The holidays are in full swing and everyone’s buying presents for our friends and families… and then buying some more… and then some more.
Here’s a couple ideas to avoid the headache and heartburn and dry mouth that often accompany our January credit card bills.
An ounce of spending hangover prevention is worth a pound of spending hangover cure.
The Spending Bucket Method
1. Decide how much you want to spend on presents and put that money into your short-term savings account (the one attached to your checking).
2. Use se your debit card to buy gifts (for easy tracking)
3. Transfer money from savings to checking as you go.
4. Replenish if necessary – even if you decide to replenish the funds, you’ll do so thoughtfully and deliberately. (We overspend the most when we’re not watching at all.)
The Toys ‘R Us Method
When I was a kid, I’d go through toy catalogues ripping pages out for the toys I wanted.
Then my parents would take me to Toys ‘R Us and I’d put everything on my list in the cart plus whatever else caught my eye.
While my mom shuffled me to the car “Santa” would buy…err make… SOME of the stuff I wanted.
It was an easy way stay on budget while still indulging their kid’s every desire.
And by the time Christmas rolled around I never remembered what I put in the basket anyways, so it felt like I got everything.
Obviously, Toys R Us is resting in peace, but pretty sure you can operationalize this online.
Share your ideas!
Whether your a Financial Zen Member or not, I’d love to hear your ideas!
How are you doing it with your kids?
What kind of budgeting hacks do you use?
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