Selecting which invitations to accept can be complex. Holiday parties are a big outing for parents with small kids because there’s a lot to put in place to make it happen including an outfit, babysitting, gifts, donations and transportation.

My husband and I work for two very different organizations and the holiday parties were a clear reflection. His, in a gorgeous downtown hotel with everything included from a photo booth to dessert, many drinks in between and cab fare home. They also took the opportunity to acknowledge employees with generous gift cards for a job well done. Mine was self-pay, a ‘re-gift’ gift exchange and a car ride to and from squished in with several colleagues. I’m not complaining because it was a lot of fun. We made it fun by getting together before hand, chipping in for a couple nice bottles of wine to enjoy prior to the dinner. Piling into a car for a lift down was reminiscent of university days. They were simply two very different experiences.

At both events, leadership took the opportunity to sincerely thank staff for their contribution.

You know, the parties which have been the most fun are low key and have a few important ingredients:

• Friends
• Warm environment
• Food
• Drink
• A relaxed atmosphere

This has more to do with planning a party with your guests in mind than how much it costs to host it.

You may feel you have enough on your plate with the holiday season but here are a few points to think about:

• The RSP deadline is not for a few months but now is a good time to decide what you’ll do with a bonus, extra cheque or holiday extras
• The end of the year is the deadline for RESP contributions to fall in this year
• 2011 deductions for donations, fitness tax credits and tuition and so on must be paid in this calendar year
• Depending on your income level this year, this may be a good time to increase your efforts to bring in the income in 2011

Get ahead of the game! Planning for 2012:

• What are your goals?
• What is your plan?

You probably already know. If you have 2 minutes to jot down your goals, you are more than half way there!

There are lots of good organizations to give to at any time of the year. The holiday season however inspires greater consideration for those that do not have as much as some of us. Whether it is your time, energy, food or cash donation there are many worthy causes. A couple things to consider:

• Do you give to anyone who asks or do you have an organization that you support for a particular reason?
• Do you predetermine how much you will donate?
• Do you ask how much of your contribution goes directly to the recipients in need?

We donate to the Vancouver Food Bank each year because we know how much they can do with our dollars in terms of tripling the purchase power through their connections and we recognize that there are many people within our community (especially young children) who rely on this resource. Their administrative costs are low and they are innovative in how they source and deploy the food, maximizing the dollars they have and making them stretch as far as possible.

The news last night featured some statistics on the generosity of Canadians…keep it up!

The theme of this post is decorations! Don’t forget to include this type of thing in your budget because a tree here, some lights there and a poinsettia or two and before you know it, $200 is out of your wallet!

I suppose it’s like anything else and you get what you pay for. What this means for you is that if you intend on using the decorations year after year, it’s worth spending a little more so they last.

I have very, very clear memories of opening the mandarin orange boxes and retrieving the tree lights, tree decorations, figurines and other ornaments that have been part of our holiday celebrations for as long as I remember. Remarkably, very few have broken and so, I look forward to seeing them again and can recall when particular items were added to the collection. The fresh pieces each year are wreaths made from fir or cedar bows, shaped and tied with red ribbon. Gorgeous.

It’s all part of the fun!

Santa has the routine down pat and we’ve all heard of this tip to keep within a budget.

Whether it is shopping for food, a new house or gifts, you can save yourself time and money by doing a little planning first.

• Who to buy for
• What to buy
• Where to buy
• How much to spend

May seem like simple stuff but it can save time and aggravation that is worth avoiding during this busy time of year.

The holiday season is just around the corner and calendars are already filling up! It can be a hectic time but with a little bit of planning you can focus on the fun, family and festivities.

You may have travel plans, many gifts to buy and parties to attend but the enjoyment can be tainted if you know you’re spending money you don’t have. It can be tempting to swipe the cards and simply ignore the tally.

