36% of shoppers plan to stick to a holiday budget this year — here's a budgeting tool for every spending style

It's (almost) that time of year again: holiday shopping lists, gift hunting and promises to stay on budget. This year, shoppers may be taking those promises more seriously as they look for ways to make the most of their money.

According to the PayPal 2026 Holiday Shopping Survey, 36% of shoppers plan to set and stick to a holiday shopping budget to manage spending. Meanwhile, 58% of respondents say they're more concerned about their finances this holiday season.

Setting a budget can help you manage cash flow and keep holiday spending in check, but the right approach depends on your spending habits and financial goals. That's where budgeting tools can help. We've rounded up options for different types of spenders to help you find a method that works for you.

If you want a clearer picture of where your money goes this holiday season, consider a budgeting app like Rocket Money. It offers a free plan with basic budgeting and spending-tracking features, so you can monitor your spending without committing to a paid subscription. If you want more customization, including unlimited budget categories and financial goal planning, you'll need to upgrade to its paid Premium plan. For shoppers who want to keep tabs on their holiday purchases and see how their spending adds up, Rocket Money's free tier can be a useful place to start.

Zero-based budgeting is a method that involves giving every dollar you have available a specific purpose, whether that's covering bills, funding holiday gifts or adding to your savings. Rather than setting broad spending limits and hoping you stick to them, this approach encourages you to plan how you'll use your money across different categories before you spend it.

You can use this method with YNAB (You Need a Budget), a budgeting platform built around zero-based budgeting. It lets you link your bank accounts to import transactions or enter them manually, helping you keep track of your spending as you go. YNAB offers a 34-day free trial, so you can try the platform before committing to a paid subscription.

The envelope budgeting method involves setting a spending limit for each category, such as holiday gifts, groceries and entertainment, and allocating money to each one in advance. Traditionally, you'd put the allotted amount of cash into a physical envelope for each category. Once an envelope is empty, you stop spending in that category or adjust your budget to account for the difference.

If you like the idea of envelope budgeting but prefer not to carry cash, Goodbudget lets you use the same approach with digital envelopes. You can create up to 20 envelopes for free: 10 for regular expenses and 10 for annual or savings goals. If you need more, Goodbudget Premium costs $10 per month or $80 per year and includes unlimited envelopes, among other features.

When you're holiday shopping, it's easy to get caught up in the moment and spend more than you planned. PocketGuard's Pace feature can help you keep your spending on track.

Pace compares your spending patterns with your budget to show whether you're spending faster than planned and project where you'll end up by the end of the month. This can help you spot potential overspending early and adjust before it throws off your budget. It's especially useful if you're spreading your holiday shopping across several weeks and want to make sure you're staying within your spending limits.

PocketGuard offers a paid Premium plan, with pricing varying by subscription option, and a seven-day free trial so you can try its features before committing.

Honeydue is a budgeting app designed to help couples manage their money together. You and your partner can link individual and joint financial accounts to see your balances, track spending and coordinate bills. You also control what financial information you share, so you can choose whether your partner sees an account's balance, transactions or neither.

One of Honeydue's standout features is its in-app chat, which lets you comment on transactions or react with emojis. If you're unsure about a purchase or want to discuss an expense, you can bring it up directly in the app. For couples planning their holiday spending together, Honeydue can make it easier to coordinate budgets, keep track of purchases and stay on the same page about shared expenses.

Honeydue is free to use, with optional contributions available for users who want to support the app.

If you'd rather manage your money on your own terms, a DIY budget spreadsheet can be a straightforward alternative to a budgeting app. You can create your own spending categories, set limits for holiday purchases and track how much you've spent without linking your bank accounts to another platform. You can also start with a free budget template in a program like Excel or Google Sheets rather than building one from scratch.

The trade-off is that you'll need to enter your expenses and update your budget manually. While budgeting apps can automatically import transactions from linked accounts, a spreadsheet requires you to take a more hands-on approach to tracking your spending. That extra step can help you stay mindful of your purchases, but it also requires consistency.

Whichever method you choose, be honest about what you're spending. Record purchases as accurately as possible and compare your actual expenses with your budget regularly. That way, you can spot where you're overspending and make adjustments before holiday expenses get out of hand.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every budgeting article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of personal finance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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