Preparing for the Holiday Stress

With signs of the upcoming holiday season popping up everywhere, it is understandable that many of us are starting to get a little anxious about the amount of money we are expected to spend in the next several weeks. The holiday season is supposed to be filled with family, friends, and holiday cheer, but more often is ruined by the many stresses that come along with the time of year. Now is the time however, before the holiday season officially begins, to plan ahead to reduce the holiday stress. Chances are that you will be spending more money in the next month or so than you would normally spend throughout the year. The good news is that if you plan ahead, there are ways to either offset or reduce the hit of the extra spending.  

For Thanksgiving this year my family is trying something new. We are not only changing things up to reduce our spending but to reduce the stress involved. My husband and I are hosting Thanksgiving at our new home and inviting both sides of our family so that we don't have to travel. Instead of doing a traditional sit-down Thanksgiving dinner, we decided to have a “Thanksgiving Party.” With 20 adults and 7 kids a sit down dinner would be both stressful and frankly, quite ridiculous, so we decided on a buffet style dinner. Everyone is bringing a dish or two, and we are supplying the centerpiece to the meal. We ordered a Turdunken from the Frankfort Avenue restaurant, Varanese, which in itself it’s reducing our stress load and was well worth what we paid. All we have to do is pop in in the oven the night before and the next day we will have a glistening turkey, duck, chicken, ready for our guests.The money and stress we will save doing it this way is already worth it. I will report back and let you know how the Thanksgiving party went.  

Parents around Christmas time make themselves crazy trying to find the perfect toy for their child and often end up spending more money than they would like. Every parent wants to give their child a good holiday season and I have a simple way to ease the financial burden. Take advantage of the community's kids eat free opportunities. Every day of the week there is a restaurant in the St. Matthews neighborhood that offers a kids eat free deal.  

If you are going to eat at a restaurant, make sure that you take the time to find out which restaurants are offering free food for your child. I figure this season you are spending extra money on them so why not feed them for free?

Mondays are kids eat free at W.W Cousins, one of my favorite restaurants. W.W Cousins is a great place to bring the kids. The burger and salad bar are great for both adults and children and the restaurant offers a noise level that welcomes young children.  

Go to Penn Station on Tuesdays and when you purchase a normal size sub you get a small one for free.  

     Kids eat free at Moe's Southwest Grille on Wednesdays.
     Thursdays go to McAlister's, kids eat free.
     Fridays at Salsaritas kids eat free with the purchase of an adult meal.  
     Kids eat free at Hooters on Saturday so go and grab some wings!
     Sundays offer free kids meals at Tumbleweed.

The holidays can be very stressful, but plan ahead and try to be creative. There are a lot of ways to save money while spending extra money on the holidays. You want to be able to enjoy  the holidays while you are celebrating them, so prepare yourself now so you can enjoy yourself later.