Ok, I know it’s early to be talking about Christmas and the holidays but here’s a sure fire way NOT to spend too much money during the holidays.
Alter how much you deposit in your online savings accounts at HSBCDirect or EmigrantDirect.com or wherever you automatically save money for your “Rainy Day” or “Emergency” account. So for a simple example, let’s say you’ve setup your deposits to be $100.00 every month from January thru December. I know that’s a lot for some folks so stay with me, I’m using these figures just for the example. You could setup your savings something like the following:
January thru June – $100.00 every month
July thru September – $150.00 every month
October thru December – $200.00 every month
I know it’s hard for some folks to save more money for the rest of the year but what this will do is help you from NOT spending too much during the holidays. You might be thinking that you’re saving more money so you can have more to spend but remember I’m preaching NOT using your “Rainy Day”, “Emergency” money for Christmas and gifts during the holidays.
I believe that people, especially young folks remember the time, attention and interactions you have with them during the holidays not what you give them. Some of you know this by simply asking a young person to recall what you bought them for the holidays last year. A lot of times they don’t remember.
Think of your past holidays where you might remember an uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, etc. who did special things that stuck in your mind as being great memories. These are the types of presents to save up for.
So start saving for the holidays by coming up with the gifts of communication and interaction with those you’ll be celebrating with, funny stories, stupid old stories that “Uncle Bill” always tells every year, games, songs, activities, etc.