Budgeting For Silly Season & Long January
It’s that time of year again when we all start complaining about Christmas decorations going up too early and try to figure out how many people we need to buy presents for. If you’re like most people, then the odds are that you promised to start your Christmas shopping extremely early this year, but never got around to it.
While Christmas itself may still be a while away, we are drawing very close to the Christmas season, and everything it entails: parties, presents, people, penny-pinching, and so on. We all know how much of a strain this period, which really encompasses all of December & January, can put on our finances. But even at this stage, there are steps you can take to seize control of your budget, ensuring that you meet all of your obligations, without running yourself into the ground.
Create a Calendar
This should be the first thing you do, as it will lay down the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and whys of everything you should reasonably expect over the course of the holidays. Since it is quite common for both employers and employees to move their funds around a little more than usual, the best approach to take is to view December and January as one period. In addition to the fact that the holiday season leaks into the New Year, most people eat into their savings a little, so if you only budget until Christmas, you may find yourself ringing in 2020 by asking if they still exchange Punt for Euro (they do).
Every potential event, whether it is a work party, a night out with friends, or a visit to the in-laws should be on the calendar, even if you don’t have specific dates just yet. This will help give you an idea of how much you can spend on each event, even if the amounts vary between events.
Buy in Bulk
The fact that you’ll be going to a number of different events and meeting a number of different people doesn’t mean you should treat them in isolation. If you know you’re going to attend 6 events, then there’s no reason not to buy a 6-bottle case of wine. You’ll end up getting a better deal than if you buy a bottle on the way to each event, and you’ll be able to tick a number of things off your list in one go. You can even buy mixed cases, so you don’t show up with the same bottle each time.
Similar logic can be extended to gifts. While most of your gifts will hopefully be thoughtful, there’s a good chance you could have some unexpected visitors call by to drop off the presents they bought for you. Having a second case in your house, along with some gift bags and cards, means you’ll never be caught off-guard. For children, you can also buy a number of selection boxes and tell them to pick their favourite. A child who is allowed to choose their own sweets will never be disappointed, and you don’t have to break the bank to please all the children that could drop by expecting gifts.
Get Frugal, Now
Most of us know we have a vice or indulgence on which we spend more money than we probably should. Whether it’s coffee, take-aways, or petrol, we all have something we’re happy to spend our hard-earned cash on. But in the run up to Christmas, cutting back on these or switching to the cheaper alternatives can pear back these costs, and while it might not seem like you save much, you will find yourself with more money than usual, provided you watch your spending in other areas as well.
You should be similarly cautious about your utilities at the same time. It is easy to forget that these are constantly piling up in the background, or to just take for granted that the bill is usually around X amount. For a few weeks, try to use utilities only when absolutely necessary: don’t leave lights on unless you’re in the room; lower the heat a bit and wrap up instead; wash the dishes by hand; don’t leave electronics charging overnight. Because we take so many of these things for granted, we never question how big a bill they build up. If you adopt a new attitude now, your next few bills could be considerably lower than usual at a time of year when we tend to use more electricity than any other. (And if you really want to cut back, there’s no law against charging your devices at work).
Do Your Sums
The best way to give yourself some breathing room for the holidays is to see how much you spend on average each month, divide that by 12, and save that amount each month. By next Christmas, you’ll have your usual monthly budget covered, and can use your paycheque for all things Christmas. But while that may help you out next year, it’s clearly too late to implement that plan now.
So have a look at your calendar and figure out how much “weight” each event has. You’ll probably spend less at a work party than on a night out with friends, as some free food and drink is usually provided. If you’re going to someone’s house, you can just take a bottle of wine from the box you bought, and pay for transport. Every event should have a hard spending limit, and you need to ensure that you still have some reserves left over for unexpected events. If you try to figure this out as you go, rather than planning ahead, you’re much more likely to end up spending more than you should.
Budgeting around the holiday season is very different to budgeting for the rest of the year. While we can usually predict how much we need to pay in bills, or how much we should save for our trip abroad, it’s hard to get a realistic idea of how much we will spend over the course of Christmas and New Year’s. That is why it is so important to serious approach, one where you cut back, put away, and spend money with much more thought than usual. And of course, the sooner you start, the better, so now that this post has reached its conclusion, it’s time for you to get to work on that calendar.