While holiday shopping can get you into the spirit of the season, it’s often accompanied by a nagging feeling that you’re overspending. Listening to that nagging little voice will be the best thing you can do! Busting the budget is a holiday tradition that you may pay for months into the new year. A holiday spending plan can help you feel comfortable and in control, but a common mistake is not considering the hidden expenses that come with the holidays. Here are tips for making sure your budget covers even those hidden costs:
* Make a complete gift list. Include the amount of money you plan to pay for each person on the list. Don’t forget co-workers, teachers, neighbors, household help and unexpected visitors, if you buy gifts for them.
* Add taxes, wrapping and shipping. Make a gift selection that’s priced 10% to 20% less that you budgeted to allow for taxes, wrapping, and shipping online orders. Budget for wrap, tape, and ribbon if you wrap your own gifts.
* Include stocking stuffers. A few well-stuffed stockings can easily add $100 or $200 to your holiday expenses. If you fill stockings, plan for that expense.
* Plan for shopping expenses. Holiday shopping involves extra gasoline, meals out, or snacks at the mall, and each trip includes temptations to make unplanned purchases.
* Allow for extra groceries. Holiday baking and snacking can swell the grocery list well past what’s budgeted for routine family meals. Entertaining can add hundreds of dollars to your budget.
* Include hostess gifts. If your holiday parties call for hostess gifts, or if you generally take a snack or covered dish to holiday gatherings, budget for these.
* Budget for home decor. Retailers tempt us with not only holiday decorations, but special linens, dishes, flatware, pillows, rugs and cookware for the holidays.
* Include clothes for the holidays. If you plan to wear something festive, or dress your toddler in shirts and socks trimmed with holly leaves or snowmen during all of December, budget for it.
* Budget travel expenses. Airline tickets, hotel rooms, lift tickets and ski-wear are some of the more costly items, but gasoline and meals on the road can mount up even for less extravagant families.
* Include post-holiday spending. If our holiday spending sprees actually ended on December 25, then the day after Christmas wouldn’t be the biggest shopping day of the year. Even those post-holiday bargains cost money, as do the movies and meals out that are often antidotes to post-holiday blues.

Article by Dena Wise, Ph.D., September, 2018