Saving Money for the Holidays

I have recently have gone back to work from the best year of my life being at home with my little girl, but like most new moms I now have to worry about a whole bunch of expenses I did not have to worry about before. We now have to pay for our child care provider, diapers, clothing, medication, an education savings account and of course the holidays… that being said my husband and I wanted to sit down and figure out how to make next Christmas less stressful in terms of money. We also did something similar to this for our wedding years ago. We sat down and figured out how much money we needed for the holidays as we have a HUGE family, and lots of gifts to buy for nieces, nephews, parents, friends, our little one of course and if there is money left over gifts for each other. You can try one of these methods and feel free to alter it to best suit for your family based on what you want to or need to spend.

 

The first method is finding out what you want/ need to spend and saving what you need per week to achieve your goals. So if you have 20 people to buy for and you spend $50.00 a person, then you would need to save $1000.00 for next Christmas. An easy way to save following this method is by taking the $1000 and divide it by 52 weeks, so you would put away $19.23 every week until Christmas. Ways to put away money are simple… start a money jar or envelope where you put them out of site and forget about them. Start an additional bank account where you automatically transfer the $19.23 every week and you do not access it until Christmas. You could also throughout the year add money if you happen to have a month with extra savings.

 

Recently I was online browsing Trusper (a great APP) and I saw another method of saving money which is similar in the sense that you put money away every week but instead of dividing what you need by weeks, you put money away in the dollar increment as it is for the week in the year.  Take a look at the chart below for a guideline:

 

Week 1 - $1	Week 12 - $12	Week 23 - $23	Week 34 - $34	Week 45 - $45
Week 2 - $2	Week 13 - $13	Week 24 - $24	Week 35 - $35	Week 46 - $46
Week 3 - $3	Week 14 - $14	Week 25 - $25	Week 36 - $36	Week 47 - $47
Week 4 - $4	Week 15 - $15	Week 26 - $26	Week 37 - $37	Week 48 - $48
Week 5 - $5	Week 16 - $16	Week 27 - $27	Week 38 - $38	Week 49 - $49
Week 6 - $6	Week 17 - $17	Week 28 - $28	Week 39 - $39	Week 50 - $50
Week 7 - $7	Week 18 - $18	Week 29 - $29	Week 40 - $40	Week 51 - $51
Week 8 - $8	Week 19 - $19	Week 30 - $30	Week 41 - $41	Week 52 - $52
Week 9 - $9	Week 20 - $20	Week 31 - $31	Week 42 - $42
Week 10 - $10	Week 21 - $21	Week 32 - $32	Week 43 - $43
Week 11 - $11	Week 22 - $22	Week 33 - $33	Week 44 - $44

It is the same idea where you put the money in a jar or envelope out of site or in an additional bank account that you set up for gifts. By next Christmas you will have saved $ 1378.  If you have more money at the beginning of the year vs. the end, you could always reverse this method where you start week 1 with putting away $52.00 and work lower every week.

 

Keep in mind momstown  Milton always provides wonderful discounts at stores as well as amazing support for holiday savings tips in terms of making your own gifts. You could always make some homemade ornaments, art, cookies etc.… there are lots of ideas and support when you make it out to one of the local momstown events. I know from experience there are a lot of events and support through momstown Milton.

 

I am a huge believer of out of site out of mind, so if you can put this money away and forget about it in terms of not touching it, you can definitely make the holidays less stressful in terms of money. Also if there is ever a week you are having a hard time with the amount to put away, double up the next week or if you are using the chart above on the small amount weeks – add some extra. Just don’t keep putting off until the next week or the next week because then you will be stressed out trying to make up the amount and chances are you won’t be able to catch up.

I am starting the chart method as of January 1, 2014. I just need to figure out if I will be saving starting at $1.00 or $52.00. I will make it my resolution as well to relieve a bit of stress and added pressure the holidays bring. Who knows if it works out, maybe I will adapt this means of saving for our house fund or a vacation fund as well.
 

 Happy Savings and Merry Christmas all!

 

Written by Jacqueline Bellmore-Kinney,momstown Milton Member and Mom to a beautiful little girl!