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Avoid That Christmas Loan! Discovering tips for holiday shopping can help you avoid taking on a Christmas loan and put you in a better financial position for the entire year. For some, holiday spending can become a debt trap that repeats itself year after year, so the earlier you prepare the better off you will be.
Top 10 Tips For Less Holiday Spending
1. Plan Ahead
Planning ahead is the number one best tip for holiday spending. Is your house the center for Christmas entertaining for your family and friends? If so, start planning now. How many times will you be entertaining and what size group you will have each time? Estimating ahead can save you time, energy and money.
Make a list of the people you plan to buy holiday gifts for as well as gift ideas.
Plan for next year too. Consider a Christmas Club account. Open it now and contribute to it all year. You will be surprised at how much money you can accumulate painlessly over the year and be able to avoid taking out a Christmas loan next year.
I have a friend who saves all of the change in her wallet at the end of each day. She uses it to buy her Christmas gifts and is always surprised that it adds up to several hundred dollars at the end of the year.
2. Be Realistic About Holiday Spending
If you took out a Christmas loan and are still paying for gifts you bought last holiday season, you spent too much! Be more realistic this year about what you can afford.
3. Establish a Holiday Budget
Decide ahead what your budget will be for your holiday gift purchases. It is a great idea to assign an exact dollar figure that you will not exceed when buying a gift for each person on your list. That way you know exactly how much gift giving is going to cost you.
4. Start Early and Shop Wisely
If you start shopping early for holiday gifts you enjoy several benefits:
- You can take advantage of sales as they come along throughout the season.
- You are spreading your spending over a few months instead of taking it all out of one paycheck, or worse, creating one large credit card bill that will be even more difficult to pay off.
- You can give yourself a cooling off period for large purchases before you buy. If you still think you really need to buy it after thinking about it for a few days or a week, and it fits the budget, go ahead. If not you have saved yourself a lot of money. Many items look far less interesting a day or so after you have left the store.
Next 6 tips for holiday spending and avoiding that dreaded Christmas loan.
- Why You Need A Budget
- Creating A Budget
- What is your Household Income
- Budget Planning with a Variable Income
- What are Your Household Expenses
- What's Your Debt Load
- Percentages-Creating Realistic Household Budget
- Personal Budget Planning
- Setting Goals
- Get Organized!
- Planning - Long Term Expenses
- Track Family Spending
- Financial Advisor
- Repair Your Credit!
- Education Savings Plan
- Bad Spending Habits
- Budget Recipes
- Budget Friendly Family Entertainment
- Budget Family Vacation Ideas
- Saving With Coupons!
- Creative Gift Ideas
- Holiday Shopping Tips
- How To Avoid A Christmas Loan!
- Money Problems & Children
- Money Management For Children
- Teenagers Money Management
- Student Credit Card?
- Take The Financial Fitness Quiz
- Free Budget Worksheets
Slight was the thing I bought,
Small was the debt I thought,
Poor was the loan at best—
God! but the interest!
~ Paul Laurence Dunbar
To achieve financial freedom, ideas such as: listening to good advice, learning how to make a budget, understanding credit repair possibilities, avoiding the scams, and generally becoming more knowledgeable of the credit card business, can all play a role in eliminating credit card and other debt. Find out how to get control of your personal budget here.
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