Tips and Tricks

The Holidays are Coming!

The Holidays Are Coming! Are You Ready?

Looking forward to the holiday season can bring up all kinds of emotions. Anticipation, happiness and anxiety are just a few. Regardless, it is a busy time of year and time and money can run away from us. Often the New Year brings resolutions to do it better next year so that the January credit card bill isn’t quite so scary! A little planning can make a huge difference to how you enjoy the season.

Making the List

Sometimes more than one is required. Whatever the case, taking the enormous project of holiday preparations and breaking it into manageably sized pieces is a big start. Not only will it give you an sense of what you need to do by when it will also give you an idea of what amounts of money you will need at certain times. Your list may include:

• Listing the people who you give to and what you will give
• Writing cards
• Buying special food & drink treats
• Buying the gifts on your list
• Attending your work party
• Traveling to your parents to celebrate with family

Estimate the cost of each event and you will begin to draft your budget. Once you see the total you may change your ideas of how you want to do certain things. It’s better to make changes now rather than feel remorse for what was spent. There are lots of ways to save on gifts or travel and a little creativity can go a long way to a memorable holiday season.

Saving for the Holiday Season

Once you have your budget drafted, the next step is to convert the budget into reality. How much do you need? How long do you have until the holiday to save the money? Take your total budget and divide by the number of paychecks you still expect to receive (until the end of the year). That is the amount that you will have to put aside each paycheck to be financially prepared for the holidays. It will likely mean spending less on other items in the interim…what will you do without? Will you take a part time job or work extra hours? The biggest bonus to planning your holiday finances this way is that you will have the money that you need to enjoy the holidays and won’t have the post-season bills.

No one wants to be ‘cheap’ during the holidays however a little planning allows you to make informed choices before you land yourself into debt trouble. Maybe you decide on different gifts or borrowing a party dress – whatever options you have, this is the time to decide what you will do. There are lots of frugal options….not necessarily ‘cheap’ ones!

What to do When You Have Huge Post-Season Bills?

It’s never a nice wind up the holiday season and open the mail to realize that you owe more money on your credit card than you thought. The first step is to take a look at the various bills and total them up. Now you know what you’re dealing with. Decide the time frame that you will take to repay the debt and divide the debt by the number of paychecks in the timeframe...it may mean doing without some of your entertainment budget or eating on the cheap for a few months. Perhaps you are anticipating a tax return that will clear the debt quickly. If so, get yourself organized to submit your taxes as soon as possible.