're trying to get rid of stuff. I think we would talk about it all the time. The average home has 300,000 items in it and, yeah, looking around my house, I can count the majority of them and probably have way more than that, so it's like I don't want any of that anymore.

Amber:  

And if you feel you need to do the gift thing, which is totally fine and, by all means, I love giving gifts, I absolutely love it. Fine, and you know, by all means, um, I love giving gifts, I absolutely love it. But you can always get creative and do, like, a diy gift exchange right, where everybody has to make their own gift or, uh, re-gift gift exchange. We did that one year. It was so funny and it was just silly and funny and the whole experience of the actual gift exchange was so different and that's what I remember most. I have no idea what I got that day.

Chris:  

Yeah, so it's the excitement of having no idea what you're going to get right.

Amber:  

Yeah, you don't. You have no clue.

Chris:  

And so there's a couple of perfect examples of what I was talking about Find some of the unique or different way to give gifts. I will say this gift cards have made Christmas not fun for me anymore. I hate to say that, because you know where do you want a gift card to? Really, you're just going to find the lazy way out. That's sort of the way I look at it. All right, you're right. So many people exchange gift cards. It's like why are we even bothering? And then my wife, my mother-in-law and my kids sort of do this. It drives me nuts. They go buy their own gifts and wrap them, and then you pay me back for the gifts. I don't know if that's a new trend or not, but it's certainly with my family and that also has spoiled Christmas for me, because there's no unknown anymore.

Amber:  

No, I would hate that. I love the surprise.

Chris:  

Well, my wife was the one who had to find out all three of our children what gender they were before they were born, and so there were no surprises there either. So I wanted to live with this for my whole married life, 31 years now, with no surprises.

Ryan:  

See my fun at Christmas and my mom used to get so angry. My fun was trying to figure out what all my presents were before Christmas, so like she had to get super creative in hiding them anywhere and everywhere, because every year I would figure out where they were. She hid them one year in a car top carrier and locked it, and I figured out how to pick a lock that year. And then she hid them at my grandma's house and then we had Thanksgiving over there and then I snuck around my grandma's house and find them. So that was like my fun for Christmas was always like and my wife is terrible at it because my wife's like you'll never know what I got you, and then I'll guess, and then she's like forget it.

Chris:  

I'm done.

Ryan:  

I said I'm just good at it, I can't help it.

Chris:  

The worst thing my mother ever did was taught me how to wrap presents, Because if you learn how to wrap presents, you can learn how to unwrap them. The end of them.

Amber:  

you fold them off and then hold it out and go look at that box and then you fold it back and tape it. So if you have children like these, your plan and shop early tip is probably not a good idea.

Chris:  

I learned how to hide it, save and shop right beforehand.

Kati:  

Yes, yes yes, that was always my sister. She was always spoiling the surprise. I wanted the surprise and now I realize my love language isn't even gifts. I don't want to get gifts, so it's like this was just kind of all a waste. But I did once get what I thought was an air mattress, and I was going camping and I'm glad I opened it before I actually went, because I hadn't opened the box yet. It was actually just a blanket wrapped in another box. So I was like, well, that would have made for an interesting camping trip.

Ryan:  

So Amber, you mentioned that plan. That plan and shop early, and Chris, you kind of mentioned it at the beginning and I think this is for me like for in order for us to stop using debt. This is kind of what we did. And Chris you mentioned at the beginning is that is, we knew every year at Christmas we spend X amount of money. So let's just say, for simplicity, let's just say it's $1,200. And so every month, starting in January, we were putting $100 aside and for us, and it was an envelope, and we just said this is Christmas money. And when we started doing that it just totally changed how we did it and then we were able to. I think you can take advantage of sales. I mean, we never shop super early, but especially as you start to get September, october, November, you don't have to wait until the rush of Christmas. You can really like take advantage of hey, they're running this super deal right now and I know they want this and you can do that now and you have the cash for it.

Chris:  

I got a question for y'all, just out of curiosity. When I was younger, my mother we would she would do a lot of shopping at Kmart. If you remember, there used to be a brand called Kmart.

Chris:  

And they had this thing called a layaway. You would go take the item to the layaway office back there and you would put a deposit down and every so often you had to come make a payment and then you didn't get to take the gift or the item home until you paid it off with no interest. By the way, I saw I think Walmart about eight or nine years ago had brought that back.

Amber:  

Is that still a thing? Not here. They took that away a while ago. I mean, it wasn't a bad system.

Kati:  

No, it's a great system. We used to do that too.

Chris:  

And.

Kati:  

I don't know if I've seen that in forever, but I also don't go to stores to shop as much as I used to either.

Chris:  

So could you do that yourself with envelopes like you were talking about? Every month, put a certain amount of money in an envelope.

