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Do You Have Holiday Plans?

Creating a Spending Plan for the Holidays

 

The holidays are here! Do you have a plan to avoid overspending and suffering credit card shock in January? Let’s not start our 2024 like that. Instead let’s take time to plan out our holidays and begin the new year with minimal or even ZERO holiday debt.

 

How you say? Glad you asked. Here are 5 quick tips to help you stay within budget for the holidays

 

1. Decide what you are going to do. I have family that always travel for Thanksgiving. They budget for the trip every year. So first decide how you will spend your time. Are you flying to visit family or staying home? Are you hosting a huge gathering or dining out? Do you buy gifts for the whole family, or only a few? Write down your plans. Get it all on paper, then move to the next step.

 

2. Create a holiday budget. You knew this one was coming. It’s a personal finance blog…LOL.  Take your list from tip one and calculate a cost for each item. Go online and search prices for airfare and estimate how much you plan to spend on food, gifts, parties and etc. Again write it all down, then calculate your expected total holiday cost.

 

3. If you have “sticker shock” from your amount, then it’s time to Rethink your plans. Could you drive instead of fly? Or maybe stay home this season. Trim your gift list and/or guest list for your party. Also, don’t be shy about asking for family or guest to chip in with food by bringing a dish or donating cash. Instead of giving gifts to evey, have your family draw names or do Secret Santa. There are lots of fun and creative ways to have an enjoyable but low cost holiday.

 

4. Make a list. Create an overall gift giving budget then estimate how the funds will be spent on each person. For example, if your total budget for gifts is $500, then write down how much you will spend on Mom, Dad, kids, and etc. Then shop around. We are in the middle of “sales season”. Comparison shop, price match and do what you can to get the most out of your dollars.

 

5. Stick to your budget. This takes Discipline because we can get very caught up in the season and our own desire to be generous to those we love and care for. However if money is tight give your time instead. For example, offering to babysit your sister’s kid(s) could be way more valuable to her than another sweater.

 

Though we are heading into the holiday season, these tips don’t have to be limited to just this time of year. Apply them to any special event you have coming up. Most importantly, don’t let money woes ruin your holiday. Like I said earlier, there are lots of fun, creative and low cost ways to enjoy this wonder season with family and friends.

 

Until Next Time

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