{"id":4720,"date":"2018-12-14T07:40:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T13:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/?p=4720"},"modified":"2018-12-14T07:40:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T13:40:49","slug":"holiday-budgeting-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/holiday-budgeting-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Budgeting Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time again. Holiday festivities, meeting new people, and spending time with your family. It\u2019s also that time again for the dreaded increase in spending. The average American can spend a lot of money during the Christmas because they are buying gifts for the kids, participating in <\/span>gift exchanges<\/span><\/a>, and going to holiday parties. No matter how much you say you\u2019re going to save money, you may go overboard and spend too much money.<\/span> \"\"<\/a> Not this year.<\/span> \u00a0 This year and all the Christmas seasons to come, you\u2019re going to save money. How? With a solid holiday budget. The following is how you make and stick to a budget, so you have money after the Christmas ends.<\/span> \u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Make Two Budgets<\/span><\/h1>\n

First, create a budget. This is an amount of money you will spend on all gifts. This is the amount that you won\u2019t go over no matter what. The second budget is for saving the money you\u2019ll spend during the Christmas season. This is a budget you\u2019ll use first. For example, streamline the extra you spend during the year can go a long way to saving money without having to work an extra shift. Make more meals at home instead of going to a restaurant and skip the coffee runs. Save the money instead.<\/span> \u00a0 You can also work extra shifts during the year to save money. If you receive a holiday bonus, put at least 20 percent of it towards your second budget. You won\u2019t spend the money now, and you\u2019ll spend it later.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Make a Gift List<\/span><\/h1>\n

Before you start buying a single gift, make a gift list. Next, think about who will be on your list this year. When brainstorming your gift list ask one question: Do you need to give a gift for (fill in the blank)? If the answer is no, then decide to send a Christmas card. Definitely keep them off your list. <\/span> \u00a0 Third, think about the quality of gifts. You don\u2019t have to pick the most expensive thing. You don\u2019t need to buy every inexpensive thing that\u2019s on sale or reduced. Think quality and about that person more.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Know Your Other Expenses<\/span><\/h1>\n

The Christmas season doesn\u2019t stop your regular expenses like utilities, rent and daycare costs. You also must factor in other expenses like new clothes for the parties you\u2019re going to attend or food and drinks for any parties you host. Decide ahead of time if you can afford things you want to do during the holiday season like concerts, traveling and hosting parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Plan<\/span><\/h1>\n

The worst time to save for Christmas is November. Saving for Christmas should start on January 1st. So, this means that you should plan for Christmas 2020 on January 1, 2020. This gives you almost 12 months to put small amounts of money away for your the season you\u2019ll spend the most money.<\/span> \u00a0 Nickname your savings for Christmas you “Christmas fund.\u201d Each month set aside about one-twelfth of your Christmas budget. Place that money into a savings account. Plenty of banks have Christmas savings accounts that will let you put money away without the option of getting it out before Christmas time.<\/span> \u00a0 Also, look for high interest savings accounts. You want to make additional money on the funds you\u2019re saving. This extra money may pad your budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Save After the Holidays, Too<\/span><\/h1>\n

\u00a0 Let\u2019s save you did everything listed above. Maybe you saved a lot of money. Maybe you slightly overspent. You still have a chance to get that money back. If you stayed within your budget, you would be able to give yourself a little reward or start saving for next Christmas. Getting your rebates for what you purchased during the Christmas season is your opportunity.<\/span> \u00a0 Save all your receipts. Pick a rebate app you like and scan your receipts to obtain rebates. You can sign up for cash back offers too. Many apps ask for your email to sign up for the rebates. You also must give the app permission to scan your emails for receipts. Pick a rebate app connected to a lot of retailers. This is how you\u2019ll make most of your money.<\/span> \u00a0 You\u2019ll receive this money back on a prepaid card or in gift cards once you reach a certain limit. For example, if you reach $20 in rebates, you can collect the money and use as you choose.<\/span> By working hard during the year, you can save money for the Christmas season without fearing that you won\u2019t have enough money. Remember, stick to both budgets. You don\u2019t have to buy Christmas gifts for everyone; Christmas is a time to focus on your family. Happy Holidays!<\/span><\/p>\n

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time again. Holiday festivities, meeting new people, and spending time with your family. It\u2019s also that time again for the dreaded increase in spending. The average American can spend a lot of money during the Christmas because they are buying gifts for the kids, participating in gift exchanges, and going to holiday parties. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Holiday Budgeting Tips #dadbloggers","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,276],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-family"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/kidswithsanta2018.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JMKA-1e8","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4723,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4720\/revisions\/4723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}