Plan your Christmas budget easily with these methods. Calculate income and spendings with these methods that will help you manage your Christmas budget easily. Christmas budget planner.
I cannot believe that it has already past six months since 2020 and we approaching Christmas at light speed. This year has been something that we will all remember for the rest of our lives and the reason for that is well-known.
Fall hasn’t even started and we already make plans for Christmas and New Year. Christmas gift searches have increased online as early as June and July, and that’s great, it proves that many of you are responsible adults that care about your finances and are planning the Christmas budget accordingly.
In previous years, Americans were searching for Christmas topics around September, but this year because of the lockdown and more people being at home, online searches for Christmas gifts and holidays have started from June and July.
When it comes to Christmas, Americans are the biggest spenders and each year they become more and more extravagant according to this article from Investopedia.Â
A survey made by National Retail Federation revealed that on average a consumer will spend $1,047.83Â for Christmas shopping followed by an increase of 4% each year.
Splashing money on expensive gifts is not everyone’s cup of tea. Given the circumstances that we currently live in, most of the average people are choosing to calculate wisely their budget.
You might like to read:
Easy methods to make extra cash for Christmas
How to prepare for your next big purchase
How to get your personal finances in order
To escape the burden of Christmas shopping, I made this guide to help you plan ahead everything, from saving to budgeting properly, so you don’t step into the New Year with an empty bank account and tons of financial stress.
Decide if you choose to save versus using credit cards
Doing all the shopping in December can be overwhelming not only financial but timely also. Paying out of your salary for Christmas gifts, groceries and bills in December will leave you vulnerable, whether you want to admit it or not.
You could rely on credit cards too, but that comes with interest fees if you cannot repay the money on time.
At last, your best solution is to save as early as possible, even starting now in July will add up a significant amount of money to your Christmas budget.
Use this online calculator to easily estimate your savings goals. The Internet offers unlimited tools to help you make your life easier. Start by educating yourself financially and make a habit to plan your budget every week.
 I recently come across Pigly, a website that offers multiple financial tools, such as savings goals, calculators, personal budget planners, credit cards and many other features that are a joy to work with.
Once you finish a task, you can print the end result and add it to an envelope so you can easily remember all calculations that you make. At the end of the year, bring all the documents and estimate your goals and what else you have left to achieve.
Make a list with the people who will receive the gifts
The next step to planning your Christmas budget easily is to make a list with all the people who receive the gifts. Consider any guests, kids and family relatives. If you have an infant or toddler you have to be extra careful because the viable time period of a toy is very short and is a total waste to shelve it for several months waiting for Christmas.
Setup a budget for the Christmas gifts you want to buy
Estimate how much you planning to spend on overall all the Christmas gifts first and from there it will be easier to figure out what exactly you want to buy.
Write down the gifts wish list
Make a list of all the gifts that you want to buy. Once you have the list ready, search online and compare the price. Look out if the store you want to buy offers cashback points or has a monthly instalment plan such as Klarna.
Some clothing stores have implemented Klarna at checkout to help you spread the cost of your shopping over a few months period. If you follow this method, you won’t feel the strain when you spend a large amount of money.
Calculate all the spending that occur in December
To have the best Christmas time you should have all the spending covered. Use this calculator from Pigly to calculate all these spending’s, then take a screenshot or print out each result to help you easily track everything you spend. As I mentioned above, keep all the documents in a secured envelope and if possible organize them by each month. Take into account all these bills before you decide on planning your Christmas budget:
Groceries
Gas and electricity (allow extra funds for the winter months because you tend to have a higher electricity and gas bill during the winter). Check this post for 14 ways to get your home ready for winter and lower the energy bill.
Water bill
Home Insurance
Health insurance
Internet cable/phone/tv licence bills
Petrol for car
Car insurance, tax and MOT
Import fees for shopping abroad
Travel budget/ bus or train tickets
Unexpected spending (something around the house can get broken, such as a boiler or a fridge)
A night out budget/ Date budget (if you are single and planning to have fun with friends or maybe date someone that will be extra spending. Allow a few hundred for social activities too.
Most of the spending listed above can be paid a few months in advance; try to do that so you can enjoy Christmas freely without worrying about taxes and bills.
Make a list of all the incomes that you have
Whether you rely on your salary, bonuses, business income or any other form of money, is wise to be realistic and consider any unexpected situations that can impact your earnings.
