So, you’d think by now I’d realize that the holiday season comes the same time every year and I’d prepare more. However, even in all of my debt reducing, budget producing, financial planning wisdom, I seem to end up in the same situation every…single….year! The situation being stressing over how we’re going to get everyone gifts, afford travel, etc. and now we’ve added children to the mix-ONE of which has a birthday at the end of December and doesn’t deserve to be shortchanged for being born during ♫♪the most wonderful time of the year! ♪♫. So, in an effort to be both teacher and student, I am going to lay out 3 things we can do to ease the potential financial stress this time of year and enjoy what is most important to us – spending time with family, eating good food, giving to others, and just feeling good!
- Plan and budget ahead. I tend not to think much about the holidays from February-October. January, I’m usually reeling and recuperating from overspending and vowing not to do it again next year. Then, I pay off the bills, tax time comes and all is right with the world again. Then I’m good until November hits and I start sweating bullets because I’m not prepared AGAIN for the holiday season. This year, meaning sometime between now and the end of January 2018, I am going to plan NOW for the 2018 holiday season. This means that hubby and I will sit down and decide our tentative plans and how much we think it will cost.
- Allocate said budget throughout the year. Once we have the budget, we can break it down into 10 months of manageable savings payments to our Holiday piggy bank. So, let’s say we decide to travel, buy all the gifts we desire, and all of that comes to $1000. We divide the $1000 by 10 months and plan to save $100 each month. We would include this as a regular bill payment in our monthly budget and pay to our savings account. Some people would prefer a completely separate account labeled holiday spending etc, whatever floats your boat-the impoartant thing is to save! I plan on using our regular savings account as I know the minimum we try to keep in it, so I know what is above and beyond and can track fairly easily.
- Talk about it! I think what get us in trouble many times are the expectations we put on others and ourselves. I truly believe that people that care about you do not want you to have anxiety, go into further debt, etc to get them gifts that they may or may not even like. What our loved ones really want are to connect and make memories that last for years and lifetimes. Let’s renegotiate expectations and social norms. Let’s talk about it. Let’s come up with different expectations! Maybe we pull names instead of everyone buying a gift for everyone? or maybe we decide not to give gifts at all and everyone just spend time together? Or maybe we decide to pull together and go volunteer our time together to helping others less fortunate? There are lots of ideas. We just ultimately have to get over the initial hurdle of bringing it up! More times than not, we find that we are all in the same boat!
I hope these tips are helpful. I’ll check in next year to see how it went! Please share some tips you have for spreading holiday cheer while maintaining financial responsibility & sanity during the holiday season! As always, continue to enjoy and enhance your life-#enLife!
MK