You can have a great Christmas on a budget. So often we get caught up in the material aspect of the holidays but fail to realize that it is possible to have just as much fun with a budget.
Yes, it can be hard when there are lot of events to attend, gifts to buy and you see others spending money but trust me, Christmas on a budget is possible.
Two years ago, we were going on month 5 of my husbands unemployment – and had just had a new baby. Our unemployment checks had stopped, we were on government assistance and food stamps and had no idea what we would do to give our children the Christmas we wanted.
But we knew it was possible.
We have lived on a budget since we got engaged – and were able to pay for our entire wedding in cash- and know that it’s possible. No matter how much you have (or don’t have), creating a budget can allow you to be in control of your money and make purchases that matter most to you.
Budgeting doesn’t have to be restrictive and mean that everything is no fun. Budgeting allows you to prioritize how you spend your money so, if you decide to want to splurge on a new Christmas tree, you just know that you might not buy any other decorations this year.
This post may contain affiliate links which cost you nothing extra to use but may provide me with a commission. To read my full disclosure head on over here.
Christmas Ideas on a Budget
Before you start searching for ways to scrimp and save this holiday season, it’s important you’ve taken the time to create a budget that works for you for the holidays. If you haven’t started saving yet, head over and print out my 12 week Christmas saving guide to get started!
I urge you to make your goal this holiday season to not use any credit cards. Maybe you aren’t ready to completely slash your Christmas budget but, by making the commitment to only using cash, you’ll start to get in the budgeting mindset and think differently about your purchases.
You can read more of my step by step tips that can help moms create a budget for Christmas in this post!
If you want a great printable for your Christmas Budget Planning, go and grab this freebie from Plantsonify!
My friend Joyce over at My Stay at Home Adventures also had an incredible and comprehensive guide for having a debt free Christmas! She is a budgeting guru and will walk you through, step by step, how to make a budget that work! Check it out here!
Christmas Gifts on a Budget
When it comes to slashing your Christmas budget, one of the biggest places you can save money is with your gift giving. We give our kids 4 gifts each (you can read about that here) and it has helped us prioritize where we plan to spend money for them instead of just buying gifts to have something to give them.
You can always start clearance shopping early (I shop all year round for the holidays), DIY gifts to make it easier and save money when you compare prices. I’ve listed a few great ideas below for Christmas gifts on a budget that you can use this year!
This Christmas doesn’t have to be one where you go broke or into the new year with more debt! Create a budget that works for you and save money on all the gifts you need to buy!
I know it’s not even Halloween yet, but in today’s episode, I share my best tips for saving money, finding money, earning extra money and planning for a debt-free holiday season. The time to get started with your planning is today!
Thank you to today’s sponsor: The Mamas Talk Money Summit
We can’t wait to see you at the summit this October! Free registration for the Mamas Talk Money Summit won’t officially open until October 7th, but that doesn’t mean you can’t join the tribe now!
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Whether you’ve done your back to school shopping or not – today’s episode will give you a ton of tips on how to save on back to school clothes! Today, I’ll share how to get the best deals, what your kids need for back to school and how to save the money money on kid’s clothes!
While you’re there, I’d love an appreciate if you’d leave a rating and review! These allow other purpose driven moms to find the show and help grow our community! Just click here to review, select ‘Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know your favorite part of the podcast! I’d love to feature you as our ‘Review of the Week’.
I am always looking for cheap summer activities for kids and there are so many ways to be a money saving mom! With summer right around the corner, I am SO excited to spend most of our days outside, getting in as much sunshine as my super fair skin can handle, and making memories with my family!
In the summer I find that we spend way more money than needed because of all the fun events and things we want to do. This year, I vow to stick on my budget! We are coming out of a season of financial hardship and for the past few months, haven’t really had any space in the budget for luxuries and events.
Due to that, I’ve had to get super creative in finding and creating fun that our whole family can enjoy. Once we get past the money roadblock, our second challenge is our kids’ age ranges. We currently have an 11 year old, 2.5 year old and 8 month old which can make activities a little tricky.
