154: Holiday Magic on a Budget: How to Celebrate Without the January Debt Hangover

Holiday Debt And The January Hangover

Jessica 0:00

Every year, millions of people go into debt during the holidays, driven by guilt, tradition, and social pressure. That holiday magic often comes with a financial hangover in January. In today's episode, we're flipping that script. We'll explore smarter, more intentional ways to celebrate the holidays without draining your bank account. From alternative gift ideas to low-cost traditions, you'll walk away with fresh ways to enjoy the season and protect your finances. Let's get into it.

Why December Spending Spikes

Brandon 0:40

Hey babe, what are we talking about today?

Jessica 0:43

We are talking about holiday magic on a budget. Because life is expensive. And let's be honest, we don't need more things.

Brandon 0:53

Yeah. Um the holiday season is the most expensive time of the year for most people. And you know, uh I always think it's interesting when I go back and when I'm working with clients and we're using Monarch money to take a look at their spending over the past year, December always has the most expenses. November, December have the most expenses.

Jessica 1:13

Yeah, because you got Thanksgiving, you got Thanksgiving travel, people are driving, people are flying to see the family, and then you go straight into planning for December. And if you're not one of those people that's shopping throughout the year, finding things on sale, shopping after the big holiday season, you know, and then just starting to store stuff in your closet for the following year. I mean, people are spending thousands of dollars. And unfortunately, the majority, especially of Americans, are going into debt during the holiday season.

Brandon 1:45

And the hard part is, especially with this year, like inflation is just going through the roof. So a lot of things, a lot of things that we need to begin with have increased in price. But then also some of the things that we want to purchase during the holidays for gifts and stuff like that, they've increased as well.

Jessica 2:02

And I mean, do we need to talk about the tariffs? Because most children's toys are not made here. Let's be very clear. So that is the truth. Yeah. Um, I'm very, very worried. So I know at the uh beginning of this year, we talked about the best time to save for Christmas and the holidays is at the start of the year, right? Like look at what you spent last year and then start making a plan to put money aside into your higher-year-old savings account every January, every February, March, right? Like you're building up that that savings account so that in December, you're not looking up and you're saying, oh my gosh, I did not

Inflation Pressure And Saving Early

Jessica 2:45

save any money and now I'm about to spend a whole bunch.

Brandon 2:47

Yeah. And the hard part is really kind of assessing why we spend so much during the holidays. And I would say more specifically here in the US, because from my, you know, slight experience, we definitely spend more when it comes to holidays than I would say a lot of other countries.

Jessica 3:02

I mean, we are a consumer country. We are, you know, I mean, we have I mean, it's not even just Black Friday anymore. Now it's Gray Friday, Grey Do Monday. Cyber Cyber Monday, Gray Thursday, Black Friday, Cyber Monday. I mean, you've got all the days, and it's just like spend, spend, spend. Listen, one of the best things that I did, and I did this almost a year ago now, is I unsubscribed from all the emails, from all the text messages. I only resubscribe if it's like 10% off your first purchase or 15% off your first purchase. Like, I don't want that stuff coming at me 20 times a day. I don't need the sale. I don't need your stuff. Get it out of my face. Like, I'm so glad that I did that.

Brandon 3:48

Yeah, there is definitely a strong like emotional and even social pressure within the US to spend this amount of money. You know, everything that you see around the holidays really is focused on spending more money. Yeah. And social media doesn't help with that either because you're seeing, you know, people on social media do this, do that, they're doing this with their kids, they're doing that.

Jessica 4:09

The decorations alone, the way people are decorating their houses costs thousands of dollars. I mean, we have Do we need six Christmas trees? What's happening?

Brandon 4:19

We've also definitely, you know, talked to neighbors of ours in the past who put up holiday lights and how much it costs one just to put the holiday lights up themselves. And then also obviously the additional increase that's going to have to your um electricity bill throughout the course of the season.

Jessica 4:34

Yeah. Well, and now people are actually opting to do the permanent lights. You know, they're like, oh, because I mean one of our neighbors up the street, he spent $4,500, but now he has the lights up all throughout the year. So he changes it to pink and red during, you know, Valentine's Day. He did green for I think he's retired too. So he's enjoying his retirement life. He's loving his retirement. Yes.