Wouldn’t it be nice to finish the year without dreading bills that you know you can’t pay? Here are some easy steps to setting a holiday spending plan:

• List the gifts you plan to buy (don’t forget gift exchanges for work, service people and hostess gifts)
• List the parties you plan to attend
• Travel
• Hair, nails and any new clothes
• Tickets, activities
• Cards and postage
• Food, treats and beverages
• Donations

On their own, each of these categories doesn’t necessarily add up to a sum that will break the bank but add them together and the total may surprise you! Once you’ve totaled your planned expenditures, take the next steps:

• Do you have the money on hand?
• Divide it by the number of paychecks you will receive between now & December 31st – can you afford these expenses in addition to your regular expenses?
• If not, review your list and see what adjustments you’re willing to make
• Stuck for ideas how to make it balance?
• Have a chat with friends & family – it’s easy to feel obligated to spend $100 or more on a family member but chances are good, they don’t expect it.
• Choose to go out for dinner with your friends or have a festive meal and drinks at home rather than exchanging gifts.
• Donate time rather than money.
• Select the parties you want to go to and give the ones you’re not sure about a miss.
• Book your travel early or carpool.
• Think of thoughtful, creative gifts such as a ‘movie CD of the year in review’, a story, a song.
• Try to earn some extra cash – Overtime, part time or seasonal work, freelancing.
• Make the hard choices.

This time of year can bring mixed and complicated emotions such as nostalgia, great generosity, anxiety, stress and happiness. It can be an even better holiday season if you can reduce anxiety or stress caused by money.

I was chatting to a co-worker about some of the challenges my generation faces in term of the Vancouver housing market. Specifically how much of household income goes to holding the roof over our heads…not literally as we really like our house and ‘knock on wood’, it seems to be very well made. She lent me an edition of the ‘Vancouver’ magazine in which there is an interesting article about how a respectable level income doesn’t support buying a home in this beautiful city. It’s quite a good article with some valid points although many of them are re-runs.

The fact of the matter is that to participate in home ownership in Vancouver, it is possible by setting a few key objectives:

• Clear your debts
• Maintain a low fixed cost standard of living
• Consider the trade off between a commute & square footage
• Build as much of a down payment as you can
• If you are taking a long term view, jump in as soon as you can*

* This is important because even if the real estate market fluctuates, if you are in it for many years, it will turn around and in the meantime at least some of your monthly housing payment is reducing what you owe and increasing your equity. Read more »

It’s Financial Literacy Week so I began thinking about how I learned about money. I can think of a couple things I learned from my Mom:

• Keep track of the hours you work – especially if you are paid hourly (it is easy to have a conversation about a discrepancy with your pay check if you have the dates and hours recorded).
• Never pay interest to a credit card company – pay the balance in full each month.
• Never owe a friend money.
• If you choose to lend money to a friend, lend it without the expectation of repayment – otherwise have a written agreement.
• If you don’t have the money for something you want, you can’t buy it yet. Save for it.
• Always have a some money for emergencies.
• Keep your own bank account and your own credit card.

I also clearly remember sitting at a round table with a couple classmates learning the value different coin denominations and how to make change – A Grade 2 teacher took the opportunity to give us a challenge and teach us a very valuable life lesson. Much better than more Grade 2 math!

All fundamentals of sound money management and basic budgeting.

Thanks Mom!

When I wrote Dear Piggy Bank’s business plan, I included two volunteer workshops each calendar year. The objective was to contribute to the financial literacy ‘tree of learning’.

A couple weeks ago, I spent a couple hours at a YMCA Child Care Center that was designed, built and implemented to serve a community that faces many barriers and challenges. A lot of thought was put into the facility in terms of design, functionality, resources and security. The services they provide are tailored to their clients. Specifically full meal service is provided to the children and weekly family dinners, fruit and vegetables are available to take home, a milk program is in place and a community coordinator is on staff.

I wasn’t sure how many ‘listening ears’ I would get given it was family dinner night and a very busy room. I was a bit apprehensive.

It turned out to be about 4 sets of ears. All women who were all at different stages of life but one thing in common, their income was social assistance which makes things complicated on many levels. At the end of the day however, the basics are the same and we worked through the concepts of making goals, budgets and setting priorities after determining needs versus wants.

One individual in particular worked through a budget and debt repayment plan right then and there. No small feat at the end of a busy day, in a noisy atmosphere with children demanding their mother’s attention. I think she’ll manage to make some progress with her financial objectives and that made it feel like a success.

I am always looking for ways to increase Dear Piggy Bank’s profile and promote financial education. This summer Laura Thomas, a writer and advocate for financial literacy, was producing episodes of Money Moments and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet someone else who was passionate about making basic money management skills mainstream.

Although it was a bit nerve wracking being filmed, I hope I got the following points across:

• Make a plan – get everyone working towards the same goals
• A budget is a good tool – keep it simple
• Monitor progress
• Set up a money system that works for you

Take a look!

Dear Piggy Bank on You Tube