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Between gifts, social engagements, entertaining and charitable giving, December has to be far and away the most expensive month of the year. To help manage the cost, I put together this guide to smart holiday season spending. It covers everything from buying gifts for children to best ways of using up your leftover turkey.
How not to over-spend: Lots of really solid tips here, with details on how to put them into force. Example: advice on how to save money on family gift-giving and dinner out with friends. Here are some more tips from a credit counselling agency, including a suggestion to use cash and not credit cards when doing your holiday season shopping.
How to spend meaningfully: A bunch of good suggestions for gifts that are about more than just buying more stuff. Here's another good idea: Give gifts of service – a car wash, cooking dinner and so forth (see No. 8 on this list).
Tips on toys: Child development experts are asked here for their advice on buying toys for young kids. One expert quotes a study making a case that having few toys means children play with each toy longer, allowing them to focus more and play more creatively. Here's a list of the Top Five toys of the year.
Don't overspend on Christmas dinner: Tips for keeping the cost down.
On the hook for dessert? How to cut costs on holiday baking.
Getting maximum value from that leftover turkey: 56 alternatives to turkey sandwiches.
Charitable giving: Here's a list of efficient, accountable charities.
Finally, the Interac people predict that Dec. 22 will be the busiest shopping day of the year. Procrastinators, take note.
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Today's featured financial tool
Here's a one-page gift giving planner to help you track what you're buying and the running total cost.
Ask Rob The question: "I am 69.5 years old and still working full time. My taxable income is about $100,000. Do you think I should still be contributing to my RRSP at this age? My retirement income will be about $80,000."
The answer: "How about contributing to your TFSA instead of your RRSP? Money withdrawn from a TFSA is non-taxable and won't figure into the calculation of whether any of your Old Age Security payments would be clawed back."
Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length.
Featured Video
What's the best strategy for covering your holiday season expenses?
What I've been writing about
- A frank discussion of your excuses for not giving to charity
- Canada has a strong foundation for financial happiness. So why is the mood so dark?
- The easy way to lower your investment fees (for Globe Unlimited subscribers)
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