Brandon 4:54

Yeah, I'm I'm not doing all that. Yeah. Well $3,500, nah.

Jessica 4:58

He's living his best life. And he's like, now I don't have to do it anymore. And it was done correctly. I didn't have to get up on this roof. You know, it was an investment for him. But all I'm saying is everybody that is scrolling social media is getting inundated with your house has to look like this. It's gotta, you know, your tree has to be fill your uh filled to the brim, you know, with presence underneath the tree.

Brandon 5:22

I mean, even just the idea of getting a new tree every year, because I think I don't think we're actually going to get a tree this year.

Jessica 5:28

I don't think we are.

Brandon 5:29

Because um, one, we're planning on traveling again, but then also just, you know, we're the type of family where we get a real tree each year, and that price is just significantly increasing each year.

Jessica 5:39

When we first started, I think our first tree was like 60, 70 bucks, and we usually get like a like a six-footer.

Brandon 5:45

No, we no seven, all of our trees are taller than me.

Jessica 5:48

Okay, so seven, seven footer. Seven to eight feet. Seven to eight feet. Y'all, what did we spend on our Christmas tree last year? Like 120, 130 dollars. And I was like, oh my gosh. So yeah, I don't know that we're gonna do a tree this year. Um I mean, we have a fake tree that we put in the playroom, so we might just put that up as a regular tree. We're we're gonna see. We're gonna see because I mean I don't know. We'll miss we might miss that tradition.

Brandon 6:15

I grew up, we were a fake tree family because we were never home during Christmas.

Jessica 6:19

Listen, we were a real tree family, and all of my home videos, we had real candles on the tree, y'all. Talk about Christmas in Germany. We like to live on the edge. We like to live on the edge.

Brandon 6:31

But it is a tradition of ours that I did like where we go and pick out the tree, but then like we can also modify that tradition. So, like, yeah, it's also kind of like, you know, especially for this year

Ditching Stuff For Experiences

Brandon 6:41

with so much increase in cost and how much is expensive, how expensive it is just to live. Like, it is really needing to kind of to start to normalize opting out of doing so much and spending so much money during the holidays or doing it in a different manner.

Jessica 6:55

Well, and the average American family spends over a thousand dollars during the holidays. And you know what? I don't even know if that includes food because I don't think it does. If you if you're hosting and you are making food, the charcuterie board and the hors d'oeuvres alone, let alone if you're adding in alcohol, listen, you're halfway there. That doesn't even include decorations and gifts and and and right now you and also people are doing gifts for neighbors, gifts for friends, gifts for teachers. I mean, it adds up fast. And not saying that our new tradition is any less expensive, but we're trying to instill in our children that it's about spending time together and making meaningful memories.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Yes.

Jessica 7:38

And so we've been traveling. So our new tradition is that we leave for the holidays.

Brandon 7:43

Um concept of switching to alternate gift ideas.

Jessica 7:47

Right. Which again, I'm not saying that it's any less ex uh expensive, but to us it's much more meaningful because listen, we've had the Christmases where the kids are surrounded by toys, and within an hour, what do they say? I'm bored. Y'all, when I talk about my blood boiling, what do you mean? Uh I'm sorry, you're bored?

Brandon 8:15

Yeah, the number of times that I have definitely threatened to take toys and throw them away, and also actually was in the process of doing it and stopped by this person sitting next to me.

Jessica 8:26

Listen, he was on one and I was like, you are not about to throw that Barbie dream house away that was $100 that Uncle T got for that. No, absolutely not. So I just was like, you know what, we're not doing this anymore. We're not. We're not. You're gonna get a couple of staples, you know, you might need some new shoes, et cetera. And you're gonna get some stocking stuffers.

Brandon 8:44

Yeah, we're trying to like switch from that focus on actual physical gifts to more of experiences. Yeah. Um, I can tell you that like I hardly remember any gifts that I got during, you know, whether it's Christmas, birthdays, or whatever as a kid growing up. But I could tell you the one thing that I do remember and constantly goes back to me is those experiences and the trips that we used to take.