I sat down and said that no matter what we will have a fun summer, not break the bank, and find things that they all enjoy! I came up with a simple summer activity planning system that will keep the kids busy, you from going crazy, and your wallet happy!
This post may contain affiliate links which cost you nothing extra to use but may provide me with a commission. To read my full disclosure head on over here.
Use a time blocking template
Depending on your household, your kids may or may not have a schedule for the summer. Some families send their kids to camps, some prefer to keep their schedule more open and some take a lot of trips or homeschool events.
For us, none of our kids will be attending camp regularly (though my stepson has the occasional basketball drill on the calendar) so we’ve decided to keep a more open schedule. This helps a lot because currently, baby naps rule our life! I am a HUGE proponent of good sleep practices and try my best to make sure that the baby and the toddler get their sleep!
Their nap schedule also helps identify when we will be doing things and what days we have more free. There are days when we will want to do a fun day trip and naps will happen in the car but, for the most part (and my sanity) we’ll try to be home for nap. Since I also work from home, that nap time is crucial for working so I plan to keep it as much as I can.
Identify for yourself what your typical day will look like this summer. How structured is your time? Do you have to do a lot of driving to activities? Will kids have time at camp or be home all day? How many activities do you want to plan each week?
Once you have that time picked out, you can look at a typical day and see where you might want to add in an activity.
For us, we have about a 2 hour window right now in the morning where all of the kids are up and we’re ready to be out and about. That is when I will plan something fun or an errand. Otherwise, we keep the day open.
During this time the kids are encouraged to play with their toys, read and do other crafts, and play outside. We’re also fortunate because we have a pool so that keeps the 11 year old pretty happy! I’m hoping this year goes better with the toddler in the pool because last summer she hated it!
Determine your summer bucket list
If you’re looking for cheap activities for the summer, it helps to start with a list. Once you see your week at a glance, you’ll be able to see how many day trips, overnight trips, or just fun activities you can fit in.
I’m not huge on planning every little bit of the day out but I do like routine and I like a plan in advance. I’ll encourage the kids to just do their things most days but I will plan out a few fun things or playdates just so we can get out of the house and have fun together.
If you’re trying to stay on a budget, you won’t be able to always do every single thing on your and your kids’ lists. There may be a limit to how many trips you take and places you go. So many of the fun places out there cost a fortune and when you add parking and food you’ve spent almost $100 for a few hours, and in my mind that is not worth it!
Sit down with your family and come up with a list of things that they’d love to do this summer. Is there a place they really want to go? Can you determine one big weekend (or longer) trip you want to take? What do they want the day to look like?
This is much easier if you have older kids because my toddler really has not idea what we’re planning but, if you can invest the older kids in the summer plans they may be more excited to do things or less bummed out if you can’t visit all of the places that they heard their friends talking about.
There are actually a lot of fun summer activities you can do with your family that doesn’t cost a ton. You just have to do a little research, some planning, and be creative and you can all have an excellent summer.
I know sometimes we look at other moms and see their pictures and get envious because we’d love to take our kids to a lot of the same places but maybe it’s just not in the budget. We need to get rid of that mindset and realize that you can all have an amazing summer without always doing things that cost a lot.
You can go to Facebook to search local groups and community page and will be able to see a bunch of events going on. (By the way, are you a member of our community page on Facebook? Come join!) The other day in my area I randomly found a post about a free carnival for the kids. It wasn’t huge at all and we only stayed an hour but it was a free, fun activity and got us out of the house.
You can save these events as you see them on Facebook or, I like to write them directly into my planner so that I didn’t forget about them or have to look somewhere else to plan activities for the week.
Local colleges are also a great place to look for activities and events because they are always posting things that might be open to the public. The library is another great stop. Ours has movies outside for free, fun day time activities for the little kids, and it’s always a great place to just go spend a few hours.
You can also check out the newspaper to see community events or things happening in the area. I just saw an ad the other day that some Regal Cinemas offer $1 movies on Wednesdays and it’s the perfect time to try out taking the toddler to the movies!
