Save Money And Stay Within Your Budget This Christmas!

Budgeting often has a huge stigma attached to it and can seem like an insurmountable task to many people at first glance. Throw in the holidays and all the pressure we feel to buy and spend, and the idea of budgeting easily gets thrown out the door. But this is a time where it is especially important to have a budget and stick with it! Here are a few advantages that a budget can offer and some ways to be sure you are staying on top of it:

Don’t have to come up with the money all at once

If you sit down and work out your budget early, you can save for Christmas shopping throughout the year. A proper budget takes time to develop, and during the first 3-6 months you will do quite a bit of “tweaking,” but you will get the hang of it. If you budget $50 a month to put into a savings account for Christmas, you will have $600 to spend after a year! If you did not budget for this year, know that it is something you can start on right away for next year. You will be so much happier when December arrives and you don’t have to panic about where the money will come to pay for the gifts (this is also a good idea for saving up for things such as insurance, car repairs, and medical bills, but that’s a blog for another day!).

Can keep you from impulse buys and more debt

If you have a budget, you have set down an amount that you can spend on your holiday shopping. When you go to the store with your list of names and gifts, you will be less likely to grab items off the shelf that don’t fit into your budget. This is great because it can help keep you from getting further into debt. You know what you can spend, and if you stick to that, then you will be much happier in January when the credit card bill arrives than if you were to go out and spend willy-nilly on all the gifts the stores are pushing (it is so easy to want to throw them into your cart when you see them sitting there in the glamorous display with the big “sale” sticker on them).

Make a list

As mentioned above, you can keep from impulse spending with a list. Before you go out to do your holiday shopping, grab a pen and paper and maybe even the newspaper ads. Sit down and make a list of all the people you want to get gifts for, and then write down the amount you want to spend on them. Find gifts in this price range. When you actually head out to the stores, stick to your list!

It’s not all about Quantity

Remember that it’s not all about how much you spend. A gift can mean so much more if it is from the heart and shows how much you care than one that is expensive and flashy. Show your family and friends how much you care this Christmas – bake cookies, get a set of pens and a nice pen holder for your sister who is always looking for something to write with. Give a coupon good for a day of fishing with your uncle Arnie who always loves telling you tales of his days out at the lake. You don’t have to spend a fortune to show people you care.

We here at iMoneyCoach hope that you have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Tags: budget, quality, save money at Christmas