There are people who count on their Christmas bonus from work to fund their shopping spree. This strategy may work but what if they don’t receive that bonus?
We all know that every country is struggling economically, and that should make you think that nothing is guaranteed. Most bonuses are based on the company’s earnings for the year. If the company didn’t do as well as expected you might find yourself in a pickle with a bonus that is much smaller than anticipated or worse, no bonus at all.
Make a plan A, B and C so you don’t find yourself in difficulty if by any means you are made redundant, or you fell sick. These things happen and you have no control over them, that’s why is better to plan ahead.
Decide how much to save each month
Based on how much you want to spend for Christmas, you can now estimate how much you need to save each month or week.
The most common mistake people make is waiting until the last minute to do their Christmas shopping, in turn, leaving them no time to plan for a budget.
Remember it is never too early to start thinking about your budget and more important to write it on paper. If you wait until the last minute and don’t write down your budget, I can guarantee that you are going to exceed what you intended to spend.
Choose where to keep your savings
You can easily keep the savings in your home, but that’s not the best strategy as you risk having your money stolen, or pinching from those savings.
My advice is to get a prepaid card and transfer the amount of money that you want to save every week to that account. A prepaid card is extremely useful to save money, but also to keep an accurate track of your spending.
If you use a prepaid card for shopping, you will eliminate all the small transactions that appear on your bank statement. I like to have a clean and organized bank statement and a prepaid card is the best solution to easily direct and access your funds.
Prepaid cards come with many functions and are best to use for online shopping if you don’t want to insert your debit card everywhere.
Many parents prefer to give their kids a weekly allowance through a prepaid card. By doing so, your kids will get used to being accountable for their spending, but also for you as a parent to have access to the statements and see how your kids are spending their allowance.
Consider some handmade gifts
If you have crafting skills, handmade gifts will save most of your Christmas budget. A small basket filled with such items as tinned fruits, pretzels, fruit cake, coffee beans, biscuits, cookies and milk chocolate can be a real winner for you, and by far the cheapest method for Christmas gifts on a budget.
Start Christmas shopping as early as possible
Forget about Black Friday and Cyber Monday to scoop the best deals. In the last years, I noticed that there are no real discounts on Black Friday and most retailers are putting the prices up two or three weeks before Black Friday so they can cut down the extra % which in fact results in the normal price per item. This article from which.co.uk proves my theory.
There are many reasons for buying Christmas presents as early as July and August. First of all, you will have plenty of time to research, calculate and order the gifts so they arrive on time.
The second reason is that you will save precious time and will avoid getting stuck in a mall crowd or traffic. Choose to buy online from the comfort of your home and use cashback points cards. December is great to visit Christmas markets and have a wonderful time with your family and friends, not carrying shopping bags.
Go for Christmas gifts on a budget that cost no more than $7 – $20 for each family member. Don’t even think to buy something more expensive for your older kid as you will sparkle jealousy among your children.
Wrap the gifts nicely and explain to the kids that Christmas is not a time just to receive gifts, is a time to reflect and build wonderful memories.
Warm up your children about what they should expect for Christmas. Be realistic and set a rule between you and your family members that no one should buy gifts that cost more than a certain amount.
The place where you will spend the Christmas
Decide where you will spend Christmas first so you can calculate the food and groceries spendings. If you planning to go on holiday during the festive season, you might save yourself time from cooking and other household work, but any holiday will cost you quite a bit.
Depending on where you planning to spend Christmas, you still have to prepare funds for travelling to and back home, and any extras that a hotel might charge.
A cheaper option is to hire a lodge cabin and gather with many other people or family members and share the total cost that implies from booking the lodge to food, drinks and treats.
Let’s recap the plan for your Christmas budget
Decide if you choose to save versus using credit cards
Make a list of the people who will receive the gifts
Setup a budget for the Christmas gifts you want to buy
Write down the gift wish list
Calculate all the spending that occur in December
Make a list of all the incomes that you have
Decide how much to save each month
Choose where to keep your savings
Consider some handmade gifts
Start Christmas shopping as early as possible
The place where you will spend the Christmas
Final thoughts
Making the most out of your Christmas budget is not easy, but with a little motivation and imagination, you will manage to handle the festive season without many troubles.
