There will be a lot less stress this holiday season after using the 12 Week Christmas Money Savings Challenge Printables. This challenge sets you and your family up for success by creating a savings plan for the quickly approaching holiday season.
The best part of this challenge is we have made three different savings levels to best meet your savings goals.
✔️ Purpose
Here are the most common questions I ask myself throughout November and December?
- Why didn’t I put money away a little earlier?
- Why do the holidays have to cost so much?
- Where can I find more money to buy what I want for my family?
All of those things go crazy in my head and it just creates so much doubt and stress that it can quickly put a shadow over the holidays. These printables will help you take control, get ahead of the finances and allow you to enjoy this magical time of the year.
Remember the key here is CHALLENGE! Saving $300, $600 or $1000 over the course of three months is going to stretch you a bit, and that is the point! It still should be doable for you. This challenge creates a goal for your family to meet the holiday season without adding more debt this year. Goals are meant to be a stretch, yet attainable with effort.
Let’s get started saving!
💸 Savings Steps
This is super easy for you to follow.
Step One: Start out by choosing which level of challenge you are going to do. Download and print off the worksheet. I like to keep it in full view all the time as a reminder every day to what we are focusing on. I have a picture holder by my purse I keep my challenges on but you can use the refrigerator or your organizational station in your home. Whatever works for you!
Step Two: The next step is to get an envelope to collect the cash that you are saving and staple or clip it to your challenge sheet.
Step Three: The final step is to start the challenge this week! Start the week by taking the savings out FIRST and putting it into your envelope. If you are a cashless person, head to the ATM to get cash to put in the envelope.
Now watch your money start adding up!
- Save and print off the challenge.
- Place an envelope to hold money with the challenge sheet.
- Start saving!
💰 Where to Find Extra Cash
We talk a lot about saving money here at Savor and Savvy to try to help you “walk the talk.” If you feel like you don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered with ideas to fund your Christmas Challenge.
Coffee Choices
Stop buying coffee house drinks. Each drink is almost $5 now (gulp!) so if you do that for 12 weeks, you already have $60! That is simply by stopping ONE DRINK A WEEK. If you are drinking more than that, you can fund a $300 Christmas Challenge with NO EFFORT at all.
Eating Out
Are you eating out every Friday night? If so, stop right now and decide what is the new “go-to” Friday night meal and make sure it is easy, fast, and something you really look forward to. Then, pocket that money for your Christmas Challenge. Is that $20 for pizza? I know most of us are spending more than that, so put the amount that you are spending and multiply that by 12 weeks. The pizza example is $20 x 12 weeks is $240! Boom!
BY MAKING THE ABOVE TWO CHANGES, YOU HAVE SAVED $300 ALREADY!!!
Eliminate Drive-Through Sodas
Stop running through the drive-thru, even for drinks. Drinks alone right now are $2 and up! You might not think it adds up, but if we do that once a week it is $24 you just found to add to your Christmas Challenge. Take the $2 and put it in your envelope.
30 Day No Spend Challenge
If you want to have a wild and amazing holiday and just can’t see where to find extra cash, do a 30 Day No Spend Challenge. This is hardcore, and you’ll need the support of your whole family, but it can be fun! This alone might fund your entire holiday budget if you are willing to stretch yourself for 30 days!
Plan Meals
Plan your meals and eat what you planned and purchased. I can’t give a number, but it is huge if you have ever admitted to yourself how many times you eat out or on the fly because you didn’t plan. You buy random things because you didn’t plan. We have several meal plan printables on the site for free. Download and start working a plan on Sundays so you don’t find yourself in a crunch throughout the week. Check out the freebies here, here and here.
Monitor Your Daily Spending
Dial-in your daily spending habits. We have a free Daily Spending Log that works for those willing to bite the bullet and use it. I guarantee 99% of you will find you some extra cash by writing down what you spend. Be very prepared that this one is scary and very truthful of where you are spending your money.
Reduce Your Grocery Bills
Another radical approach is to use the $27/week Grocery Challenge. You are simply challenging yourself to eat very frugally for a week to save money. That can save you upwards of $25-75 for one week to add to your envelope.
Frugal Meal Planning
Start eating frugally! We have 10 weeks of Frugal Meal Plans ready for you to take the leap to eat a little bit less expensively. Again, depending on how much you spend on your weekly grocery budget, you can save $25-100 a week here.
Meatless Meals
Eat meatless at least one day a week. Cutting out meat for your family just one dinner a week could save $5-10. Add that to your envelope. Here is a 5 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan ready for you to use. Use it for 5 weeks and you save another $25-50.
Frugal Weekend Activities
Find Fun and Frugal Things to do on a Weekend. Skip the expensive outings and opt for some low-cost/no-cost fun. It all depends on what you normally do each week that you will cut out. Our family started saving $50-100 once we honestly added up all the things we spent over a weekend in just a few hours.
Cut Subscriptions
Cut subscriptions to anything extra you might be using. This can be music, movies, apps, newspapers, magazines – anything at all that charges you monthly. Check to see what you can cut out for 90 days. Whatever that subscription price is, multiply it by three months and add that to the envelope!
Get Rid of Stuff You Don’t Use
Sell unused items on Craigslist or on neighborhood sites. Go through your kids’ toys and sell the ones they have outgrown and add that to your envelope. Do you have tools, bikes, craft supplies – anything at all that you don’t use that you can sell in a jiffy to bring in money for your Challenge? We all have something so look around and start listing the items. I do this in spurts and love seeing the cash come in and never miss the items I sell.
Swap Services
Find a friend to swap babysitting so you can save the money you were spending on a babysitter. This can save $15-50 each time you go out depending on the amount of time and where you live. Add that money to your envelope.
Pack a Lunch
If you are going into the office, make sure you are packing a lunch. I am a huge advocate of this! When I miss making my husband’s lunch, I see the $12 he spent in the restaurant hit my credit card and I am crushed! Just once a week for 12 weeks will be $144 to the envelope. He works in a metropolitan area, but even if he stopped once a week at McDonald’s and got a meal, it would be $6 each week for one day and over 12 weeks that is $72!
All of the small baby things you can do to change the behavior for just 12 weeks can result in huge savings towards your Christmas Challenge. Pick one or pick all of them but Challenge Up, my friends! Let’s do this!
🖨️ Snag the Free Printable
Print off the pages you want to use. This is for personal use only.
Enjoy and drop a note with how these worked for you!
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