Below is our Christmas shopping, we don’t really have a budget so when I added it all up I was a bit shocked, prices are without taxes, so I added that to the bottom. There’s still some items pending that I hope to get this weekend, best news of all NO CREDIT CARDS! All paid with CASH!
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I am also going to donate some money for less fortunate families or I’m hoping to adopt a family so we can buy their children’s gifts.
HS
Menu Monday
3 hours ago
3 comments:
You hit the nail on the head, when you said that you don't have a budget. You are certainly no different than most Americans. But, most American's are broke. Without a budget you're debt-free plan will likely fail. A budget in it's most basic form is simply giving every dollar a name. Or rather, you telling your money where you want it to go, instead of the other way around. In other words, planning. So, let's look at how you might plan for Christmas 2009. As we know, Christmas will be coming. In drafting your January monthly budget, make an expense item labeled "Christmas". Determine what you want to spend, and then divide the amount by 12. This is the amount that you would need to save each month in order to have the cash available next December. If in drafting your monthly budget you discover that you can't save that much each month, then determine how much you can afford to save each month for Christmas. However much you've saved in the Christmas expense category, come next December, is the amount that you have available to spend. If you want to have more, look at your budget and determine where you can get the extra cash. Perhaps it means sacrificing in another area. ...It could even mean paying less on a credit card. Remember, your budget is created by you, for you. It represents your priorities.
Note: Create an Emergency Fund following the same principle. Make it a priority.
Hey Dump Your Broker, thanks for all the advice, I am learning I promise... slowly :(
I made a sub-budget for Christmas and the sources of the funding, projections of what we would spend, and it worked out well. While I agree with broker's theory, budgeting isn't always cut and dry. Each month is a new budget and can have new challenges. While I think it's awesome to have some sort of annual budget where each month is mostly done other than some minor tweaking, each month is usually unique. Good job paying for everything in cash. Christmas feels better when you can give to someone without the feeling of owing someone else.
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