Money Crashers: Two holiday articles

As longtime readers will know, I normally dislike all references to Christmas and other winter holidays before Thanksgiving is over. I've boycotted stores during the holiday season because they started their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day; I even do my best to steer clear of stores that display premature holiday decorations before Thanksgiving. Of course, I have to work on holiday-related articles before Thanksgiving, since they have to be started that early if my clients want to get them online before the holidays have actually come and gone. But I still prefer not to promote the published articles until the end of November at the earliest.

However, for these two recently published pieces on Money Crashers, I'll make an exception. Because they both tackle the subject of cutting your holiday spending — and if you want to do that, you need to start planning before the holiday season is officially under way.

For instance, the first piece deals with the topic of making a holiday budget. Now, obviously, a holiday budget does you no good unless you make it before you actually begin any of your holiday shopping and spending. So it makes sense to start working on it now, iron out all the details, and have it all ready to go when Thanksgiving is over and the frenzy of holiday shopping begins. This piece explains how to create one, and offers a few tips on how to keep your spending within it once you actually get started.

How to Create a Holiday Budget & Stick to It – Strategize Your Spending

The second piece tackles the topic of holiday spending in more detail. It helps you strategize for saving on all aspects of the holiday, including gifts, decorating, travel, and entertaining. (Admittedly, those last two will probably look a bit different this year; we'll have to do them extra carefully if we plan to do them at all. But that's all the more reason to start planning ahead early.)

20 Ways to Save Money During the Holiday Season – Tips & Ideas

There are several more holiday articles in the pipeline at the moment, including a new one on ways to celebrate safely during a pandemic. I'll let you know about that one as soon as it pops up, too, so you'll have plenty of time to start planning. And there's one upcoming piece that's Thanksgiving-related, so I'll make sure to notify you about that one even more promptly.