Jessica 9:07

Yes. So trips are definitely they're in their own bucket and we definitely want to recognize that it is a privilege to travel. But there are also things that are really meaningful that I think we should try to go back to, right? Oh, yeah. That are more than unwrapping plastic underneath the tree. Um, and of course, there's there's something magical about that. But like Brandon said, our kids are not going to remember anything that they got, but they will remember the trips. They talk about Panama and the animals they saw and the people they met. They talk about when we went on the Disney cruise and how meaningful that was. And again, these are not inexpensive trips, and I do want to recognize that. But most of the time, they talk about those things that they remember. Yeah. I mean, they love our elf on the shelf. Like they, yes, it's one more thing on my overflowing plate.

Brandon 10:03

Because I 100% said I do not want to do it.

Jessica 10:05

Brandon was like, if we do elf on the shelf, I'm not participating. Don't ask me to set a timer or an alarm. He's like, I'm not doing it. Well, but uh who who loves elf on the shelf?

Brandon 10:16

The kids.

Jessica 10:17

They love it. They love it. Aston is already like, when is uh Percy. Percy. When is Percy coming? So, anyway, like those are the things that make the holidays magical, in our opinion. And so we wanted to offer some alternatives of things that you can do, especially in this economy, that will be meaningful and will be very memorable for your children and your family, but don't have to cost an arm

Cut Adult Gift Swaps With Simple Rules

Jessica 10:44

and a leg.

Brandon 10:44

And like in all honesty, especially for those people who come from larger families, I do not see any reason that as an adult, you should be buying every single adult in your life a gift.

Jessica 10:56

That's insane.

Brandon 10:57

That's ridiculous. That's insane. Because the reality is that, like, for most people, like you it's it's just gonna be too expensive to be honest with you. And then also, too, it's a lot of thought process as far as like what does this person want?

Jessica 11:10

You're basically trading money. Let's be serious. Like, I get you a $50 gift, you get me a $50 gift. Is it something that I wanted? Probably not. I'm gonna just buy my own gift, right? Or it just doesn't make sense.

Brandon 11:21

And the difference is like, if you're a family that enjoys certain aspects of that, do the secret Santa.

Jessica 11:25

Yeah, or a white elephant.

Brandon 11:26

Yeah, where you're buying a gift for one person and vice versa, and everything like that.

Jessica 11:31

Yeah.

Brandon 11:31

There's no need to buy like you've you've if you've come from a family of like eight, there's no reason to buy, you know, seven other people gifts every single year.

Jessica 11:39

And most people, especially I would say our audience, we have enough, if not more than enough. Yeah. Right. And so it's not like somebody needs that thing that you bought them, right? If they needed something, go buy them the laundry detergent, go, you know, fill up their pantry for the holidays. Like they didn't need that Bath and Body Works gift set. Let's be honest, you know? So I think, you know, having the conversation, we're all about normalizing the conversation when it comes to money, having the conversation with your family, or even, you know, if you don't want to be quote unquote confrontational, sending out a nice email to your family that says, hey, this year, this is what we are going to be focusing on, or even encouraging family that you know likes to go above and beyond and saying, please only give gifts to the children. Like, do not do this for the adults.

Brandon 12:30

Yeah.

Jessica 12:31

Better yet, you can contribute to their retirement accounts.

Brandon 12:34

Like, yeah, we've started doing that as far as, you know, we don't like say, like, I personally we weren't a big gift family, so that's perfectly fine with me. But I'm like, give the kids stuff. Like, I don't need any.

Jessica 12:45

And even then, I'm like, we have four sets of grandparents. Please don't. Please literally, please don't. And even for birthdays, we do put a cap on things. We're like, you know, please contribute to, you know, the the soccer, the sewing lessons, the swimming lessons.

Brandon 13:00

Once again, experiences.

Jessica 13:02

Yes, the membership to the zoo or to the you know, museums. Like, please no more stuff. Yeah. Please no more stuff. Yeah.

