Unclaimed Money

We haven’t even carved our pumpkins, and the Christmas trees are already up at the local retailers’. Their objective is to have you start thinking about Christmas now, start spending now, and keep on spending until the end of the year. They are counting on you to make their holiday profitable.

There is nothing wrong with thinking about Christmas now. In fact, if you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you do. Christmas, like any other expenditure, is best on your wallet when it is planned for. Set a budget. Determine how much can you save from every per pay period between now and Christmas.  Start putting that money aside now.  Make a list of people you will be buying for. Now using your budget amount determine how much you can spend per person. Make it equal by dividing the budget by the number of people, or allocate by who you’d like to spend more on. Beside their name note any ideas that you have for them. Keep your list in your wallet. Trust me this is the best place for it.

Start spending now. Go ahead! Look for sales on the items on your list. Keep the gifts in your budget range, and don’t forget to mark the name on the list “completed” when you have their gifts.

Keep on spending. . . until you have marked all the names off your list. Then STOP!  This is why it is important to keep your list with you. If you are out shopping and see the most adorable thing for baby Q, stop, pull out your list. Do you still need something for baby Q? Have you spent your budgeted amount there? Don’t buy it if you have!

Let the retailers decorate their trees in October. They may intend for it to make you spend more, but you know that by planning now, and shopping carefully until the holidays, you can have a Merry Christmas without the burden of spending more than you could afford.