The 21-Day Pre-Holiday Money-Saving Challenge

Yikes. Somehow, it’s already November, which means we’ve got to come up with some excess cash ASAP for holiday parties, travel and, of course, gifts. It seems like just yesterday we were blowing our entire emergency fund on summer excursions and itty-bitty bikinis, and our bank accounts have yet to recover. If you’re in a similar situation, don’t despair—to help you acquire some holiday savings, stat, we’ve compiled a list of 21 money tricks we suggest you adopt for the next 21 days. Note: If you don’t have a savings account, some banks will allow you to set up a sub-account, which you can simply label “holiday savings.” Or, there’s no time like the present to open a savings account (you should have one anyway)—here, NerdWallet’s favorites. In the tips and tricks listed below, when we say to “transfer” the money into this account, you can also just mentally set it aside—just make sure it goes into your savings account at the end of the 21 days!