Give wisely this Christmas
According to a recent survey by BIG research, Americans plan to spend $816.69 on holiday-related purchases and an additional $106.67 on special “non-gift” purchases. look at it’s on sale!), this upcoming holiday season.This brings the total expected budget for holiday “offerings” and spending in 2007 to $923.36/household.
For those of you who have planned Christmas all year long, that works out to just under $80 a month. Not that bad. The problem is that most of us don’t budget for Christmas all year long. Then, as the holiday season approaches, we spend more than we plan to make sure we give people enough to make them happy with us. Then, when the credit card bills roll in, we wonder what went wrong and vow to do something different next year. Sounds familiar?
So what can we do differently this year? Here are three tips to help make your holiday season truly merry.
1. Set a limit on how much you are going to spend and stick to it.
How about making a list of family and friends you want to buy a gift for? Then take the amount you have to spend on gifts and divide it among your list. This will help you make decisions about who you really need to buy gifts for and how much you can spend on them.
two. give creatively
Most of us may find that we really don’t have enough to spend on everyone. Who says you have to buy something to give a gift? Well, except for retailers? How about giving certificates or coupons for services to the people you love? My family received a coupon for sixteen hours of remodeling services from one of our relatives last Christmas. For those of you familiar with my lack of building talent, this was a welcome and needed gift. To be honest, it’s one of the only gifts I received last year that I remember. What can you offer someone this Christmas? Maybe it’s something homemade that doesn’t cost you anything.
3. Remember what is truly important.
Many times in the rush of the holidays with the pressure and guilt of trying to do everything we think we should do, we forget what this time of year is all about. Things like spending time with family and giving thanks for everything we have. If you can’t afford to give gifts this year, you’ll really be fine. They are just things. Things we spend too much money on and take months to pay back, creating more stress and pressure in our lives. Instead, why not be different this year? Let’s enjoy this season with those we like to be with the most and give them our time and our hearts.
I would encourage you to start, or continue, with a plan to take control of your finances and build a future for your family that no longer includes runaway spending and mountains of debt. If we create habits that consist of planning and living with a purpose, then we can really achieve our financial goals. Maybe this year, we can even put that $80 a month aside for Christmas next December.