Brandon 13:10

Also, in one of the things that I remember from a previous year that um a gift that um just and I exchanged is what are some of the things that like are gonna like just and I obviously we're big on learning and improving our skill set and learning new things. And uh one year I gave her a uh gift of um master class masterclass.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah.

Brandon 13:29

Uh for those who aren't familiar with it, it's an app and it has, you know, experts in all different fields, and they give you a masterclass and you have access to all these different insights. And I I've I mean I've I went through pretty much every single one that I was interested in. And I'm looking at re-upping it now because it added new stuff to it. But um, I think it's great to also be very deliberate in certain gifts you give to people.

Jessica 13:53

Yeah, I mean masterclass, audible, which I know, you know, you can we I we do Audible and Libby, like if I can get the book for free, I definitely want it for free. And I like love supporting our local library. Um, but you know, things like magazine subscriptions, like the kids get the Discovery Kids, they learn about the animals, they love the highlights. You know, there's there are subscription boxes for kids that teach them about the world, help them learn how to cook. I mean, again, in this world where it's like your skills matter, your education matters, is there something that you can do that's fun and educational?

Low Cost Traditions Kids Remember

Jessica 14:31

Um, I think even, you know, getting into some of the things that you can do together. I mean, you could do a cookie decorating, right? Now, whether you buy the pre-made cookie dough or you actually maybe you have a family recipe for sugar cookies and then you get together and you decorate. You can have a fun movie night. Like our kids love our little, I don't know, $20 popcorn maker machine. And, you know, having a Christmas, maybe you can watch, you know, two movies on a weekend and you can make it super cozy or add some twinkle lights and make popcorn or make s'mores or do hot chocolate with marshmallows. Like your kids want to spend time with you and your family. That is what they want. They want time, they want togetherness. Yes, of course, they will take a toy, but what they will remember is not the toy. They will remember getting cozy on the couch with popcorn and a movie by the fire. They will remember, oh, mom used to teach me how to make these cookies. I'll tell you what, I our kids have never known a Christmas without my giant molasses cookies.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Yeah.

Jessica 15:41

And they start asking for those things in July. Are we are you gonna do your cookies? Are you gonna do your cookies? So when I pull them in on that process of, okay, we're gonna, because I listen, when I'm ready to bake, I will bake all day and then I'm done. So they love that. Or Brandon, one of his little vices is he loves a chocolate bark. So I will make the chocolate bark, the peppermint bark, and you know, I'll have them crush up the candy canes and then sprinkle the candy canes on. Like they love that stuff. They want to be in the kitchen, they want to be helping, they want to be contributing.

Brandon 16:16

It's a great opportunity to to teach them how to how to measure flour, how to measure butter, how to, you know, um how to cut out the the sugar cookies with the um but it's also you know even more important and deeper than that, it's starting to establish in them that the holiday should be about spending time with those you love and care about and not so much focus on consumerism.

Jessica 16:43

Yeah.

Brandon 16:44

Like once they start to have that built in at a young age, as they get older, they're not gonna be asking for crazy things. And they're also, I just think the holidays are gonna be way more enjoyable in the sense of you don't have a teenager who just has their face buried in their phone. They might be still looking forward to some of those traditions that you guys do.

Jessica 17:01

Right. I mean, one of the things that we love to do is we'll turn on the Christmas music in the car and we'll just drive through neighborhoods that we know have beautiful light displays. And that's something you can do, you know. I mean, it's gonna it's gonna start getting dark at 5 30.

Brandon 17:16

Yeah, these are activities that, like you said, literally holiday activities that don't cost anything.

Jessica 17:20

Right. Yeah. And if you want to make it extra special, okay, great. Buy some packets of what is it, old Swiss, old miss? I don't know.

Brandon 17:27

Old Swiss. It's old Swiss.

Jessica 17:29

Old Swiss.

Brandon 17:29

Old Miss is a is a college.

Jessica 17:32

Uh all I know is our kids love it. And I'm like, great, here's here's some hot chocolate. Let's go ride around. And you can stir it with the peppermint. We're even right around.

