There’s news of an impending recession — if we aren’t in a recession already — and Christmas is in a couple of weeks. 

So how do you “save” Christmas in a recession? Should you put Christmas on the shelf this year and live through it like an ordinary day? 

Of course, not! 

Cue Operation Save Christmas…

First things first, before you can figure out how to celebrate Christmas on a tight budget, you have to first draw up a budget. It’s the first thing you need to do to prepare financially for Christmas. A budget helps you know exactly how much money you can work with and what you need to spend money on. 

Now that you have your budget, here are 4 things you can do this Christmas on a tight budget.

1. Shop Online

Interestingly, shopping online is much cheaper than going to the store or shopping at a mall. Sometimes they have attractive discounts for your everyday items and other necessities. 

On some websites, you’re able to receive rewards in the form of cashback for the items you bought online. This cashback when piled up can go a long way to supplement what you have. 

2. Avoid giving expensive gifts. Give thoughtful gifts instead.

As much as you’d like your friends and family members to have expensive gifts, the recession isn’t the ideal time to be spending that kind of money. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to give great gifts to your loved ones. If you’re working on a tight budget, it’s wise to focus on giving small but thoughtful gifts. 

Think about a gift that your loved one will value because of the meaning behind it and not the financial value of the item. This could be a heartfelt letter where you write how much you appreciate the person in your life. It could also be a gift you made by hand or offering a kind gesture. 

Gifts from the heart are always priceless, not the amount of money spent on the gift.  

3. Have a budget-friendly holiday dinner

Don’t feel pressured to have a grant ostentatious Christmas dinner. Christmas is all about spending time with your loved ones and spreading joy and love with others. Keep the holiday dinner simple and within your budget and focus more on creating special and memorable moments with your family and close friends. 

4. Stay indoors

You know how they say that you spend less when you don’t go outside? This always rings true during the holiday season. Although I’m not recommending that you stay locked up at home all day, if you want to save up on money, you might want to consider regulating how often to go outside and the kind of activities you take part in. 

It’s okay to have a good time but make sure it’s within your budget and know when to stop especially when you’re getting near your spending threshold. Engage yourself more in indoor activities like reading a book, watching your favorite Christmas movie on TV, or playing board games with the family. 

5. Be resourceful

A wise man once said, "Necessity is the mother of invention”. If you’re working on a shoestring budget, you must be as resourceful as possible. What are the things you can let go of or do without this Christmas? Could you DIY decorations or gifts this year? 

Don’t see your tight budget as a disadvantage but more as a new challenge to make Christmas even better with less. 

How to Prevent This From Happening Next Year?

We’ve all had to deal with tight budgets during the Christmas period. The good news is that there are ways you can avoid experiencing this ordeal again. Here are 3 tips that can help:

1. Pay yourself first

The concept of paying yourself first involves paying yourself before paying your bills. That means before you spend the money you receive you’re setting aside money to save or invest and then live on the rest.

If you make this exercise a non-negotiable in your life, you’ll be building your wealth a lot faster. Most people spend their money on bills or frivolous purchases and then save what’s left over. More often than not, there’s little or none available to save. 

When you pay yourself first, you are setting aside money for savings and investments without leaving it to chance. 

An easy and unintrusive way to pay yourself is to set up a bitcoin savings plan on Bitnob. This savings plan automatically saves in bitcoin for you. Click here to learn how to set up your bitcoin savings plan. 

2. Start saving for next Christmas 

It’s never too early to start saving for next Christmas. You can start saving in USD or bitcoin on the Bitnob app. The simplest and less intrusive way to save consistently is to use the dollar cost average strategy. 

The dollar cost average strategy is an investment strategy where you invest a fixed dollar amount on a regular basis, regardless of the price of what you’re investing. 

Let’s say you wanted to build your Christmas stash with $10 every month. Through the dollar cost average strategy, you’ll be setting aside $10 every month which then stacks up to more money over time. This is an easy way to help you stay consistent with saving.

3. Be more conscious about how you spend your money

The road to financial independence depends on your spending habits. One of the ways to curb excessive spending is to be conscious about how you spend your money. 

You never know you have bad spending habits until you audit your spending. You can do this by taking note of everything you spend your money on and assessing each transaction. Another way is to study your account statements. You can now have access to a summary of all your transactions on the Bitnob app. The new accounts statement feature makes it easy for you to review all your USD and BTC transactions on Bitnob. 

Don’t allow the recession to stop you

The recession might be the current reality in the world, but don’t allow it to take the joy and fun away from Christmas. The list above clearly shows that there’s a way to keep on celebrating Christmas even if you have to do it on a tight budget. 

Even if this year’s Christmas is looking like a challenge to get through, next year doesn’t have to be like this That’s because you’re now better equipped on what to do to prevent the recession from taking the life out of Christmas. 

So let’s go ahead and make the most out of Christmas this year.