It is almost that time of year again! What? It isn’t? Oh, it is just time to start saving for that time of year. That is what I wanted to discuss.

Every year I see first hand hundreds of people waiting until the last minute to purchase presents for Christmas because they do not plan throughout the year. They wait and wait and at the last minute it is like a ghost that was leftover from Halloween screamed “BOO!” and they are rushing to get gifts or get money for the holidays. Want to have a less stressful season in 10 months? Start saving now!

You don’t have to be stressed this year.  I promise you, if you will follow a few simple steps you can have the easiest holiday season you have ever had.  Everything feels different when you have the money saved, you pay with cash, and you know you won’t have a huge credit card bill come January that may very well stick around until the following Christmas.

All you have to do are a few simple steps:

1. Write down everyone you want to buy for.
2. Double check that list.  Are you sure you want to buy something for everyone on that list?
3. Can you make something for some of those people (including food items) instead of buying them an expensive gift?  If so, move them to the side of the list.
4. Write down how much you want to spend on each person beside their name.
5. Total that number up.
6. Divide it by how many times you will get paid between now and your last pay check before Christmas.
7. BAM!  You just decided how much you needed to save each pay day to pay in full in cash for Christmas this year and not have the stress of running around at the last minute.

You must be realistic on what you want to spend on each person.  If you make $20,000 a year you need to spend what you can afford.  If you feel bad for this, then let the people know now that you can’t afford it and settle on a mutual amount to spend on each other based on what you can spend.  Don’t let the people who put everything on credit cards tell you how much you should spend on them.

If you want to go a little further figure out how much it will cost for the supplies to make the people at the side your list their gifts and budget for that as well.  Or, better yet, of you aren’t making them a food item figure out how many items you need to make each month to be finished for Christmas and you can save that stress at the end of the year as well.

Have A Merry February Everyone!

More Information:

What Dave Ramsey says about saving for Christmas

Photo courtesy of David DeHetre