17 Nov

Spend Within Your Budget

Posted in Uncategorized on 17.11.10 by John Meloche

In yesterday’s blog, we discussed some of the things that one can do to avoid holiday scams. Unfortunately, the season of giving happens to take place during the season of stealing! So check out our last post if you haven’t done so yet. Today, we’d like to tackle other ways that you can protect your wallet this holiday season.

Many times, when people go out to shop, they get so excited about the experience that they forget about the all-important task of staying within a budget. It’s not easy. Shopping (for some people, at least) can be fun during the holidays. The stores are decorated in festive ways, the Christmas music is on…you know what we mean.

For the most part, people are smiling and enjoying the wonderment of the season. See those people without smiles on their faces? Those are the people that hate shopping (yep, there’s a lot of them out there). It’s either that or they’re the people who have simply spent too much and won’t know what to do when their credit card bills come rolling in!

Here are some tips on how to stick within your holiday spending budget. Firstly, write a list. Hey, if it’s good enough for Santa Claus, why can’t you try it? On that list, do not only write down the types of gifts that you plan to buy, but be sure to include the maximum amount you’re willing to spend on each item.

If you find the item at a price that’s too high for you, there are some things that you can do to work it out within your spending limits. Initially, you may want to keep searching for that item in other stores. This, of course, doesn’t help you to save much time. But it’s money we’re trying to save here, so let’s focus! The alternative is to purchase that item and then subtract the amount that you overspent on the item from the budget for another gift.

No matter what, you want to try your best to only spend as much as you set out to spend. If you can’t afford to pay for all of your shopping spree, it’ll end up being a not-so happy holiday season for you. Secondly, try to keep track of the spending that you’re doing. Often, we forget that charges do add up!

Try rounding up every time you make a purchase. Buy something for $57.93? Write down that you spent 60 bucks. That way, you will help to somewhat trick yourself into spending even less than you anticipated. Remember, the key is to not overdo it, while making the purchases you need .

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