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Today, I’m going to teach you how to create a holiday budget that will save your wallet from being empty this holiday season.
The holidays are fast approaching, which makes it important to have a holiday budget. With the holiday cheer and mass advertisements, it can become easy to overspend. It starts with needing to grab a last minute gift for a coworker and turns into a full on holiday shopping spree. I’ve been there, so I want to help you avoid this.
I’m going to give you very simple steps so that you will have an action plan for holiday spending.
Create a Holiday Budget
First, choose what you will use to create your holiday budget. You can use a piece of paper, notebook, spreadsheet, phone, or holiday budget sheet. You may need to make revisions, so choose a method that works best for you.
I’m going to walk you through the steps of creating your holiday budget. I’ll include some items that are often forgotten until the last minute. I want to help you create an accurate budget so that you have enough saved for the holidays.
Make a Gift List
Your first step is to make a list of every person that you need to purchase a gift for. Don’t forget the work gifts, white elephant gifts, neighbor gifts, delivery person gifts, charity donations, and other non-family gifts that you plan to purchase. These are gifts that are often not remembered until the last minute, so we are going to prepare for them now.
Estimate the Gift Amount for Each Person
Next on the gift list, write down how much you plan to spend on each person’s gift next to their name. For example, Barbara $100, John $150, and so on. You may not know the exact amount that you want to spend but make a good estimate. Write an amount next to each person’s name.
Check Your Social Calendar
Take out your phone, calendar, planner, or wherever you keep track of events. Are there any holiday parties that you plan to attend? Are you travelling for the holidays? Are you hosting for the holidays?
Write down every event. Don’t forget local activities that you and your family plan to attend. The festivals, fairs, and other events that cost money. And I’m sure you guessed it. Estimate how much you may have to spend for each event.
Don’t Forget Holiday Food and Decor
If you like to go all out on holiday decorations and food, then this step is going to be very important for you. Add holiday meals and decorations to the list. Then estimate how much you want to spend on each meal and total decorations.
This may be a good time to see what decorations you have on hand and can reuse. This will save you money and from accumulating items. As a person who loves to decorate for each season, the décor can build up quickly.
Calculate Your Total Budget
Now that you have a list of holiday gifts, activities, meals, décor, and other holiday needs, calculate the total cost. Is your budget reasonable for how much you can save? If it appears too high, go through your list and reduce or take out items.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to create a holiday budget, it’s time to get started. It is never too late to create a budget, especially if you are having financial difficulties. A budget is the perfect place to start because it shows you where your money is going.
Budgeting is a crucial step to preparing for future events, gifts, and spending. As you have learned you create a list of holiday gifts, events, activities, meals, and décor and you estimate how much each of those items will cost. Then calculate the total amount and that is your holiday budget!
Now you have everything that you need to create a holiday budget. Before you start creating your budget, please leave me a comment below letting me know what method you will use to create your holiday budget!
