(WXYZ) — It seems like an odd time to be thinking of the holidays, but, if you’re like 25% of Americans, you finally paid off the last of last year’s holiday spending this month.
There’s no need to put that holiday spending on credit cards this December. With a little planning, you can have a debt-free and stress-free holiday season if you start saving today.
1. Save a weekly amount with automated withdrawals
- Set up a separate savings account with your credit union or bank just for holiday spending.
- If you auto withdraw $50 weekly into the Holiday Savings account from now until the first week of December, you’ll have $1,200 cash to spend on holiday gifts, food, entertaining guests, and other holiday costs. Even $25 a week will give you $500+ by December - any weekly amount will make a difference.
- Talk about CCF’s Holiday Savings Acct if it seems right – interest bearing, access to funds on Oct 15th https://www.ccfinancial.com/personal/save-and-spend/savings [ccfinancial.com]
2. Look for great gifts now
- Camping gear, kayaks, golf clubs, bikes, that expensive grill that your hubby has his eye on, these are all on sale in July and August and would make great holiday gifts.
- Just make sure you have a safe and secret place to hide them until the holidays!
3. Confirm travel plans now
- If you’re planning to visit family over the holiday season, get the dates set now. This will allow you to set up travel alerts, so you can get better deals on airfare, car rentals, and hotels.
- If you have family coming to visit you, stock up on towels, pillows, toilet paper, and other guest needs every time you visit the store so it’s not an added holiday expense in December.
4. Have a digital garage sale
- Facebook Marketplace, ebay, and Poshmark are great digital places to unload items that are in good condition.
- For heavier items like furniture, bikes and big toys, use Facebook Marketplace to avoid shipping.
- For clothing, small toys or lighter home décor items, ebay is a good option.
- For luxury and high-end name brand items, use Poshmark.
- You may not have time to host an entire garage sale, but go through your house and collect unneeded items, take good pictures, list a few details along with a reasonable price, and deposit your earnings into your Holiday Savings account.
For more tips, visit Cornerstone Community Financial Credit Union at ccfinancial.com.
You can visit one of its metro Detroit locations, which are in Auburn Hills, Center Line, Clinton Township, Royal Oak, Troy, and Sterling Heights.
