Friday, November 11, 2011

Holiday Decorating on a Budget

Are you one of many who love to celebrate the Holidays?  When polled, many say Christmas is one of their favorite holidays, if not their absolute favorite.  If you are one of those, then chances are you will want to decorate your home for the holidays.  However, decorating can get expensive, but if you want to decorate your home, there are ways you can do so on a budget. 

One of the best ways to save on decorating is to plan ahead.  Unfortunately, like many shoppers, you may have a habit of impulse buying.  This is when shoppers purchase an item as soon as they see it, and this is quite often an item you did not originally intend to purchase.  If you are shopping for Christmas decorations on a limited budget, it is strongly recommended not to given into impulse buying.  This is why it is extremely important to plan ahead.  If you are not sure what you would like to purchase, that’s okay, but you may want to focus on the parts of your home you want to decorate and which ones you do not.  This will also keep you from the habit of impulse buying.    

Once you decide which decorates you would like, you can start shopping.  Understand you are trying to stay within a budget.  Decorations are awesome, but you do not want to spend more money than you have to.  The less you spend on decorations, the more you have to spend on gifts and dinner with the trimming, again, within a budget.  This is why it is important to take into consideration what you want to purchase and where.    

When shopping on a budget, one of your first stops should be your local dollar store.  While many people assume dollar star items are lower in quality, this is not always the case.  In fact, around the Holidays, you could get some really nice decorations for a dollar or less.  Depending on the store, you should be able to obtain Holiday pictures, wall hangings for kids, Christmas tree decorations, Christmas lights, and even Christmas potholders for your kitchen.  Each of these items can be found at a dollar store for less than the big box stores.    

In addition to dollar stores, you may also want to check out your local discount stores.  Discount stores, in many cases, are a cross between a convenience store and a department store.   These stores tend to be somewhat small in size, but most dollar stores carry a wide variety of different products, including Christmas decorations.  While prices at discount stores will vary, you should be able to find beautiful decorations for less than ten dollars each.  Of course, there will always be items that cost more than ten dollars, but you may be surprised with the selection of low-cost Holiday decorations that can be found at your local discount store.

Although you may prefer brand new decorations, this may not always be possible.  If you are looking for less expensive but specialty decorations, you may want to try an online auction site, such as eBay.  By carefully researching items you wish to purchase, you could get quality decorations that may be slightly used but look relatively new. 

In addition, it is also important to keep when you shop in mind.  For the largest selection of Christmas decorations, you will want to shop early, but for the best prices, you may want to wait until it gets closer to Christmas.  In the days leading up to Christmas, some retail stores offer discounts on their Christmas supplies, including decorations.  In fact, right after Christmas many of these discounts reach up to seventy-five or ninety percent off.  Although shopping right after Christmas won’t help you this year, but it may be able to help you decorate your home, at an affordable price, next year.

A great guide that can help you with your Holiday decorating plans is Christmas Holiday Planner by Maria Gracia.