Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but other Christmas traditions? Meh, not so much — many are going by the wayside or getting a 2.0 makeover. Christmas tree, visiting family, sending cards or giving gifts either, according to holiday shopping stats. But there are still plenty diehard folks who do it the old school way. If you'll be preparing that traditional holiday feast, here are hacks to save money on ham, turkey, and all the fixins!
DIY Christmas dinner
You'll always save money doing it yourself versus buying the store's complete dinner package or going out to eat.
With a little effort, you can serve Christmas dinner for about $4-$5 per person. Bake your own Christmas cookie for a fun and frugal family activity. Stock up on inexpensive spices, coconut, cocoa, candied fruit, and holiday baking supplies at Dollar Tree.
Share the love
And split the cost. Have a potluck holiday meal. Ask for contributions from guests to cover dinner or make it your Christmas gifts to them. Don't be afraid to factor meals and your preparation time into the cost of gift-giving. Holiday baked goods make great presents too.
Make a list and check it twice
Keep a running grocery list of supplies you'll need for the holidays. Check off items as you find them. You can have a Dickensian Christmas Dinner on the budget of Mrs.
Cratchitt if you watch sales. Note the kind of ham you'll be serving--honey baked, spiral, picnic, bonanza. When you shop, keep an eye on prices in-store.
Buy ahead
Meijer sold turkeys for $.48 a pound at Thanksgiving. So the smart shopper stocked up on two, one for Turkey Day and one for Christmas. The Yule bird is awaiting his turn in the freezer.
Pepperidge Farm bread crumbs and King's Hawaiian rolls were $1 each at Aunt Millie's Bakery Outlet. They're in the freezer as well. Fresh sweet potatoes stay fresh in a cool, dry area.
Look in unexpected places
Don't rely on ads alone. This author got a honey-baked spiral ham for $1.19 a pound at Walmart that was not listed in the ad.
Walmart's featured spiral honey-baked ham is more expensive than Meijer but they're different brands. Walmart doesn't list all ham brands available online or in ads. Check the meat section, end caps, quick sell and day-old carts to see what unadvertised specials might be available. Meijer had a manager's special on cranberries, turkey and whipping cream after Thanksgiving.
Ham (turkey, trimmings) wars
There's a lot of competition for your holiday shopping buck, so there will be competitive pricing on ham, turkey, yams, green beans, cranberries, potatoes, celery and other essentials for the Christmas feast. Sign up for email or text alerts from local grocery stores and check online for ads.
Store perks
Remember to factor any store rewards, store credit card points or customer loyalty perks you might get for shopping there. To get a lower price on ham at Albertson's, you may have to buy X amount of groceries. Save your grocery shopping and get your bird or roast beast then. Mperks from Meijer offers 5% off groceries or $10 and even $100, occasionally.
Stacking savings and shopping apps
Target Cartwheel and Ibotta and Checkout 51 pay money back on certain purchases. This author's daughter makes bank stacking her coupons, sale prices, credit card perks, store savings and rewards from apps. She shops for birthdays and other holidays at Christmas sales.
Work the credit card rewards
Do the math and pay with the form of payment that saves you the most at the holidays and year-round.
Usually, it's the store's credit card but not always. Run Walmart receipts through Savings Catcher (sign up online). This software will filter through all ads to see if anything you bought was cheaper elsewhere. Then Walmart will send you the difference on a gift card.