Brandon 17:41

We've gotten to a point now where like we built it in as a tradition where like we're lucky that the uh neighborhood that uh just as mom lives in, they go all out for lights in the neighborhood. Every year we make a point to have an evening when we walk around and look at all the lights. Yep, yeah, and it's just a great experience. And there's tons of other families out there. Like I said, it doesn't cost anything.

Jessica 18:01

Yeah. So thinking about things, ways that you can bring not only your family together, but potentially the community or your community of friends, maybe there's a potluck. You know, maybe you can all bring a dish.

Brandon 18:13

Maybe somebody brings the the appetizer or the desserts or unless we specify for Jess a potluck with your friends and your family. Oh, yes. Jess doesn't do work potlucks.

Jessica 18:23

Absolutely not. But listen, y'all, mm-mm. Have y'all seen people's houses and kitchens? It's uh it's about to be time for my annual reminder.

Brandon 18:31

That's also a big black thing of black people don't like potlucks at work.

Jessica 18:35

Listen, people got their cats all over the counter, and I just absolutely not. Yes, our friends. We know how our friends keep their home. We know that our friends wash their hands. Like we know our friends are clean. I I can do a potluck with family and friends. Otherwise, uns unsubscribe. But again, we just want you to start thinking about the meaning of the holidays, being together, making meaningful memories in a way that is not going to bankrupt you. Yeah. Because the reality is our kids are just as happy if you give them $5 to go to the dollar store as they are unwrapping a $100 Barbie dream house. Like they literally are. They do not care about what you spent. They do not. They want to

Money Boundaries With Family And Friends

Jessica 19:26

be together.

Brandon 19:26

I also want to call this out. One of the main reasons for us having this podcast is to normalize having conversations about money with your, you know, your family, your friends, whoever may be, normalize these conversations so that you feel comfortable in these scenarios where, like, if it's been a hard year for you and expenses are tight, you feel comfortable saying to your family and friends, hey, this year money has been tight for me. I don't have the excess funds to dedicate towards this. I don't have the excess funds to dedicate towards, you know, all these different gifts. And you should feel comfortable being able to say that. And if that's not received well from those people around you, those are not your people. If your friends are still pushing you to spend money when you've already expressed this, if your family's pushing you to spend money once you've already expressed this, they are not the people that you should have around in your life.

Jessica 20:15

Right.

Brandon 20:15

Hard stop.

Jessica 20:16

Well, and even if you're not comfortable saying, hey, it's been a hard year and finances are tough, you could say, Hey, this year, we want to prioritize making memories. We're gonna host a family game night. We'd love for you to come. Please bring a dessert. Please bring a cookie.

Brandon 20:31

Or it just wasn't budgeted in because you could have budgeted 20% savings for yourself for the year and you hit that goal, you just didn't have the excess funds outside of that to buy all these expensive, you know, gifts for everyone after that.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Right.

Brandon 20:42

So it might, like you said, might not be a hard time. You just didn't build it into your budget because you had other higher priorities.

Jessica 20:48

Right. But feeling comfortable saying, you know, please skip buying things for the adults this year, or we're not buying things for adults this year, or, you know, can we host a family white elephant? Can we do the secret Santa? Can we draw names out of a hat? You know, being comfortable I mean, really, you're setting your boundaries, right? You're setting your boundaries. But also maybe you do want to take that shift into making memories and building in those traditions versus spending, you know, because the reality is, is these kids will unwrap everything in 20 minutes, be surrounded by new toys, and then will have the audacity to look you in the face and to say that they are bored. But you know what? My kids never say they're bored when I invite them into the kitchen.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

That is true.

Jessica 21:37

They never do. It doesn't matter if we're making pancakes, Roman loves cracking an egg, like they want to put sprinkles on things, they want to scoop the flour. Like they are not saying I'm bored when they are in the kitchen. And that's a great place to make memories.

Brandon 21:53

That's a great place to that would hurt you at the end of the day that they want your attention as the parent.

Jessica 21:58

100%.

