Lesson 44: As We Move into the Silly Season, Let's Aim for Sanity
Hello Revolutionists,
You have completed 10 months of this year long Saving Revolution. If you have followed faithfully since January you are well and truly making financial progress. You may have an Emergency Fund on it's way to being fully funded and your Spending Plan should be up and working for you. You may have updated your will (or have one for the first time). These past ten months have been used to safeguard you and your family's finances and ensure a debt free future.
And now we move in the Silly Season. It's not called that because it sounds funny. This time of year it is easy to go silly and forget all you have learned so far this year. And that means you need to be sane and sensible and safeguard your progress.
This Christmas your goal is to make fiscally responsible decisions, that fit within your Spending Plan and everything you have put in place this year.
This month we're going to look at all the elements of the holiday season, from teacher gifts to Christmas dinner and gift buying to practical holiday travel tips. The key to your success this year will be all the financial tools you have available to you as a member of the Cheapskates Club.
The number one tool is the Own Your Christmas Countdown. If you haven't joined yet, do so now. You can catch up and enjoy a debt free, stress free Christmas season. Other tools are the Article Archive, Member Forum and the Christmas Tip Sheets. Use them. They are there for your benefit.
In your Spending Plan you should have a category for Christmas (or celebrations, special occasions or whatever you have called it). This is your Christmas budget. It is very easy to blow this budget completely - and that is just what you don't want to do. A survey conducted by the Australian National Retailers Association shows an average person will part with just over $1,000 just on Christmas spending. That's fine if you have it in your Spending Plan, but if you don't you need to plan your spending carefully or you could find yourself paying for this Christmas next Christmas!
Deciding how much to spend
Get your financial notebook and open to a new page. Look at your Spending Plan and decide how much you can comfortably and sanely spend this year. That means spending without going into debt. Write that figure in the upper right-hand corner of the page in big, red letters.
Now, did you carefully and sanely calculate that figure or did you guestimate? If you chose the guestimate route, stop right now. Go back and do some calculations. This is not the time to be guessing about spending money. Your Christmas spending should not be leaving other categories low, nor should it be adding to your debt or your stress levels.
If you are blessed with a bonus from work or share dividends or interest payments or some other windfall, don't spend it without a second thought. Remain conscious about your spending, just as you are with your groceries. You wouldn't buy a new car or a new home without doing some careful budgeting, and that's just what you're going to do for your Christmas spending.
You have the amount you can spend, now you need to write a Spending Plan for it. List everything you need to buy: food, drink, gifts, wrapping, postage, cards, decorations, new clothes, travel, anything at all you will be paying for this Christmas.
How much should you allow? A reasonable Christmas budget would be the equivalent of one week's pay. Anything above that and you're running into the over-spending category and it's time to reign in the spending and re-think the Spending Plan.
A hint that will help you with this: Christmas is just one day. Christmas dinner is just one meal on one day of the year. Take a good look at what you have at home already. Don't buy what you don't need, use up what you have on hand.
You can and will have a wonderful festive season without going broke if you stick to the plan.
Lesson 44 Challenge: The junk mail has already started filling letterboxes and inboxes, full of specials for just about everything. You might also be receiving coupons, either in the letterbox or via email, that you can use for additional discounts. Make a list in your financial notebook and jot down the item, price and store. Print or cut out any coupons you can use and slip them into an envelope and put it in your purse. As you shop remember to check your notebook and the envelope so you pay the lowest possible price. If you'd like to have fun, keep a running tally of the money you've saved. And if you really want to have fun, transfer that amount to your savings account, because money isn't really saved until it's safely in the bank; until then it's just not spent.
You have completed 10 months of this year long Saving Revolution. If you have followed faithfully since January you are well and truly making financial progress. You may have an Emergency Fund on it's way to being fully funded and your Spending Plan should be up and working for you. You may have updated your will (or have one for the first time). These past ten months have been used to safeguard you and your family's finances and ensure a debt free future.
And now we move in the Silly Season. It's not called that because it sounds funny. This time of year it is easy to go silly and forget all you have learned so far this year. And that means you need to be sane and sensible and safeguard your progress.
This Christmas your goal is to make fiscally responsible decisions, that fit within your Spending Plan and everything you have put in place this year.
This month we're going to look at all the elements of the holiday season, from teacher gifts to Christmas dinner and gift buying to practical holiday travel tips. The key to your success this year will be all the financial tools you have available to you as a member of the Cheapskates Club.
The number one tool is the Own Your Christmas Countdown. If you haven't joined yet, do so now. You can catch up and enjoy a debt free, stress free Christmas season. Other tools are the Article Archive, Member Forum and the Christmas Tip Sheets. Use them. They are there for your benefit.
In your Spending Plan you should have a category for Christmas (or celebrations, special occasions or whatever you have called it). This is your Christmas budget. It is very easy to blow this budget completely - and that is just what you don't want to do. A survey conducted by the Australian National Retailers Association shows an average person will part with just over $1,000 just on Christmas spending. That's fine if you have it in your Spending Plan, but if you don't you need to plan your spending carefully or you could find yourself paying for this Christmas next Christmas!
Deciding how much to spend
Get your financial notebook and open to a new page. Look at your Spending Plan and decide how much you can comfortably and sanely spend this year. That means spending without going into debt. Write that figure in the upper right-hand corner of the page in big, red letters.
Now, did you carefully and sanely calculate that figure or did you guestimate? If you chose the guestimate route, stop right now. Go back and do some calculations. This is not the time to be guessing about spending money. Your Christmas spending should not be leaving other categories low, nor should it be adding to your debt or your stress levels.
If you are blessed with a bonus from work or share dividends or interest payments or some other windfall, don't spend it without a second thought. Remain conscious about your spending, just as you are with your groceries. You wouldn't buy a new car or a new home without doing some careful budgeting, and that's just what you're going to do for your Christmas spending.
You have the amount you can spend, now you need to write a Spending Plan for it. List everything you need to buy: food, drink, gifts, wrapping, postage, cards, decorations, new clothes, travel, anything at all you will be paying for this Christmas.
How much should you allow? A reasonable Christmas budget would be the equivalent of one week's pay. Anything above that and you're running into the over-spending category and it's time to reign in the spending and re-think the Spending Plan.
A hint that will help you with this: Christmas is just one day. Christmas dinner is just one meal on one day of the year. Take a good look at what you have at home already. Don't buy what you don't need, use up what you have on hand.
You can and will have a wonderful festive season without going broke if you stick to the plan.
Lesson 44 Challenge: The junk mail has already started filling letterboxes and inboxes, full of specials for just about everything. You might also be receiving coupons, either in the letterbox or via email, that you can use for additional discounts. Make a list in your financial notebook and jot down the item, price and store. Print or cut out any coupons you can use and slip them into an envelope and put it in your purse. As you shop remember to check your notebook and the envelope so you pay the lowest possible price. If you'd like to have fun, keep a running tally of the money you've saved. And if you really want to have fun, transfer that amount to your savings account, because money isn't really saved until it's safely in the bank; until then it's just not spent.