As warmer weather approaches, Christmas gifts are probably the farthest thing from your mind. You might even still be struggling with the bills from last Christmas. The best way to guarantee that you won’t be in the same boat this time next year is to start planning for your 2008 Christmas purchases right now.
Here are a few different ways to fund your Christmas savings:
Open a new savings account just for your Christmas. Set aside a small amount of each paycheck to place into your savings. By saving an amount as small as $10 each week, you can have as much as $500 in time for Christmas.
As long as you’re making contributions to a savings account, you might as well sign up for direct deposit. With direct deposit, you’ll never be tempted to forego this week’s contribution because you think you might need the extra cash.
Get a summer job. Put those extra daylight hours to good use by picking up some extra work this summer. If you are paid an hourly wage, you can pick up a few extra shifts at work. If you’re salary, consider moonlighting for a limited time. A short-term job is perfect for paying for a few extras. Employers will be thrilled to have a responsible person during their busier season and even more thrilled to know that they won’t have to feel guilty over laying you off when the busy season is over.
Fill a jar with money. Okay, that sounds too good to be true, but think about all of the change that you routinely carry in your pocket or in the bottom of your purse. Instead of slowing down checkout lines trying to count out exact change to the cashier, try collecting that money in a jar or bucket. In no time at all, you’ll have a jar filled with your Christmas spending money. Take this suggestion with one warning: if you’re one of those people who use your debit card for everything this plan may not work out for you.
Saving in advance for Christmas is just an all-around good idea. It won’t cost you much each week to prepare for your Christmas shopping now and you’ll be much more likely to control your spending if you have a definite spending limit. And next year, you won’t be left dealing with leftover Christmas bills.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Annie Jones // May 19, 2008 at 10:36 am
I use an envelope system for budgeting (not actual envelopes, but a computer program). I divided last year’s Christmas spending by 52 (DH gets paid weekly) and put that much into an envelope specifically for Christmas. This year will be so much easier to handle than those before.
2 Rachel @ Master Your Card // May 20, 2008 at 2:47 am
I usually start thinking about Christmas in September as I run a business selling books and we make most of our pre Christmas sales in October. I make sure I have enough stock in and am well prepared for the rush in the next two months. This tends to mean that I am not prepared for buying of gifts and food and leave that till the last minute. But I do normally have some money to pay for them by then!
3 Tiffany // Jun 11, 2008 at 9:14 am
We have a “gifts” savings account that we automatically deposit money into each month. This is the account we pull from for wedding, birthday, baby shower, and christmas gifts. Around Christmas we still end up pulling from our regular checking account because we haven’t perfectly figured out how much we need in this account, but it sure is nice to turn to when that wedding or graduation announcement turns up in the mail!
4 cristy // Jun 26, 2009 at 11:40 am
not only put money away, do a alot of christmas gifts by hand, people love homemade gifts.
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