Holiday Planning on a Tight Budget

The holidays are just around the corner, and the ACS Financial Readiness Program would like to provide you with some helpful tips to budget your holiday spending this year.
Holiday  shoppers, like Santa Claus, could stand a little belt tightening. With the economy still on the ropes, shrunken investment portfolios and dramatically rising costs for such things as health and homeowner’s insurance, many families should be keeping their holiday spending in check. That’s easier said than done. Americans routinely overspend what they plan to every holiday.

Here are some tips from Certified Financial Planner™ professionals to help you keep your spending in check and the New Year free of burdensome holiday debt.

• Put a bright bow on your budget. Shopping for gifts during the holidays is no different from shopping the rest of the year—determine how much you can realistically afford to spend.
• Don’t count on money you don’t have.
• Make a gift list and stick to it.
• Start early. You may not be in the holiday shopping mood yet, but shopping early provides several advantages.
• Start late. The opposite strategy is to start late—after the holidays, when retailers hold big post-holiday sales.
• Pay cash. If you’ve got the discipline and the cash to pay off all credit-card charges every month, fine. But even then, it’s easier to overspend with a credit card than by paying cold hard cash.
• Be creative! Homemade gifts or offers to baby sit or do something special for someone can be an inexpensive yet very personal gift.
• Start saving for next year.

 

Holiday Alerts!

• Gift Cards: Out of $80 Billion purchased, $8 Billion will never be spent.
• Bank Gift Cards: Cards cost up to $10 and the recipient pays an extra $1 on each transaction.
• Be aware of advertisements in stores, direct mailings and internet.
• Watch out for online scams!
• Be aware of debit card fraud.
• Inventory your credit cards after each shopping trip.

 

Holiday Blunders to Avoid!

It may seem too basic to bother with, but sit down now and draw up a holiday budget -- yes, right now. This helps for two reasons:

1. It will give you some perspective on what you think you spend versus what you actually do.
2. You can panic now before you actually go out and spend the cash.

But even careful spenders can find themselves in post-holiday panic when the January credit-card bills roll in. The holidays are an emotional minefield, and one misstep can blow your budget to smithereens. Think before you buy!

For more information on how to keep your wallet and bank account happy, be sure to check out an upcoming ACS Financial Readiness class or contact the ACS office at  (334) 255-3815.