Tag: holiday

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Buy the Darn Holiday Cards! Achieving Financial Balance during the Holiday Season!

Hi Enlifers! Happy Holidays! Speaking of holidays, we had an unexpected snowstorm the other day – well kind of unexpected-the forecast said snow, but I thought-“oh-it’ll just be a dusting” and we ended up with a complete Winter Wonderland! This unexpected spill of the white stuff resulted in some much appreciated time with family and our neighbors! Which leads me to this post. What’s most important during the holidays and I would argue all the time? People and Relationships! Goes back to what one of my favorite personal finance consultants, Suze Orman, used to say – “People First, Then Money, Then Things”. So over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to come up with a holiday spend plan aka budget. I’ve been very sensitive to spending unnecessarily and questioning EVERY purchase lately as I work intentionally toward a minimalist lifestyle and financial independence. Whenever I look to purchase something, I usually evaluate the purchase with these two questions: 1) Do I really NEED this or WANT this? AND 2) Do I have something already that I could use to accomplish the same goal that I want to achieve with this purchase”. Now, I have to say that this combo has really been working for me lately – It has really sparked my creativity with things! For example, we have a kitchen drawer that won’t close, so in order to fix the problem, I was looking to purchase a new drawer assembly, but instead I decided to try an idea using some magnets and super glue I had already and lo and behold, it worked! and I spent $0. Take THAT Amazon shopping cart! And just yesterday, I was in the market for some all-purpose cleaner for the kitchen and just decided to fill up my previous bottle with a mix of water, dish detergent and splash of bleach. Works like a charm!!  BUT as I have contemplated the holiday expenses, I haven’t been feeling so great about some of the initial money saving decisions like nixing the holiday cards we normally send out every year (I figured it could save me time AND money) or staying home to save on travel or actually not giving gifts at all!  The funny thing is that yesterday, spending time  and having fun with friends and family made me think of the ONE thing I hadn’t considered in my holiday expenses…..Joy!. Would this purchase bring me joy? Would it bring joy to others? Wow. Eureka! Though I could definitely save some money by not sending out holiday cards this year, it did not sit well with my spirit. That normal high I get when I save money did not equal the joy  that this purchase would bring.  We’ve been sending holiday cards every year since we got married and I always imagined that my future self would one day put each year’s card together in a collage and see how we’ve changed and grown over the last 20 or 25 years. What a gift that would be. I’d hate to look back and see one year missing because I chose money over memory making. So I decided to buy the darn cards! Now I didn’t do it in the same way as I had in previous years-spending $150 or more in cards and postage, but instead I opted for less expensive photo cards which doesn’t actually affect my joy quotient and will be about one third of the historical costs including postage! I found the balance of spending less and experiencing joy. I’m geeked and happy as I’ll have a card for 2017 and all that 2017 represented (like starting this blog) and hopefully put a smile on some of my family and friend’s faces that have come to expect this yearly goody! So in closing, I urge you to choose balance-choose joy during the holiday season! Enjoy the season-Enhance your life-Buy the darn holiday cards! #enlife

In Love & Joy!

MK

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The Holiday Financial Conundrum: 3 Things to Reduce Financial Anxiety During the Holiday Season

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!

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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