Check out a place’s website before you go and see all of their policies. You might be able to bring in your own lunch, find a special place to park for cheaper, or a cool special free event one day.
We live super close to Sesame Place and last summer went a few times a week. I knew from their website that I could bring in all my own food so when we were there we never even went into the food places so the kids wouldn’t even know to ask and we’d just have our snacks that we brought in. Most places will let you do so and it never hurts to ask or check. It just takes a little extra planning to do it.
Look for discounts to save money on summer activities
I am a HUGE couponer so obviously before we go anywhere I scour the internet for coupons. (if you want to see how I save money with coupons, go snag this free webinar!) They often aren’t too hard to find if you just search google! You can also find discount codes on apps, in other Facebook groups and in some stores just sitting right on the counter! Our local library also has free tickets for local zoos and parks and all you have to do is call and pick them up!
If you know you might be going to a place a lot, like we did with Sesame Place, it may not hurt to get a season pass. Ours paid for itself in 3 trips and like I said we went 2x a week! You could also maybe get passes to split with another family or meet up at someone’s house before going and split the cost of parking.
Also make sure you check out local YMCAS for what activities you can get with a membership or kid’s gyms that have discounts for open play! And before you get tickets to anything, check out discount sites like Groupon to see what events they have going on!
Activities at Home for Kids
There are also a ton of activities that you can do right in your backyard without spending any money at all (or maybe a few bucks at the Dollar Store!) So on those days when you don’t want to leave the house, spend money at all, or have a ‘home summer camp’, just have the kids go outside or do something fun together!
Check out this list of activities that you could do that are free and cheap and super fun!
Bubbles
Family Walks & Bike Rides
Water Play
Hikes
Find Community Events
Geocaching
Make a Time Capsule
Take a park tour
Go local
Nature Walk
Find cheap museums
Baking Day (bring to a neighbor)
Game Nights
Make a summer scrapbook
Puzzle
Parks and Splash Pads
Farmer’s Markets
Find free classes (college campuses)
Utilize the library
Outdoor games
Busy Bags
Sensory Boxes
Pick a Summer Read Aloud
When you’re planning out your summer activities, don’t let the stress of spending money get in the way of making fun memories! Use this system and ideas to get the ball rolling and just enjoy the memories!
And don’t feel like you have to plan out every minute. I know we want our kids to have a fun time but there is something magical that happens when we let them get bored and use their imaginations!
Go and download a copy of this list (with more ideas) to put on your fridge for when you need an idea!
When it comes to date night it’s important to me to make sure we find cheap or free ideas to stay on our budget.
I’ve been married to my husband now for almost 5 years and we never really ‘dated’ each other. When we started dating, he was an Assistant Principal and I was a teacher and we had to keep our relationship semi-hidden since we didn’t want anyone to think that there was any favoritism.
That meant for us, date nights and getting to know each other better happened a lot at home and movie night and take out was our go to. Even after we shared our relationship, our lives were so busy that we didn’t often take the time to date each other as we should and I knew that when we got married, if we didn’t take the time to ‘date’, than romance would be out the door.
This year, with the addition of a 3rd kid to our family, we knew we would have to be super intentional about our time together. Add on top of it that my husband had been out of work for 7 months (starting again soon, yay!) so we’ve been together A LOT and it was hard to separate those romantic moments from our day to day.
So, we made a resolution to date each other more this year.
To do this we knew we had to set intentional measures (and we’re both data nerds) so we determined that we’d do AT LEAST one ‘home date’ a month and one out of the house date every other month. We knew this wasn’t 100% as much time together as we wanted, but it was a much more realistic goal for us. Plus, these goals are STILL a reach for us since honestly, the only ‘dating’ we did was if we got invited to a wedding a few times a year.
This post may contain affiliate links which cost you nothing extra to use but may provide me with a commission. To read my full disclosure head on over here.
Why You Need To Date Your Spouse
Your relationship matters
As life gets busier and busier for us moms a few things get pushed back in our lives; ourselves and our husbands.
