Stretching Your Budget This Yuletide Season

My favorite time of the year is here once again and as always, I’m looking forward to celebrating it with cherished family and friends. It’s going to take a lot of hard work though to achieve that “perfect” Christmas so as early as now I’m already getting organized and hopefully by the first week of December everything’s almost done.

I don’t want to cram so I’ve started shopping for gifts and I’m halfway through with decorating our house. It’s a fact that Christmas is pricey but it doesn’t have to be. You should be creative, resourceful, and frugal (in a good way). I happen to have a budget when it comes to gifts, grocery shopping, and buying new decorations and I try very hard to stay within my budget range.

I know it’s quite hard to stick to your budget but everything seems so expensive nowadays so being practical is kind of a must to be able to save some money. We usually start putting up the Christmas tree and decorations all over the house as early as October. We don’t change our decors yearly. If it still looks nice and only needs a little dusting, we use it. Storing them properly so they look as good as when they were bought, is the key to preserving these decorations.

The same goes with our Christmas curtains, sofa pillow cases, and table cloths. Since they’re fresh from the storage room, and have been there for quite some time, they have that unpleasant smell. Plus, their color has slightly faded.

This isn’t a big problem since I can always use Downy. It helps keep the colors of my fabrics intact even after several washes. Using it won’t be too harsh on the fabric so the colors and the fabric itself is protected. Thanks to its new Color Lock Technology that helps prevent colors from fuzzing and fading. As for the smell, I like their new variant, Downy Parfum Collection Sweetheart. Not only does it smell really nice but it has that long lasting scent which especially suits old fabrics and decorations. It’s super affordable, too.

As for the gifts, they need not be expensive, just well thought of. It’s the thought that counts, as the adage says. Buy gifts that are practical. Those that they can actually use in their everyday lives.

Start going to bazaars and mall-wide sales. Also take advantage of online sales. Many shopping websites are currently having their yearly sale and some items can have up to 70% discount. Your money can really go a long way with amazing discounts like those.

Do you have a holiday budget? How do you save money during the Christmas season? Let me know in the comments section below.