Fast forward a few short months and it will be!

You may have been to a Christmas in July party this month. Well, we’re past the half way mark of the year and we’re now on the downhill run to the real thing.

Christmas is usually a joyous time of year. Sadly though, for many of us there is often a huge hangover as a result of not saving money for Christmas and so much of the spending goes on the credit card, which of course then has to be repaid (with high interest if you can’t do it quickly).

There are still more than five months to set aside some money to make Christmas spending a whole lot less stressful than it might usually be. Doesn’t it feel much more enjoyable when you spend money guilt-free? Planning ahead for Christmas makes that entirely possible.

The starting point is setting a target for how much you’re willing to spend on Christmas. There are 11 or 12 fortnights left between now and Christmas (depending on when you get paid). If you divide your Christmas spending target by the number of pays left until Christmas, that’s how much you need to save each pay to relax with your family knowing that your celebrations have been completely planned and paid for. You might even decide to set up a free online savings account… after all, “out of sight, out of mind” is a very useful tactic when it comes to saving money.

Put pen to paper (or a memo in your phone) and set the amount you want to spend on key things. For example, how much you want to set aside for food and drinks, how much for decorations, how much per child or per person on gifts. Setting these targets gives you a spending framework and everything gets easier from there.

As you’re saving money for Christmas, you might see the perfect gift for your child or loved one on sale. Great, buy it and put it away. You got it for less than full price, so you’re ahead. Keep a record of what you’ve bought, how much you paid and therefore, what you have left to spend. This self-discipline will prevent you falling prey to the sales tactics of retailers… they want you to buy presents early, but then buy a whole lot more as Christmas approaches! The more you spend, the better they do.

Plan your Christmas spending now and when the night before rolls around, you won’t be spending a second worrying about a Christmas spending hangover.

One last tip: Your tax refund can be a great boost to the Christmas savings account!

Cheers,

Daniel