With today’s International Migrants Day and as holiday season approaches, the delicious food and joyous celebrations become a marker of well-deserved rewards for many migrants after another year of working hard. However, this season can also foster stress amongst many—both financially and emotionally—as we try to balance giving the best we can provide without breaking the bank. Through careful planning and mindfulness, the holiday season can be made easier and lighter in your pocket. We share a series of holiday hacks for migrants to make it easier to share their hard-earned money.
Holiday Hack: Shop early
Accumulating gifts as they go on sale throughout the year, or even shopping during the first week of Christmas instead of during Christmas week can allow for more time to compare prices. Last minute shopping leads to limited time to shop around and compare prices. This could lead to you missing out on potential savings.
Holiday Hack: Track your spending and ideas
Though this may not necessarily help out for this year, tracking how much you spent on gifts and who you gave them to can be used as a guide for your budget next year. From this, you can set an expected amount (either less or more than what you spent this year) that you can save up for from each pay-check next year in a ‘sinking fund’.
Another good hack to save the stress of thinking of what to get next time is to ‘track’ gift ideas. Keep a ‘sticky note’ in your smartphone wherein you write anything that a friend or family might say they like or want from your conversations throughout the year. You can refer to this handy list for ideas for the holidays or other occasions.