Brandon 21:58

Like that's what it boils down to. Like when I'm interacting and doing things with the kids, whether it's playing like whether we're playing games. They're not, I'm bored.

Jessica 22:06

Right. I mean, you could literally do, you know, game nights by the Christmas tree if you do a Christmas tree, right? Or um sounds like terrible for your back. Yeah, it's not for my back. But I'm what I'm saying is like you could still make it a holiday theme, right? Like you could do game nights with the elves. You could do, I mean, like, get creative. You don't have to spend money. They just want your time. They really just want your time, you know?

Teaching Kids Wants Versus Needs

Brandon 22:33

And one other little, you know, you know, sidebar here is that one of the things that definitely helped me when I was a kid carry over good money habits as an adult is being involved in the spending aspect of what money is being spent, you know, to a certain degree, especially once your kids get a certain age and you know, they no longer they they realize who actually the gifts are coming from. Um you start to take them, you know, give them a certain amount of money that they have to spend on certain on gifts. So then they have an idea of how much things cost, and then they can make a decision on their own on, hey, do I want to buy two of this or one of this? I think it really helps decipher between that needs and wants, and then also that somewhat of uh sometimes a delayed gratification in the sense of like, oh, you know, maybe I don't want to spend the money on this and I want to spend this at a different time on something else.

Jessica 23:22

Right. Yeah. It gives them, you know, wants versus need, delayed gratification, making choices, like the those decision-making moments I think are really important. You know, because even we've done it with with our kids, you know, they have a set amount of of money, maybe some birthday money that they got. Yes, you have to be at the store with them for an hour, you know, while they pick out the pajamas for their doll. But guess what? These pajamas are $12.99 and these are $18.99 and like they start to see and understand. And so I think um, I think there's a lot of of value that people can learn. I mean, even taking your kids to the grocery store, which is one of my least favorite activities, but having them understand, like, hey, if we buy this pre-made cookie dough, it's gonna cost this and we'll get this many cookies, or let's buy the flour, the eggs, the butter, et cetera. And yes, it'll still add up. You can have them do some math, right? Good little math lessons. Um, but hey, we could make a hundred cookies, right? We could make cookies to give to, you know, the grandparents or whoever. So even those things, like it doesn't always have to be this big grand lesson. It's those little lessons that I think will stick with them. So we just want to encourage you to understand what your budget is for this season, to not go into debt this holiday. And if you did not plan for whatever money you want to spend or think you're going to spend, to set some financial boundaries, to talk to your friends and family, let them know what you are and are not capable of this year, and come up with alternatives that are going to be memorable and fun and inclusive and, you know, hopefully will spark you, spark joy. Because I know that when we bring our friends into our home for game nights or, you know, just togetherness, sometimes it's the best when it's like, hey, it's a Friday night. What are you guys doing? Come over, we'll, you know, have a meal together. Like those are some of the best nights at the end of a week, you know. So we just want to encourage you to think of alternatives to build in those traditions of spending meaningful time together. You know, even when you're you're baking cookies, you could have, you know, some some cards that you draw that prompt questions, you know, to really get to to know your kids and what's on their mind right now, or even your family members and make those make those moments meaningful. Did I miss anything? Why are you laughing? Okay.

Key Takeaways And Listener Call To Action

Jessica 26:01

Well, however you celebrate the holidays, we hope that they are special and joyful and meaningful and memorable. And hopefully we gave you some food for thought and how to be mindful with spending for the holidays this season. And we will talk to you soon. Don't forget, Benjamin Franklin said, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Sugar Daddy Podcast, yo! Learn how to make the pockets grow. Financial freedom play a week, bro. Smart investments, money flow.

Jessica 26:36

Thanks for listening to today's episode. We are so glad to have you as part of our Sugar Daddy community. If you learned something today, please remember to subscribe, rate, review, and share this episode with your friends, family, and extended network. Don't forget to connect with us on social media at the Sugar Daddy Podcast. You can also email us your questions you want us to answer for our past the sugar segments at thesugardaddypodcast at gmail.com or leave us a voicemail through our Instagram.

Brandon 27:05

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