It may only be September, but it’s never too early to start budgeting for the holidays. The Now sat down with Robin Thompson from Budget Wise Consulting to talk about ways to get through the holiday without incurring debt.
“We’ve got to have the mindset that it’s going to be a cash only Christmas,” Thompson says.
Sound impossible? It doesn’t have to be. Thompson says there are ways to free up so money over the next three months. First, do you get a big tax refund each year? The average refund was about $2900. I know you may love that, but consider this…
“If nothing changes with your tax situation, that means that you could dial those withholdings back quite a bit, so that you can have more take home pay. So, for the average person, that could be anywhere from 450 to 700 dollars over the next two to three months,” Thompson explains.
We’re heading to the grocery store for our next money-saver. The goal… to head there less often.
“Frequent trips to the grocery store usually result in impulse purchases, because you tend to buy more of what you want versus what you need,” she says. “So we’ve got to do a little more meal planning, which I find a lot of people don’t do… and try to at least plan for a week out.”
Speaking of eating…
“Eating out has always been one of the largest budget busters.”
Thompson says if you can cut back on just one meal out with your family per month, that can free up from $50 to $100 for the holidays.
And how about cashing in on your credit card. Most offer rewards for travel or merchandise…
“For a lot of those, you can actually convert those to gift cards that you can use to actually purchase your gifts, so for you it’s kind of like free money.”
Thompson also suggests looking at the bills you pay each month without giving them much thought. Do you really use all the data you’re paying for on your cell phone plan? Do you really still need a landline?
Look at these bills closely to see if there are ways to save.
After you figure out how much money you have to spend, set a budget and stick to it!
