The holiday season is here in full swing and many of you are already making plans on how you will spend your Christmas holidays. This may mean a lot of decorating, family celebrations or even travelling. All the planning could make you get carried away easily. Seasonal overspending can throw your finances off track but it doesn’t have to. I hope these tips can help you avoid outrageous spending during this season.
- Create a holiday budget
Having gone through a pandemic year where we have mostly been cooped up in our homes, it’s very easy to get carried away with the festive season and overspend. Create a holiday spending plan that you are likely to stick to. Remember to make the budget based on what you can really afford. Write a checklist of what you intend to buy and an approximate amount you are willing to spend. Knowing what to buy will help you determine how much you are willing to spend and help to avoid impulse buying. Breaking your budget to smaller bits like weekly basis will help you stay on track.
- Look for deals while shopping
Now that you have a budget and a checklist, you need to watch out for deals when you are shopping. With a list, you can always be ready to take advantage of deals when they pop up. This will actually save you money since you will buy the items at lower prices.
- Cut down on convenience costs
All of the time we spend shopping often leads to other unnecessary purchases like expensive lunches, coffee or snacks. These expenses may appear very minor but they could add up to a significant amount during the month.
- Track what you spend
Track what you spend on a daily basis. Not knowing where your money is going is one of the reasons people overspend during the holiday season. You need to take a record of what you spend on a daily basis as you compare it to your budget. This will help you pursue your due diligence by sticking to your budget.
- Avoid over gifting
I know it is the holidays and everyone is in a generous mood. If you have a large family or have lots of friends and people to gift, you need to get creative on the gifts that you will hand out. A small thoughtful gift is better than an expensive one that will stretch your finances. Also, you don’t need to gift everyone you know or spend as much as others do on gifts.
One way to prevent having a problem is by planning for the future as early as possible. As you keep your holiday spending in check this year, set apart money for January as it’s very easy to overspend and forget to keep away something for January. You can keep away your funds in a savings account such as the ABC Pure Savers accounts that gives you the best interest rate for savings.