How to Survive the Holidays during a Recession

Here were are in October already and I know most people are already stressing about the upcoming holidays. I wish the great planner of the Calendar had properly spaced out the holidays so they didn’t hit our wallet at the same time of the year. I was reading an article on Associatedcontent.com about Surviving the Holidays in times like this and they had some great budget saving ideas to use for every holiday. Go to www.associatedcontent.com/article/2255235/surviving_the_holidays_during_the_recession to read the complete article.

Halloween is the first of the three and if you have kids, you know that buying costumes and even the candy to pass out, is not cheap. They suggest talking with friends, co-workers, and other parents to see if you can trade costumes from previous years. I read elsewhere that to take your child to a thrift store to create a costume, which is original and can be more fun. you can save more money by buying Halloween candy candy in bulk size rather than the smaller more expensive bags.

Not even a full month later and it’s time for Thanksgiving. If you’re lucky, you’ve been invited out of your home and you don’t have to bring anything but your smile, but if your not so lucky here are a couple money saving tips. Plan your meal early so you can buy items ahead of time and catch them when they’re on sale. Also, do a potluck style meal and designate a dish to each family attending. This takes a lot of pressure of the host as well as adds more flavor to the evening with all the different dishes.

Thanksgiving is barely over and already the Christmas decorations are coming out. The good thing about kids is that they love to make art projects and their love of art can save you some money this time of year. You can have the kids make ornaments for the tree, string popcorn for garland, and create other decorations with items from around the house. Start your Christmas shopping early and make lists so you can try to catch the items you are after on sale. Look at places online like amazon.com and ebay.com for good deals.

Regardless of your financial situation, try to enjoy the holidays by spending time with your family and friends, they are after all the greatest gift and they will understand if you can’t spend a lot this year. Joshua Loth Liebman says, “Treasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we shall have each other.”