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It’s that magical time of year again- with special music, hot chocolate, family gatherings, parties and for many people stress, over spending and bad financial decisions. For the next 5 days I will be publishing my 5 Ways in 5 Days To Save BIG On Your Holiday Shopping which hopefully can get you off on the right foot for your holiday season and make your New Year happy as well without the burden of debt.
The first step to really being able to enjoy this time of year is to set a realistic budget and stick to it!
Most people set their budgets backwards- they make a list of expenses and then add it up to a number. That number must be what it costs to have a good holiday right? This leads to overspending and regret plus months of cutting corners to get the credit cards paid off or savings account replenished.
That’s the wrong way to do it!
Look at your expenses, your savings and your income. You (and your spouse or whomever you share your financially responsibility) then sit down and come up with a number. Let’s say you are going to spend $1000 this year. And THEN you assign how much money you will spend in each expense area.
List all areas where you expect to spend money and give each a dollar value:
This way you aren’t setting a budget by what you think you need but by what you actually HAVE.
If you want some more high tech help for your budgeting check out 10 Apps That Can Help You Save BIG During The Holidays [2].
Take some time today and look through your bank statements and shopping lists. This first step is CRITICAL in making sure you don’t overspend. I promise after today the steps get much more fun- store discounts, shopping strategies and more.
With a solid budget (and the resolve to stick to it) you can get this shopping season off to the right start!
Ready to keep going? Check out Day 2- The Shopping Holidays [3]!