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This year I’m dreaming of a white Christmas that doesn’t have me going into the red. I’m on Year 2 of my mission to pay for Christmas without going into any debt. In years past, I thought nothing of charging the entire holiday’s worth of gifts and paying it back well into summer. Well, those habits are still haunting me today and we’re working hard to pay off that debt. I don’t want to fall back into the pit of owing money that we don’t have. So this year, I’m challenging myself to keep Christmas outside of our budget as much as possible. I also want to have all of my gifts purchased before Thanksgiving so I can just enjoy the holidays. Can I do it?

My first goal is to earn as many gift cards as I can from various sources. I’ll take any gift cards that I earn and start putting them in envelopes. Each card will be notated with its recipient. For example, during the month of August Kmart pharmacy is giving $25 gift cards for transferred prescriptions. I switched 4 of our prescriptions over, earning us enough to get gift cards for my husbands 4 nieces/nephew.

Each week I save about $25 in coupons at the grocery store. Normally I just smile at the savings and move on. Instead, I’ll purchase a $25 gift card. That way I’ll enjoy a tangible way to see the savings, plus work toward the goal of having Christmas taken care of before Thanksgiving. Those gift cards will be placed in the gift card envelope.

I’ll continue to use cashback sites and survey sites to earn points. Those points will be converted to gift cards whenever possible.  Some of the sites have great offers available for redemption.  For example, RecycleBank has All You magazine digital subscriptions for 400 points.  That magazine subscription is at least $19 if purchased outright.  What a great deal!!  Many of my friends would LOVE to receive that for Christmas.  I can easily earn 400 or more points in one sitting.   They also have coupons and gift cards available for redemption, so you can save no matter what you choose to use your points for.

I’m a new Plink user and really need to figure out how it all works. For example, this week there’s a deal at Chili’s that could earn me a $10 gift card. We tend to eat out on the weekends. Instead of just throwing that money down the drain, we could choose Chili’s and earn that gift card, making the meal even more delicious due to the savings. Do you use Plink?

One of the biggest budget busters that I’m guilty of is buying my kids junk that just gets tossed. Although they might play with a toy for an hour or two, it really doesn’t last long before the pieces get lost or the toy is forgotten. I’ve tried rotating the toys out; my kids just don’t care about toys all that much. They much prefer imagination games and electronics. This year, I’ll spend less on toys and more on family activities. I plan to purchase local Groupons for activities and day trips. We’ll enjoy those together without having a lot more clutter in the house.

What’s your strategy for the holidays? Do you start early, or do you like to wait until the holidays to get into the spirit?