The thought of saving money for Christmas, birthday’s or gift exchanges makes me cringe. Not because I don’t want to do it, but because I know I need to. Planning a holiday budget is an important part of budgeting. I put together a free 5 Easy ways to Save Money Fast guide just for you, make sure you sign up to get your copy!
First things first, let’s talk about budgets. Having a budget is crucial to being successful with your finances. And there are many tools you can use to help you along the way. If you are mobile-driven like I am, check out The 5 Best Budget App (s) to Make Your Life Easier to see which tools are best for you.
Now let’s dig into how we set this up, so we can be successful. Here are some easy tips on how to make a Christmas budget you can stick to.
Plan Early – Christmas Budget
Planning your Christmas Budget early is probably apparent, but the earlier in the year you start preparing your Christmas Budget, the more time you will have actually to save.
Make a plan and do it early in the year. At the beginning of each year, we sit down and write out every birthday and holiday gift we know we need a gift for.
Then we add in a couple extras for friends or people we might have forgotten about. Birthday gifts get added to this list as well including things like Easter Baskets and Halloween treats for us.
Determine Savings Amount for your Holiday Budget
Once you have an idea of what you are going to spend, determining how much you need to save is relatively easy.
Take your total amount, divide by the number of weeks left to that event and divide the numbers.
So if you need to Save $1,000 and you have ten weeks to do it. You will need to save $100 per week to make your budget.
Make it part of your household budget
Now that you know the amount you need to save for your Christmas budget, you need to put that into action. Add a line item to your household budget for gifts.
Ensure that you are saving the amount you’ve allocated towards gifts and that you set it aside as you do with groceries, clothing, etc.
If your household budget doesn’t allow for this line item, you will need to make some adjustments to either fit it in or determine gift giving is not something you can do right now.
Does budgeting work?
Having a detailed spending plan for your Christmas Budget is so important.
Having a budget for every dollar you spend is a sure fire way to meet your monthly financial goals. Know where your money is being spent, so you are controlling your finances not allowing your finances to control you.
If you haven’t received your free 5 Easy ways to Save Money Fast guide now is the time to enroll and get your money savings tip guide.
