Christmas is Coming! Are you Prepared?

Have you already started your Christmas shopping? If not, you can start doing several things to help you avoid the financial toll that this holiday can take on your budget. There are several ways to avoid this but they all have one thing in common – early preparation. Early preparation helps to avoid using a credit card. Christmas is a planned event and not an emergency. Don’t take money from your emergency fund.

Saving for Christmas

If you are not a member of a Christmas club through a bank, you can start your own “club” by opening a special savings account. Deposit money every time you get paid. Even if it is $5, it will accumulate and be useful at Christmas shopping time. If you start in January, figure out a reasonable budget, divide by the number of paychecks that you get in a year and then sock that money away. If you are starting now, do the same thing only dividing the number by how many paychecks are left between now and December 21st or so. If that is too much money to drain from your budget every paycheck, then adjust the amount down.

Think of ways to find extra money. Return something you recently bought but decided not to keep. Take that money and buy something for Christmas for someone on your gift list. Put in a medical claim reimbursement form and take that money and buy a gift. Make sure you claim that rebate and use that money for gifts.

How to Shop Cheaply for Christmas

There are still garage sales so take advantage of them. When my kids were younger, I bought almost all of their presents at garage sales. Sometimes I bought new toys but often they were used toys that were in excellent shape. Did my kids notice the difference on Christmas day? No. Did they notice when they got older? Yes. I told them that it was all we could afford and for the and they accepted that. The point is that they liked the gifts and didn’t care if they were used. A used gift is better than no gift. Garage sales are also good to find new items suitable for gifts for adults.

Comb thrift stores and consignment stores for good deals. I often find new items there too.

Start crafting something for the adults on your list. I have one daughter that crocheted us all beautiful scarves or hats one Christmas. They were very nice gifts.

Here are links to other articles about how to save money on Christmas:

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/christmas/Christmas.htm

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/10/17/ask-the-readers-favorite-frugal-christmas-ideas/

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf933280.tip.html