Start Saving for the Holidays Now for Stress-Free Festive Spending

• Before you start saving for the holidays, you need to set a holiday budget. Make a list of everyone you want to shop for and how much you’ll spend on each person. 
• Once you figure out your total budget, use tools like Payactiv’s Goal-Based Savings and SmartSave to determine how much money you can set aside each week. 
• If you can’t afford to save enough to reach your goal, consider reducing your expenses by setting a gifting limit with your family or giving the gift of time. You could also take on a side gig to boost your savings.

Have you started saving for the holidays? If not, now is the time to start putting money aside to cover year-end spending. The sooner you start saving, the easier it will be to cover your holiday expenses!

Here are some tips to meet your savings goals for the upcoming gift-giving season.

Set a Holiday Budget

You’ll need to create a budget before setting your savings goal. Start by writing down everyone on your holiday shopping list. Then, you can establish a spending limit for each person or list the specific gifts, including prices, you’d like to buy.

One nice thing about listing specific gifts is that you can watch for sales on those items. This can help you potentially come in under budget!

After you have your list ready, add up the total for everyone and ask yourself if the number is realistic. For example, you might want to scale back if you plan on spending $2,000 on holiday gifting but only have a few months to save.

Calculate How Much You Need to Save Each Week

Let’s say your holiday budget is $800, and it’s currently September. While many major holidays happen at the end of the year, you might want to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, which are about 13 weeks away. Eight hundred dollars divided by 13 weeks is about $62 weekly.

If you have a different budget and want to avoid doing the math yourself, you can set your holiday budget as a savings goal using Payactiv’s Goal-Based Savings tool¹. Then, the Payactiv app² will do the math for you.

Make sure to ask yourself if this number is realistic. When your budget is tight, saving $62 per week might not be achievable. Payactiv’s SmartSave³ feature can help you with this. It will tell you if saving that much weekly will keep you from paying your bills.

If your savings goal is realistic, set up a weekly automatic transfer. Automating your savings makes it more likely that the money will get set aside.

What to Do if You Can’t Save Enough Before the Holidays

Is your weekly savings budget too high to be affordable? It might be wise to go back to the drawing board and implement some holiday savings strategies so you don’t fall short or rack up high-interest credit card debt to make it through the holidays. 

Here are some better alternatives: 

• Start a no-spend challenge: Can you go a few days or a week without spending money on indulgences? If so, put all the money you want to spend on things like coffee or concert tickets into savings instead.
• Set a gifting limit with your family: If you have a big family, discuss limiting the number of gifts or the dollar amount spent on each family member before the season rolls around.
• Pick up a side hustle: When you’d prefer not to scale back, try to increase your income. Picking up a seasonal side hustle at a retailer or driving a few rideshare shifts could help you make up for some of your budgeting shortages.
• Give the gift of time: Consider gifting your time instead of giving a physical item. This could include quality time with your friends and family or offering to do chores around the house, like cleaning or yard work. 

Final Word

The sooner you start saving for the holiday gift-giving season, the easier it will be since time is your best ally. Your second-best allies are savings tools like Goal-Based Savings, SmartSave, and automated transfers.

¹Goal-based saving is a set-aside account, and you will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds within the goal-based account.

²Standard data rates from your wireless service provider may apply.

*The Payactiv Visa Prepaid Card is issued by Central Bank of Kansas City, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Certain fees, terms, and conditions are associated with the approval, maintenance, and use of the Card. You should consult your Cardholder Agreement and the Fee Schedule at payactiv.com/card411. If you have questions regarding the Card or such fees, terms, and conditions, you can contact us toll free at 1-877-747-5862, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

All content provided on Payactiv.com/financial-learning/ is for informational purposes only. Payactiv makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link from this site. Payactiv will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. Payactiv will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

¹Standard data rates from your wireless service provider may apply.

²Goal-based saving is a set-aside account, and you will not receive interest or other earnings on the funds within the goal-based account.

*The Payactiv Visa Prepaid Card is issued by Central Bank of Kansas City, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Certain fees, terms, and conditions are associated with the approval, maintenance, and use of the Card. You should consult your Cardholder Agreement and the Fee Schedule at payactiv.com/card411. If you have questions regarding the Card or such fees, terms, and conditions, you can contact us toll free at 1-877-747-5862, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

All content provided on Payactiv.com/financial-learning/ is for informational purposes only. Payactiv makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link from this site. Payactiv will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. Payactiv will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.All content provided on Payactiv.com/financial-learning/ is for informational purposes only. Payactiv makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link from this site. Payactiv will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. Payactiv will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.