Are you dreaming of a White Christmas? How about crafting a Christmas Savings Plan to embrace the season of giving, spending time with family, and creating precious moments this holiday season without feeling like you are busting the budget.
Yep, it is possible to be joyful this season of giving? Are you ready to enjoy the holiday shopping, the holiday planning, and Christmas cheer? There is no better time to embrace a Christmas Savings Challenge.
Read on for tips to create a Christmas savings plan to allow you to kick back and enjoy the eggnog.
What is a Christmas Savings Challenge?
A Christmas Savings Challenge allows you to take charge and be mindful of the purchases you make during the holiday season.
First, let’s start with the Ghost of Christmas Past and capture our best moments when it comes to holiday spending and the triggers that kept us paying off Christmas well into the New Year.
Next up, we will embrace our Ghost of Christmas Present, creating a list that will keep us on track with our plans to be generous and only feel good will this holiday season.
Finally, we will ensure the Ghost of Christmas Future is merry and bright with glasses clinking in the New Year with no reminders of the holiday season creeping into the following year!
Are you ready? Let’s get started and have fun with this Christmas Savings Challenge.
Ghost of Christmas Past
Pull out the calendar and capture all the activities you and your family participated in in October, November, and December.
As memories come up, ask yourself if they created positive, warm, fuzzy feelings. Wait, do you remember feeling stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed?
If there is an activity that had a negative emotion, consider and determine the root cause of those feelings. Would a little preparation for the event or activity have turned into a warm and fuzzy memory?
A classic example in my family is stocking the diaper bag with hand sanitizer, wipes, diapers, a towel, a change of clothes, and water bottles. In this way, if we are on our way to a Christmas Light Tour and one of our boys needs a diaper change, we are ready to turn our SUV into a diaper change station, and still enjoy our evening out!
Stock Your Car with items that keep you and the family happy.
- Hand Sanitizer
- Wipes
- Water Bottles
- Change of Clothes
- Towel
- Goldfish
Ghost of Christmas Present
A well-thought-out plan for the holiday season will allow you to kick back and truly embrace the fun and gathering of family, friends, and community. Three key elements to holiday planning are a savings plan and a shopping plan. Remember to capture your spending each week as part of your Christmas Spending Plan!
Savings
List each person or charitable organization you plan to support this Christmas season. Write a dollar amount you have in mind to spend for each person on your list. Tally up this list and determine if you have enough savings to purchase these gifts for the people and organizations you want to support this year. This is a perfect time to use your Christmas Savings Fund!
If you do not have enough in your savings, please remember that the gift does not reflect your love. Rather, your love will show in your gift. Are you in a season of debt payments? Now is the time to use the gift of words.
How about a few hand-made cards or a bulk set of cards with thoughtful words? I bet you will smile at them and warm their heart with the simple gift of a thoughtful card!
Shopping
The ultimate way to shop until you drop is not to gauge your energy, but rather the list and budget you created to determine your shopping sprees.
Take out the list of items with the estimated savings plan you created before being magnetized by the beautiful and ornate wrappings and well-light displays, saying to you that this is the only way to show your love with this type of gift.
You are responsible for your shopping, and going online or to a brick-and-mortar store will allow you to enjoy all the original wrappings and gift displays without busting your budget!
Spending
Gift yourself with time each week to review your spending. Use the Christmas Spending Plan you created to measure your success with spending this holiday season. Are you on track with your Christmas Spending Plan? Congratulations?
Did you discover you do not have enough money to cover the remaining items on your list? That is okay. It’s time to make a decision.
- Return and exchange any items you have purchased that reflect your Christmas spending plan.
- Adjust the Christmas Spending Plan for the remaining items.
Remember, your Christmas Spending Plan is a guardrail for you and your family to relax and focus on the faith and fun this holiday season was instead to be for you.
Ghost of Christmas Future
Congratulations, you are down to the final few weeks in your Christmas Spending Plan. Let’s check in with your feelings and determine if we are happier, content, and having fun with our family, friends, and community.
Evaluate
It is important to return to your Christmas Spending Plan and remember the Ghost of Christmas Past. You wanted to feel positive, encouraged, and full of the holiday spirit. Any doubts you are having with the Ghost of Christmas Present to spark joy in the hearts of those you love and cherish by tossing the Christmas Spending Plan to the wind are accomplished with the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Ringing in the New Year? The Ghost of Christmas Future wants you to avoid the monthly reminders of payment plans and credit card payments that you racked up the last few weeks or months. Remember all those emotions we flushed out with the Ghost of Christmas Past?
This is your WHY! You want to ring in the New Year without monthly reminders of the gift-giving you bestowed upon friends, family, and your community.
Have you ever considered starting a Christmas Fund?
A Christmas Fund will give you more grace to save for Christmas and eliminate the hustle you have been feeling the last few weeks.
What is a Christmas Fund?
A Christmas fund is a separate account that you fund to cover all expenses related to the holiday season.
Depending on your family’s traditions, you may want to consider it a holiday fund if you tend to host Thanksgiving dinner for your family, Christmas Holiday Party, and maybe a New Year’s Eve Party.
Perhaps you attend more functions than host for the holiday season. The Christmas Fund will keep you on track with your money goals by easily identifying the amount of money left in the fund. You will either know when it is time to hold back on your spending, or you may indulge and support last minute gifts and donations to organizations you support!
The Christmas Fund may be a simple jar to hold the money you set aside each week for the Christmas Fund. Alternatively, options such as a separate savings account with your bank or use a cash card for Christmas spending.
How do I start a Christmas Fund?
The great news is that you can start a Christmas Fund at any time of the year.
Depending on your preference to use a bank or local credit union, you may be limited to opening a Christmas Fund at the beginning of the calendar year.
However, it is worth getting into the habit of having a Christmas Fund. If you feel the sprint of savings for Christmas the last few months, or dare I say the month of Christmas,
I highly recommend you open a dedicated Christmas Fund as your New Year’s Resolution to never worry about having a Christmas Fund available to spend freely and eliminate any stress caused by money…the relatives are another story entirely!
Wrapping up the Christmas Savings Plan
The holiday season is full of Christmas cheer and a renewal of our glory to the Holy Spirit. The three Christmas Savings tips to embrace the joy of the season is to remember the three Ghosts of Christmas to guide your decisions this holiday season.
- Ghost of Christmas Past. Eliminate any holiday activity that made you feel less than loved and grateful for the experience.
- Ghost of Christmas Present. Commit to the Christmas Savings Challenge. Your spirit and your mind will be able to enjoy the moment with family and friends.
- Ghost of Christmas Future. Dedicate a Christmas Fund for the future holiday season!
Leave a Reply