Avoid the Holiday Credit Blowout

Last updated on: August 18, 2011 at 9:35 am by Tim

Avoid the Holiday Credit Blowout 2011-08-18T09:35:13-05:00 Tim

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This may seem like an odd time to bring up the holiday season, but now is the ideal time to plan start planning ahead. Of most concern for the frugally minded, is the tendency for the holidays to creep up and destroy all your carefully laid financial plans. The killed combination of gifts, travel and feasting often puts a dent in the budget that takes months to repair, especially if you just put it on credit and forget about it. There is a better way to have your delicious Christmas cake, and eat it too.

The first step is to get a sense of how much the season is likely to cost you. For the sake of an example, lets say you need $500. This will vary from family to family and person to person but we aren’t after an exact figure, just a rough estimate

Step two is to figure out how much you could conceivably put away every week into a special savings account. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount. If you put away $20 a week starting in August you will have an extra $400 by Christmas.

Putting these two together you can work out roughly what the holiday season will cost you above what you could put aside. In out example, you will now only need to reach into your pocket for $100 extra over the holidays, not $500. This is a very rough example but it gives you a sense of how much you could save up.

The easiest way to do this is, as mentioned before, to use a special savings account that is separate from your checking account. These accounts are a good idea as they earn a little extra interest and combined with regular automatic deposits they make a wonderful set-and-forget savings plan.

Christmas comes but once a year and it pays to be ready financially. The holiday season is stressful enough without money worries so do yourself the favor and get saving!

Have you already started your Christmas savings fund?

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