We all know that one person who starts buying gifts for the holiday season before anyone else. Is it insanity, or is it wisdom? Before you know it the days will be shorter, snow will blanket the ground, and the holiday stress will be here. You could save yourself some of that trouble by planning for the holiday season right now. Here’s a few tips on how!
Set A Budget
If you don’t set a budget it’s quite easy to overspend on gifts, especially if you’re not rigorously keeping track of your expenses. Determine how much you feel comfortable spending, and then see how much money you’ll need to put away each paycheck to make that happen.
Create A Shopping List
You should make a shopping list based on your budget. Write down everyone you plan to buy for and how much money you’ll allow yourself to spend on each person. Make sure that matches how much you’re willing to spend in total!
Christmas Club Account
Start your own United Financial Christmas Club account. We can set up a Payroll Deduction for you so that a certain amount is taken from your paycheck automatically and placed in the Christmas Club account. You’ll have access to the money you’ve been saving in early October so that you can get a head start on your holiday shopping!
Change Your Gift Giving Traditions
This might be a hard one to hear, but if you’re adamant on sticking to your budget it might be best to change up some of your gift giving traditions. Have a large extended family? Implement a new gift giving tradition. Something as simple as Secret Santa will help to keep yourself from going over budget. Secret Santa allows you to only buy one gift, instead of buying individual gifts for every person. You can also look into gift exchanges such as a Yankee Swap or White Elephant.