The holiday shopping season is upon us, and I thought it might be a good time to give some ideas on how to make things a little easier on yourselves. For several years now, I've been a follower of a man named Dave Ramsey... he wrote a book called The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
that comes with this workbook The Total Money Makeover Workbook
. He is a money management genius - and actually we took a class at church that he leads via video - and I literally changed our lives: Financial Peace University which is held at churches all around the country.
that comes with this workbook The Total Money Makeover Workbook. He is a money management genius - and actually we took a class at church that he leads via video - and I literally changed our lives: Financial Peace University which is held at churches all around the country.
Anyway, one of the principals of Dave's plan is using what is called an envelope system - where you budget small amounts of cash to set aside for future expenses... when the cash is gone - you are done shopping for said expense. He recommends doing this system for a lot of household expenses on a monthly basis, but that didn't quite work for us - but there are things that it does work beautifully for... like Christmas, Birthdays, and the like.
Now, I know that in this day and age - we do a lot of shopping online... and with two infants - this year I'll likely do more than ever before via the interwebs. So what we do is shop online and then take the cash and deposit it back into our account... always paying for our online purchases with our debit card to make sure that we don't get into a credit card spending situation.
Another way that we make our shopping a bit more stress-free is to make a list of everyone you want to buy a gift for during the coming season. I write out each person - and then determine the amount that I'm willing to spend for each individual on that list. It can take some of the fun out of buying the perfect gift when you see it in the store, BUT it keeps you from getting into a shocking credit card bill opening period come January!
I am always determined to make my gift purchases fairly even for each type of person on my list too - so I set an amount we'll spend on parents, siblings, nieces/nephews, spouses, children, friends... and so on. It sometimes takes some tinkering with the amounts to make sure that you don't go over your budget - but it works for us. You may need to do a bit of this initially before setting your budget for the year as well - just to get an idea of what you need to be considering for that annual Christmas season amount.
Like Dave always says - Christmas happens every December 25th - so it shouldn't ever come as a shock to your budget! Plan ahead and you will be one step ahead of the game.
For more ideas check out Turned Loose. I joined in her Christmas themed carnival, and hopefully will be back with some more posts for you during this season of giving!
Great idea, Kim. Not one we'll employ since we don't plan to do any significant Christmas shopping, but for families and extended families, I imagine it would work well, but only with discipline! :)
ReplyDeletebah humbug. no interest in the holidays. i know i need to celebrate the reason for the season but my daddy is gone.
ReplyDeletegood post, i will just keep it in my back pocket for later.
I agree with saving money all year, you know that Christmas is the same day every year. I have never understood people that wait until the last minute and then complain because they are behind because of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAh, Kim, at last I have found my Christmas shopping twin! I could have written that post.
ReplyDeleteI have to second ALL of your recommendations. Money stress can put a damper on the holidays, but when you plan ahead and save, it adds joy to the giving.
P.S. I ordered almost half of my gifts from Amazon and got FREE shipping. Woo hoo!
Love your post, Kim. Thanks so much for being the first person to jump onto my carnival -- I was so excited when I saw your link!!
ReplyDeleteWe don't use the envelope system, but I am fastidious about entering our finances onto the computer (even cash. Even 97 cents for gas station coffee.) We have one savings account that holds our "envelopes" of money in the bank, saving for medical expenses, Christmas, yearly insurance payments, etc. I didn't think of talking about that in my post, so I'm glad you addressed the great idea!