Keeping a lid on expenses this festive season

Get an early sense of how much you need to spend for all of your gift-giving, hospitality and travel, and document it clearly. Then, look at your upcoming cash flow to ensure you can actually afford that spend without having to rely on credit cards or loans. If you’re over budget, make some tough but necessary sacrifices.

If you don’t know where to start with a budget, try this Moneysmart tool https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/budget-planner as it’s one of the better ones we see.

Then commit to not spending a cent more. It’s tempting, especially at this time of year, to splurge and have fun, but it might not be worth it once the decorations come down.

If this isn’t your first festive rodeo, chances are you have a bit of experience with plastic regret. It’s that sensation when your first credit card statement after Christmas and New Year arrives and you relive all those hasty purchases in one painful go.

Don’t forget that feeling. Keep it in mind when you’re shopping or planning your festivities. It’ll be fun now, but perhaps not quite-so-fun come January or February. 

The same goes for buy now, pay later arrangements. They seem like simple and harmless methods of spreading shopping costs over a longer period to make purchases more manageable. But here’s a secret – banks loathe them. If you’re planning on refinancing or getting a new home loan anytime soon, avoid buy now, pay later schemes like the plague.

Keep an eye out for bargains and special deals to reduce your expenditure even further. Scour discount travel websites and consider shopping for groceries in bulk.

When it comes to gifts, talk with your grown-up relatives about a Secret Santa arrangement, so you’re buying one good gift instead of several. 

Save money on costly but overall pointless elements like wrapping and cards by making your own. If you have small kids, then this can be a fun way to save. Get some cheap butcher’s paper and have them paint all over it to their heart’s content, then use this to wrap your gifts. The same goes for cards. Alternatively, you could use pretty but cheap fabric as gift bags. And check your junk drawer. If your house is like mine, it’s probably full of gift bags you’ve received over the past year. Reuse and recycle.

If you’re hosting lunch or dinner, consider asking everyone to bring a plate to chip in. It’s been a costly year for everyone, so there’s unlikely to be any judgement. Your sister brings desert, your aunty Kath makes a salad, Roger from next door gets soft drinks for the kids, and so on.

And if you’re shopping online, don’t buy an item from the first place you see. Take the product name or model number and put it into Google’s ‘Shopping’ tab. You’ll get an instant comparison of prices from multiple retailers, meaning you can make easy and simple savings.

Are you talented at something? Why not tap into your innate creative skills to create unique, one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones. It might be a painting, ceramics or something knitted. If you’re not crafty but you’re good with your hands, maybe you could give vouchers for maintenance, repairs, gardening, car washes or other odd jobs.

Maybe your loved ones would appreciate other alternative gifts that don’t have to cost the world but have meaning. This might take the form of a donation to a worthy cause in their name, the details of which you can put in a card. It might be a nice plant with a bow wrapped around it. 

For the reader in your life, scour second-hand bookshops or weekend markets for special titles they’ll love. For the young and trendy person, hit up an op shop for some authentic retro fits they won’t see replicated in their TikTok feed. For the homebody, maybe there’s something special in an antique shop or at a flea market that will take pride of place without burning your wallet.

Think outside the square and you could save a bit of cash. Remember – every little bit helps, and the grand total is often well worth the effort.

Get ahead of Christmas 2025 by starting a small but consistent savings plan, putting away a little each pay period so that by the time the silly season rolls around, you’re completely covered.

Another trick that I’ve seen used to great success is the dollar-for-dollar strategy. Commit early that for every buck you spend on the festive season, you’ll save that dollar elsewhere in your household spending. That way, you come out totally even when it’s all said and done.

I’ve even heard the two-for-one strategy, where those who are especially good at budgeting and being frugal clear their spending via cost reductions elsewhere, and then put that same amount away in an account.

When sales come around throughout the year, take the opportunity to shop for Christmas gifts and store them away until December. You’ll save money, avoid panic-buying, and free up time by not having to hit the shops in a frenzy in the weeks before the main event.

Christmas is a wonderful chance to spend memorable moments with family and friends, but don’t let the cost of celebration deliver a financial hangover that could sink you plans in the new year.