Have you written your Christmas budget yet?
If you haven’t, now is the time to start!
It’s such an easy time to overspend which then puts a whole dampener on it afterwards when you find yourself with a credit card balance you can’t pay off or struggling with cashflow for months to come.
My tips:
- Write a list of Christmas gifts you need to buy and allocate a maximum $ amount to each gift or person.
- If you’ve got a big family, suggest a Kris Kringle so that you can buy one really great gift instead of a whole lot of little ones.
- If you’ve got kids, include some experience tickets in their gifts so that covers the entry cost of some school holiday activities.
- Get ready for the Black Friday sales in case you can buy planned gifts on sale – but don’t get carried away. Stick to you list!!!
- Plan your menu for family celebrations, stick to your budget and don’t go too overboard. Start buying non-perishable items now or when you see them on sale.
- Budget for a holiday or some fun family or friend activities. Summertime is all about getting outside and making the most of the weather and the beautiful places we live. Do some Googling and find free activities on for the holidays in your neighbourhood and plan to go!
Christmas and summer holidays don’t need to be a time to get yourself into a whole lot of debt but, just as importantly, they’re not a time to be a big scrooge.
The solution is to create a plan and a budget and stick to both. Mindful spending really is the key at this time of year.
Have fun and let me know if you have any great money management tips for this time of year.
