How Military Families Can Stress Less on a Tight Holiday Budget

The holiday season is a time for joy, connection, and celebration, but it’s no secret that it can also be incredibly stressful—especially for military families. The stressors can pile up quickly between tight budgets, work responsibilities, and the added challenge of spending holidays apart from loved ones due to deployments or just being stationed far from family. All the stressors can lead to making financial decisions that will come back to haunt you in the new year or for years to come.

In this episode, I’m sharing the biggest holiday stressors and practical tips you can implement to save money, manage your time, and enjoy your holidays the way you want.

Episode 313 Time Stamps

00:47 Welcome to the MILMO Show
01:46 Personal Holiday Stressors
03:04 Biggest Holiday Stressors and Solutions
04:03 Financial Strain and Budgeting Tips
05:20 DIY and Second-Hand Gifts
08:14 Travel Strain and Tips for Military Families
11:41 Time Management During the Holidays
14:38 Family Dynamics and Setting Boundaries
17:12 Combating Loneliness and Grief
18:40 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Resources From Stress Less on a Tight Holiday Budget Episode

Tight Holiday Budget Episode Transcript

Hey, welcome to the MILMO Show, where I help the military community make, save, and invest money wisely. I’m your host Lacey Langford.

In this episode, I’m sharing the biggest holiday stressors and practical tips you can implement to save money, manage your time, and enjoy your holidays the way you want.

Here we go.

I wanted to do this episode because I’ve been thinking about how stressful the holiday season is for me. It kicks off with Thanksgiving when my youngest son’s birthday falls on or around the giving thanks holiday. I usually also host anywhere from 10 to 15 people for Thanksgiving dinner, which is my favorite thing to do. I love spending time as a family and cooking for everyone. Two weeks after Thanksgiving, is my oldest son’s birthday. Then, about two weeks later, it’s Christmastime. I’ve also got two nephews’ birthday mixed in there.

It can be stressful to get it all done, not to mention the money. Some of my biggest spending falls in the two months before the new year starts. It’s a lot for me and pushes my budget to the max. I’m no Charlie Munger but I feel like I’m a financially prepared person. However, I know that not everyone is in the same position as me, so I want to share some practical tips for others to be able to enjoy Christmas and the holidays no matter where you are in the world or your budget.

The Biggest Holiday Stressors

Let’s talk about the biggest holiday stressors and how you can combat them.

Financial Strain

The first and obvious one is the financial strain. As much as we’d love to buy extravagant gifts, most of us, do not have a blank check for Christmas and holiday spending. Not having enough to do all the things we want or give the way we want or give gifts at all has to be the top holiday stressor.

The military has icing on top of that stress cake—being separated from the people we love. Many of us know what it’s like to be a world away during the holidays or to try and make a special holiday for your kids when no family is around. It’s very easy to spend more than you should to ease someone of the loneliness.

How to Combat the Financial Strain

Set a Budget: Start by reviewing your income and expenses. Decide how much you can realistically spend on the holidays without dipping into savings, stopping retirement savings contributions or adding debt.
Prioritize Expenses: Focus on essentials like gifts for close family and experiences that matter most to you. Limit extras like an 8-foot nutcracker for your yard and just say no to office Secret Santas.
DIY Gifts: Handmade gifts like baked goods, crafts, or a heartfelt letter can be more meaningful (and affordable) than store-bought items. Let me tell you about the best handmade gift I just had a family member tell me about. They bought an inexpensive address book and then filled in the entire families’ addresses to give to another family member. As someone who loves a practical gift, I thought this was a thoughtful-low cost gift idea. Especially for young adults in your family.
Use Military Discounts: Take advantage of discounts offered to service members and military families at stores, online, and travel companies. Take advantage of using Id.me online to shop with your military discount. And don’t forget about Rakuten to shop online and get cashback on things you are spending money on for the holidays. I just bought some birthday and Christmas presents and will receive 12% cashback on the money I spent.
Second-Hand Gifts: Save money by buying gifts second-hand at thrift stores. I recently was given a used dish that matches a set I already have. Not only was it an extremely thought gift, it was lower cost and something I didn’t have but could use.

Loneliness or Grief

Spending holidays away from family or grieving the loss of loved ones can feel worse during the holidays.

How to Combat Loneliness

Lean on Your Community: Connect with your military family through unit events, base activities, or local organizations. Call fellow veterans and say hello. Send Christmas cards to stay connected.
Volunteer: Helping others through toy drives, meal donations, or driving the elderly to appointments can bring a sense of purpose and joy.
Get Outside: Even though the weather is colder, a dose of vitamin D and fresh area can be helpful to get the holiday blues at bay. Set a goal to get outside for 30 minutes three times a week during the holiday season, even if you have to bundle up.