It’s sad but true.
We take care of ourselves less and we often forget, in between the day to day conversations about cooking dinner, picking up diapers, or who is going to do bath time, that our husbands (and us!) deserve to feel special too.
Your relationship with our husband matters. Remember, that when your children are grown and gone, it will just be you two again. And when you are both in love and happy with each other (a byproduct of dating each other!) your home feels happier and that trickles down to your children.
Feel like YOU again
There are a lot of really great benefits on your relationships when you make the effort to date each other but let’s focus on the effects it has on YOU.
I often get stuck in the day to day drudgery. I can’t remember the last time I washed my hair, I’m constantly covered in spit-up, and by the end of the day, I am just over being touched by someone each day.
Even if you choose to do a ‘home date’, can I encourage you to get dressed and out of those yoga pants?
Now don’t get confused, I don’t think women have to wear makeup or dress a certain way to be happy or feel good about themselves but, let’s be real, changing your clothes and taking a few minutes on you does make you feel better. I make it a rule to get dressed first thing in the morning (even if I’m changing into my ‘nice yoga pants’) because it makes me feel better, more in control, and less frumpy.
On those occasions, you decide to get a sitter and go on a date outside of the house, take the time to put on something that makes you feel good, smile at yourself in the mirror and remember that person you were before all the stress and craziness.
That woman is still in there, smiling and waiting for you to remember her too!
Schedule it
Schedule It
Okay mamas, this HAS to go on the calendar or it’s not going to happen. Life happens, we get tired, and it’s so easy to say “let’s just do it another night”. By putting it on the calendar and committing to each other that there is NO negotiation on that date, you can ensure that your date happens.
Invest in a sitter or date in
We often do our date nights in because we’re in a season where we have little kids who go to bed early. We rarely are out after dark and we’re okay with it.
This means, our date nights in can be done super easily! Now that the baby (currently 5 months) is going to bed at the same time as our toddler, we can put them to bed and go downstairs for our date.
On the times we want to leave the house, we make sure to lock in a sitter (for us that’s my mother in law) so that we can leave the house. Having secured that someone is going to come over gives us even more accountability to actually making our date happen.
28 Ideas Free or Cheap Ideas
So what do you do on your date night; whether they are in the house or not?
If you’re like me, you don’t want to spend a ton of money (or maybe you’re in a season like us where we can’t spend a ton of money) on your dates and are tired of saying “you just want to pick something on Netflix?”, I’ve got some ideas to get you started!
I came up with my list of 28 date ideas that you can use to mix up your dates AND the best part is that they are FREE or CHEAP so they won’t break the bank. So often ‘not having money’ is just another excuse we use to not do the things we know is important and I hope this list helps give you some ideas!
You can print it out and use it as a checklist with your spouse! We alternate dates on who picks which idea, and our goal is to complete the list by the end of the year! So put it on your fridge as inspiration, and a reminder, to date your spouse!
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Valentine’s Day can be expensive but can be done on a budget. You can have date nights that are cheap, fun activities with your kids that don’t cost a lot of money and things you can bring to schools that keep you on your budget!
This is our first year with my 3 year old at school so I’m making sure whatever we contribute to class doesn’t have us going over the budget! I’m also keeping the same mindset when it comes to celebrating with my husband. We are working hard on our debt free journey so I’ve already started to think about gifts that I can DIY and places we can go that stay in our ‘date’ budget!
This post may contain affiliate links which cost you nothing extra to use but may provide me with a commission. To read my full disclosure head on over here.
To help you stay on your budget too, I put together a list of some great activities, gifts, and dates that will help you out!
Purpose Driven Mom Podcast Episode 23 Time Management Tips for Work at Home Moms Today's episode will give you tips and time management tips on how to schedule your day as a work at home mom. The tips in today's episode will help every mom start to see how they...
Woosh Beauty for Busy Moms Woosh Beauty is a new brand that is 100% owned and operated by women who like beauty but who LOVE spending time on what’s really important - family, friends, travel, pets, etc. So we created products that allow people to get more from their...
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