Dee – Simple Tips for a Rich Life

3 tips to help you save on gifts this holiday season

Assuming you’re in the privileged, fortunate position to be gifting at all this year… Because let’s face it: 2025 was a gut punch to most of our wallets.

Tips to help you save on your generosity this season:

1. Make a list of everyone you plan to shop for.

This puts a visual reality to that nebulous universe of family, friends, loved ones and randos that you feel obligated to gift this year.

2. Set targets for the amount you want to spend per person.

This does the most important job of all: allowing you to guesstimate how much you’ll spend this season on gifts alone, before you actually.

Put another way, when you eventually find yourself in that hole, you will have seen it coming this time around. At least if you do this next part.

3. Track what you actually spend for each person.

Seeing this in real-time will give you space to adjust as you overspend (likely), and more chances to get creative with how you stay under budget. You can’t save money without knowing how you’re spending it.

Does this advice feel too clinical, or un-jolly? Well remember the alternative is winging it with your shopping. If you’re serious about trying to grow your money and save in 2026, might as well use the end of 2025 as your pre-season training.

Jolly-o,

Dee

p.s. You can do this with pen and paper, or a spreadsheet. Check out my template on Etsy for a super affordable way to start. 👇

Is blogging dead now thanks to AI?

And does everyone think this was written by a robot?

Pumpkin spice won’t get me this season.

Oh, Fall. That time of year when the air feels crisper, the hoodies start to come out, and pumpkin spice returns to coffee shops everywhere. For better or worse.

It’s my favorite time of year for all these reasons….maybe you too. Which is why if we’re not careful, it can also be an expensive time. (Those PSLs add up. And they cost more right now simply because it’s September. Those evil geniuses.)

Some ways that I’m watching my wallet as I get ready for spooky season:

How I’m Saving Money This Summer (Food Edition)

In list form, because I haven’t the patience to make this more fun. And let’s be honest: lists are most fun.

Keep in mind that my vice is food, gang. I don’t do food or grocery delivery, so I’ve at least got that going for me. But this gal loves to eat, and loves to be outside in the summertime. A financially lethal combination.

So instead of blowing all my money on patio meals, here’s how I’m trying to save in the moment when temptation strikes:

Know Your Spending to Beat Your Spending

Have you ever heard the phrase “keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

Well, guess what. If your big enemy right now is your spending habit, then this couldn’t be more true. Keep that bad guy close to the chest.

How do you do that? Well NOT by indulging in reckless spending. I definitely don’t mean that!

But know what makes that monster tick.

Maybe the most important financial advice ever?

No matter if you’re dirt broke, rolling in money or just doing okay. This bit of wisdom is something that’s always stuck me – and it comes top of mind anytime I see news stories about financial ruin.

The wisdom is this. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

This is the typical punch line to every scam story. The retiree who was sold a dream that cost them their life’s savings, and now has to go back to work. The business savvy investor who took a bad bet on a ponzi scheme, and is now out millions of dollars. The army vet trying to find herself, who devotes years of her life to a multi-level marketing scheme that pressures her into taking on tons of debt – with nothing to show for it. And all these people were promised that their investments were either secure or bound to reap the rewards….if they only keep pushing.

You might even consider the people who unwittingly wire thousands to bad actors on the internet, simply because they’re in love. Even the human experience of finding love can be rife with scam potential.

Which brings us back to the wisdom above.

How living below your means allows you to thrive

If you’ve don’t know the phrase “live below your means”, then you’re missing a pretty crucial piece of financial wisdom.

Here’s the deal. Lots of us would love to have more money. And this isn’t about greed: more money in the bank can give us the breathing room we need to feel financially secure.

Which is not something to take lightly these days.

How do you ‘feel’ about your spending?

No, really. Do you know your feelings and emotions around your spending habits?

I am a big believer in tracking your expenses. And for all the practical reasons, of course: transparency around our spending, increased awareness of our money habits, and a mathematical basis for being able to actually save as much as we mathematically can.

But there’s another quirk to expense tracking that doesn’t get talked about. And it’s this: it allows us to tap into our feelings about how we spend money.

There’s no shame in not knowing.

Gang, the financial fitness journey is challenging enough. The combination of mentality and behavior change alone can is new for many of us. And the consistency and diligence required to build wealth is a marathon all on its own.

Let’s not add shame to the mix.

If you’re someone who’s embarrassed that they don’t understand how credit card debt works, yet you have tons of it, let go of that shame now.

If you’re someone who has a mortgage, and you’re embarrassed because you don’t understand how escrow works or if you’re still paying PMI (private mortgage insurance), let go of that shame now.

If you pay for any kind of insurance – health, automobile, etc – and you’re embarrassed to admit that you don’t understand how deductibles or premiums work, let go of that shame now.

And so on and so forth.

Don’t cancel that credit card just yet.

If I could have it my way, I would only ever use 1 credit card for all my purchases.

Why? Because I’m someone who doesn’t like clutter…even though I’m human and fall victim to it time & again. It’s a mental load to me, knowing that I have multiple credit cards – all originally opened for different purposes – that don’t all get consistent action these days. And it’s a chore to go in and physically pay each bill. (Yes, I can automate this. But for reasons both valid and loopy, I refuse. Another post for another day.)

Maybe you’re the same way. Or maybe for you, having multiple credit cards is just too much temptation. That’s a far more reasonable excuse for wanting to close those accounts.

But as I made moves this morning to cancel one of my cards, I did a quick web search and soon realized that could be an annoying mistake.

All thanks to credit score math.