Meagan Ruffing is a freelance parenting journalist living in northwest Arkansas. Visit her on Facebook at writermeaganruffing. Leave her a message and let her know how you ended up saving money. You might just inspire her to try something new!

Ways to Save for the Holidays

As a single mom, I have to get creative with ways to save. Whether you’re a one income household or two, I think saving money is something we all have to do at some point throughout our lives. Recently, I came across a video on TikTok about how to save $5,500 in 100 days. It intrigued me and so I decided to take the challenge. This challenge prompted me to find other ways to save money before the holidays and since I am at the end of my 100 days, I thought I would share with you how I saved quite a bit of money in a relatively short amount of time.

1. The Shoebox Method – This is the money saving hack I saw on TikTok that my kids and I had a lot of fun doing together. Grab a shoebox and 100 envelopes. Label each envelope one thru 100 and mix them up. Pick one envelope a day and put that amount of money inside. At the end of 100 days, you will have saved $5,500. Start now or be proactive and start in August next year to have a good chunk of change right before the holidays.  In an effort to ‘find’ as much extra money laying around as possible, I sold things around the house on Facebook Marketplace. I also went through my kids’ clothes that were too small and toys they no longer played with and sold them at resale stores. It was fun to see what we could gather up and get out of the house while seeing that money go straight into the shoebox. The kids and I all put our heads together to decide what we wanted to do with the money. I am currently planning a family trip for the four of us and my kids asked for an Oculus Quest 2 (Virtual Reality Headset) to share. Any money leftover is going to pay for our new fence in the backyard. It’s a win-win for all of us.
2. Turn Your Hobby into Money – Is there something you currently do that could bring in extra money? I have a friend who does woodworking and picks up extra jobs on the side. He usually has one project going at a time but each project is enough money to make a substantial dent in his savings. My daughter Hannah, sews. She’s still learning so she takes on little jobs here and there and earns a couple of dollars each time. This isn’t a lot for an adult but for a kid, a couple of dollars adds up and can be the beginning of a great foundation for money management. Do you pet sit? Babysit? Do you clean homes? Maybe you know how to play an instrument or speak another language. Think of something that you may be doing already and let it make money for you. Be careful not to take on too much, as you don’t want your hobby to turn into something you dread. My bachelor’s degree is in journalism and so I write. I’ve been freelance writing for 17 years now and I schedule enough writing pieces and sign enough contracts with publications that I can use that ‘extra’ money for something outside of my main bills. Are you good at wrapping presents? With the holidays coming up, you might consider wrapping other people’s gifts and charging a certain amount per box. The money you earn from that can go towards gifts for your family or a nice holiday meal. Come up with tiered-pricing and have an idea in mind of how much you would like to earn. See if you can hit your goal.
3. Get a Second Job – If all else fails and you find yourself in a situation where you need more money but ideas one and two don’t work out for you, check online and see what your options are. If you currently work full-time, maybe you pick up a part-time job at night? I have seen some remote jobs still advertised for call centers and medical coding. Point being, there is more than one way to save money and bring in extra income. You might have to be creative. Make it fun and something that doesn’t stress you out. The idea is to get you out of debt (stress-reliever), and have extra money to spend for things you really want to do (stress-reliever). You might be surprised at how good you feel when you can pay cash for you next big purchase

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