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Looking to save some money on Christmas gifts this year?

In this episode, I share 5 different gift-giving strategies that can save you and your family some money while still having fun.

We'll cover:

• Secret Santa exchanges

• White Elephant parties

• DIY Christmas gifts

• A Re-gifting exchange

• The 4-gift rule

Action Task

Now that you know some alternate gift-giving methods, your action task this week is to pick one and propose it to your family. You're probably not the only one who wants to save some money.

Resources Mentioned

• 20 Funny White Elephant Gift Ideas

• The official White Elephant Gift Exchange rules

• Elfster - a website to help you coordinate a Secret Santa exchange

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Thanks for listening!

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Prefer to Read?

Below is the transcript from today's show. Or you can download the full transcript as a PDF.

Next week is Thanksgiving, which means we're one step closer to Christmas. I've been hearing some concerns about how inflation and rising prices as well as supply chain issues may make this a tough Christmas on your budget. So I thought I'd give you some alternative gifting ideas that you can propose to your family to help lighten the load.

Welcome to the Go From Broke podcast where you'll learn how to take control of your money so you can stress less and save more. If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck or constantly wondering where your money is going, you're in the right place. This podcast is all about giving you actionable tips and advice so you can get started improving your finances today.

In today's podcast, I'm going to share five different gift giving strategies you can propose to your family to save money this Christmas.

The first is a secret Santa exchange.

Secret Santa exchanges are a great way to enjoy Christmas gift giving without blowing your budget.

The process is simple.

Each person draws someone else's name and that's who they buy a gift for. So everyone buys one. Everyone gets one.

Secret Santa exchanges also usually have a spending limit, which makes them great for sticking to a budget. They're also a lot of fun because you usually get more thoughtful gifts. When you just have one person to focus on and shop for, you tend to put more effort into it.

We're doing a secret Santa with my extended family this year and it's actually got us all more excited than we usually are.

A lot of times getting gifts for everyone can become a chore. Especially if you have a large family, like I do. But the secret Santa approach relieves a lot of that stress and helps get everyone involved.

I know at my house, I usually tend to be responsible for most of the gift buying. But with the secret Santa, my husband and my son also get to join in and buy their own gifts.

The second type of gift exchange to consider is a white elephant.

Being a secret Santa means you have a specific person to buy for. With a white elephant, you're still only responsible for getting one gift, but it's not assigned to a specific person. Instead, everyone buys a gift that goes into a sort of pool that everyone gets to pick from.

So the basic gameplay is this, all the gifts are placed together and then everyone draws a number to determine what order they go in.

The first person picks out a gift and opens it. Then the next person gets to decide if they want to choose another present to open or steal the one that's already been opened. So if a person's gift is stolen, then they get to go again. Play continues until all gifts are open.

The few white elephants that I've participated in, have all been a blast. It's fun to try to pick out a gift that will be popular and even more fun to see which ones get stolen the most.

There's also a lot of different ways you can adapt the white elephant to make it your own.

From the types of gifts that you're getting to how you choose who goes first, or even how many times a gift can be stolen. Just remember however you decide to play, make sure everyone is clear on the rules ahead of time.

The third way to save on gifts this year is to have a DIY Christmas.

If you're a crafty type or you have a family full of them, a DIY gift exchange may be perfect for you. A DIY Christmas can take a lot of work, but it's usually well worth the effort. The idea is to avoid shopping altogether and make something special for each person on your list.

DIY projects are great because not only do you save money by making them yourself, they're usually one of a kind and more personal gifts.

For some people there's just nothing more special than receiving something someone took their time to create with their own hands.

If you're going to go the DIY route, just make sure you have enough time to actually spend on your project and that you have all the supplies you need. But try not to get so ambitious, you ended up stressing yourself out. Just remember it doesn't have to be perfect or expensive. It just needs to be made with love.

The fourth way to save some money is to try a re-gift exchange. We've all been on the receiving end of gifts given with good intentions, but that maybe don't suit us for one reason or another.

Instead of pretending that that Christmas Story bunny suit is your favorite gift ever, decide to throw a guilt-free re- gift exchange.

Everyone's encouraged, to re-gift something they don't want. You could even combine it with a white elephant approach to make it more fun. Just be clear, there's no guilt tripping or hurt feelings allowed.

The fifth and final money saving gift giving strategy is to use the four gift rule.

The four gift rule is something we started with my son several years ago, but it could be useful if you regularly buy lots of gifts for multiple people.

The idea is the only buy four gifts in the following categories: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

By restricting your purchases, both in quantity and type, it's actually easier to not only save some money, but get them gifts they'll actually use and appreciate. I don't usually buy multiple gifts except for my son, but I have adopted the four gift rule for both Christmas and his birthday and it's been a real success.

So if you have people that you buy multiple gifts for, consider adopting the four gift rule for them this year.

Okay. So those are your five gift giving strategies to save money this Christmas.

So your action task this week is to pick one of these and suggest it to your family. Don't be pushy about it, but you might be surprised how willing everyone is to try something new. Especially if it's fun and saves money. You're probably not the only one who's looking to save a little bit this year.

If you've got any other gift giving ideas, I'd love to hear about them. Send me a DM on Instagram @GoFromBroke and let me know.

And don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.

As always, take action and make it a great day.