Amber:  

Yeah, it takes some discipline, though. Because now it's in your envelope, you have the cash right. Because now it's in your envelope, you have the cash right, right, instead of the store holding it for you, right? Just take some discipline and some planning.

Ryan:  

I remember the first year we did it. First year we paid cash for Christmas. I just remember how peaceful it was to know that when the holiday, that Christmas day, was over, that I wasn't staring at a credit card bill, Because we're in July and when I was in debt I was probably still paying on my debt from the last Christmas and it probably was rarely that I had it almost paid off and I was doing this all over again. And I think there's a lot of people out there that can resonate with that. If I charge everything, I get it paid off, maybe July, August, September, I have a month or two and then I'm right back in it and I'm doing it all over for the next year.

Ryan:  

And I think that's maybe sometimes and I remember we had this conversation with our kids you may need to take a Christmas off. In a sense, you know, you may need to just kind of say, like this is going to be pretty small this year to set yourself up for future years. I remember when we had to do that the first Christmas, we did it. It was a really small Christmas but guess what, my kids survived. We don't all sit around and they don't all tell me the horror stories of Christmas where we didn't get a lot.

Amber:  

Remember that Christmas? Yeah, they don't. You gave us nothing.

Ryan:  

They don't even remember. So I know some people have this fear of like if you do that, your kids are going to be you know. I don't know that it's going to just devastate them. I mean it may in the moment, but you know if you can set yourself up for future financial success, it was totally worth it when we did that.

Chris:  

I can't remember anything before I was seven years old anything. So certainly you aren't going to remember not getting something for Christmas. So maybe the point I'm trying to make is, if you've got young kids, certainly they're not going to remember it.

Kati:  

If you have a lot of people that you normally shop for, like if you have a big family or extended family that are always like we have to buy something for everyone, trying to do more of a gift exchange where you draw a name and you only have one person to buy a gift for, because I know, even when my grandparents were getting older and on a more limited income, we would just include them Not everyone got them a gift or we would do one big gift for grandma and grandpa and then little gifts for each other and that was really, I think, appreciated by different members. Like when all of the cousins were in college at the same time and totally broke, yeah, and everybody gets to go home with something.

Amber:  

You have a fun little gift exchange and it's fun yeah.

Chris:  

I don't know, but listen, there can be an overboard moment, and so if you feel like you've got to give everybody something or that's sort of mandatory, you're better off saying no.

Kati:  

The opposite of that was my family is a lot of farmers on the one side, and so sometimes we would get butter or homemade jam or things like that. And now I'm like now that's what I want to get for Christmas. I want to get socks for Christmas. I don't care about something fun and extravagant or anything like that. I also. My most memorable gift was from my best friend in sixth grade. It was a rock on a rope. It was in the shape of a heart, but we still talk about that rock on the rope and I think I still have it somewhere.

Ryan:  

Well, and I think, like you said, chris, it's okay to say no and you need to be concerned about your own financial well-being and what your plan is and what you're trying to get to. We had to make some tough decisions and we had to say no. And, like you said, I think, at the beginning, chris doesn't mean no forever. This isn't no and I'm never, ever doing this. It just means no for right now, and maybe that's a year or two or or three, and then, once that's over, you could actually potentially be more generous than what you ever could before. If you want to pay off debt, save more money and take control of your finances and start seeing some amazing results in just 30 to 60 days, all you have to do is head over to debtfreedadcom, click on the green button at the top of the page and we will show you how.

Amber:  

And that's how we just time for the celebrations of the show. First we have Cindy. She says I have been meal planning and cooking at home now for 10 weeks. This has made a huge difference. And yay me, because it's hard some days. Oh my gosh, yeah.

Chris:  

Keep it up, she'll be bad before too long. Well, over a year, right, sandy? This one's gosh. Yeah, keep it up. She'll be bad before too long. Well, over a year, right, sandy? This one's exciting. Folks Just paid for her daughter's first semester of college in cash C-A-S-H cash, hoping to get her all the way through school with no student loans. What a great goal, sandy. That's awesome.

Kati:  

That's amazing. Nicolette and her boyfriend finally completed the Financial Harmony series. They watched one to two videos a week together. That's a great date night, I feel like.

Ryan:  

And Claudia took 24 hours before deciding if she needed something, and ended up not purchasing it. As always, congratulations to all of you who are taking a stand for your financial life and are wanting better. We get that. Getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and your consistency and discipline, we promise you this will be some of the best work that you do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us today and we will see you on our next episode.

Speaker 2:  

Thanks for listening to the Debt-Free Dad podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, tiktok, youtube and Instagram. Just search Debt-Free Dad. If you found value in today's episode, please leave us a rating and review. We so appreciate it. For resources, show notes and links mentioned in today's show visit debtfreedad.com. Catch you next week.

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