Holiday Travel Strain

Many military families travel during the holidays to reconnect with loved ones, which is expensive and logistically challenging. One of the top ways the military end up spending more on travel than they planned is for there to be travel delays that cause you to pay more for rental cars and airfare because you have to report back for duty.

How to Combat Holiday Travel Strain

Book Early: If your travel plans are flexible, try to book flights, train tickets, rental cars, or hotels as early as possible to get the best rates.
Use Space-A Travel: Take advantage of hops offered to service members and their families. Catching a ride on a military aircraft isn’t always predictable, but it can be a budget-friendly option. If you’ve never done it before, check out Poppin’ Smoke to get Space-A travel tips. I’ll put a link in the show notes.
Leverage Military Discounts: Many airlines, hotels, and car rental companies offer discounts to military personnel. Always ask!
Use Credit Card Points: If you’ve been saving up, you can also use credit card points and benefits to save money on holiday travel expenses.
Save on Lodging: Stay with family or friends instead of booking hotels. Sometimes, that can be stressful, so you’ll have to balance living in tight quarters for a few days or spending the extra money. Also, you can take advantage of billeting and military recreation areas to save money.
Pack Smart: Save on baggage fees by packing light. If you’re on active-duty and on personal travel, most airlines will still waive your baggage fee with your ID card. Check your credit card benefits because you may qualify for a free checked bag depending on the card you have or get reimbursed up to a certain amount of airline expenses each year.

Time Management Stress

Between work commitments, deployments, and PCS moves, it can feel impossible to balance holiday preparations and your usual responsibilities.

How to Combat Time Management Stress

Plan Ahead: Use a calendar to schedule holiday tasks like shopping, decorating, and attending events. Start early to avoid last-minute stress since I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year. I keep my menu and shopping list from previous years so that I just have to edit and update instead of starting over every time. It saves me a lot of time and money. It’s very easy with so many guests to overspend on my time and food spending, so having a jumping-off point from the year before reduces the stress of it all.
Say No: It’s okay to skip events or gift exchanges. You don’t have to be everything to everyone. Focus on what truly brings joy to you and your family. I’m a big fan of saying no during the holidays, adding more to your plate just ratches up the stress level. Saying no not only reduces your stress, it saves you money.

Family Dynamics

Military life often means spending holidays apart from loved ones or juggling expectations, different cultures and family traditions between multiple sides.

How to Combat Family Dynamic Strains

Set Boundaries: Be honest with your family about what you can and can’t commit to this year. Communication is key. If you’re married, communicate with each other about what’s important to each of you. It’s easier to set boundaries with extended family when you know what each other is thinking or wants. If your family is used to big gifts but you don’t have the budget for that, don’t let a family tradition put you in debt.
Embrace Virtual Celebrations: Facetime and Zoom are a blessing for connecting with loved ones who are far away. You can be part of each other’s celebration. Or even part of family photos.
Create New Traditions: If you can’t travel, create new special moments with the people you are with, like your military family.

Wrapping it Up

The holidays don’t have to be perfect, and they don’t have to cost a fortune. For the military community, focusing on connection, tradition, and gratitude can make the season special, even when money is tight or you’re far away from the people you love.

So simplify your plans, stick to your budget, and make every moment count. With a little love and prep you can enjoy a stress-free, or at least less stressful and meaningful holiday season.
Thank you to Navy Federal for providing support to the MILMO Show.

You can head over to milmo.co to get all of the resources and links from this episode, and while you’re there, be sure to sign up for the MILMO Memo newsletter to get all my updates.

I want to cover more of your personal finance and entrepreneurship questions. If you send in your questions, I’ll answer them on the show and send you a free MILMO Show t-shirt. You can find the link to ask your questions in the show notes.

I appreciate you listening. I’ll talk to you next week.

Support for the MILMO Show is provided by Navy Federal Credit Union. It’s the holiday season or, as I like to call it, the spending Super Bowl. Expenses add up really quickly this time of year. If you’re spending with Navy Federal’s NEW cashRewards Plus card, you’ll earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase. You can get 2% cash back on the things you love the most. Not just everyday purchases. When you spend $2,000, you’ll receive 200 dollars cash back and a Walmart Plus annual membership. You can learn more at navyfederal.org.

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