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Tips for Affording Gifts and Travel During the Holidays

It seems that the holiday season has approached us faster than we could blink. Stores have begun running their festive commercials, all of your favorite holiday coffee beverages are out and Christmas decorations are staring to go up. Althoughآ you may be excited, you may also be worried about how youق€™re going to afford your holiday travels and shopping expenses. Luckily, there are several tips and tricks you can use to not break the bank this holiday season. Check out these top tips for affording travel and gifts during the holidays.

Determine Your Budget Beforehand

Itق€™s important that youق€™re honest with how much money you can afford to spend this holiday season. Being creative and looking for good deals can allow you to stretch your spending money as far as possible. However, this only works if youق€™re realistic about the money you have to spend in the first place. To come up with your budget for the holidays, take a look at your entire budget and how much you usually spend for discretionary items such as clothes, restaurants and entertainment. See if you can lower these bills during the holidays to put more money towards your holiday expenses.

Utilize Price Comparison Sites for Traveling

Looking at price comparison websites to find cheap flights is your best bet when it comes to finding good deals on holiday packages, flights, travel insurance, car rentals and more. However, when using sites such as Skyscanner.com or Kayak.com, make sure that you keep in mind that they may distort the actual prices of these flights in order to offer the best headline prices.

Take Advantage of Lists

Running out to buy more holiday gifts at the last minute because you forgot to do so is the easiest way to go out of your holiday shopping budget. To avoid this, create lists beforehand so that you can stay on top of your budget. Write down each friend, family member and co-worker you need to buy a gift for along with the amount you want to spend on them. Additionally, write down all the events in which youق€™ll need to purchase drinks and food from your Christmas Eve dinner to New Yearق€™s Eve party.

Use Indirect Flights

You may want to avoid spending time in an airport as much as possible, especially when the thought of being at a beach instead is calling your name. However, if youق€™re trying to save money over the holidays, taking an indirect flight can save you a substantial amount of money. In fact, you can save hundreds of dollars doing this.

Be a Smart Shopper

There are tons of ways you can save money during the holidays and so itق€™s beneficial to take the time to get creative and bargain-hunt by using tricks such as booking your flights on non-peak days. For example, youق€™ll often find great deals if youق€™re willing to fly on Christmas day. You can also find some great deals by looking at websites like LivingSocial, Amazon Local and Groupon to find products and services at a discount.

Open a Holiday Savings Accountآ

You donق€™t want to end up spending your holiday money on other things before the season starts, so itق€™s recommended that you open up a savings account to use just for the holidays. Keeping money separate from other savings goals will aid you in monitoring how much money youق€™ve put away and will keep for such things as gifts, parties and holiday travel. You can even involve your kids in your budget plans to help teach them about money management during the holidays.