Who could argue that the most common cause of stress during the holidays is holiday spending? The fact that you need to purchase gifts for your spouse, parents, brothers, sons, in-laws, grandparents, grandchildren, friends, et cetera is stressful enough for you to want a holiday devoid of any gift giving. I love spending time with my family and taking a couple of days off from the hounding of the corporate life. It is always nice to have a time to relax and unwind. Christmas is a great holiday. However, for a month out of every year, most of us stress out over how to pay for the gift purchases. When one is on a budget, this only heightens the stress level even more.
There are several solutions that my entire family has adapted not only to make the holidays less stressful, but also make the post-holiday stress fade away. And you do not have to stress over your credit card bill. Why? Because you do not have any.
First, set aside at least thirty dollars each month and place it on a separate account. Simply have it direct deposited from the month’s paycheck. And that will only amount to seven dollars and fifty cents for each week. A lot of individuals think that they cannot afford such amount. Though if they cut one lunch off in a week, they will certainly afford it. And if one can keep this up for an entire year, he will have around $360 for buying holiday presents. However, it will depend on how one shops. If you tend to go over-board, I reckon $360 will not be sufficient. With that said, do not go overboard.
Second, most of us love tax time. Just because this is the time we can actually pay off the entire amount we have spent buying Christmas presents. But why wait until tax time? Getting a good large tax return is great, though one can, in fact, take that cash throughout the year. How? Just claim more exemptions on your pay check. For example, I received $4600 as tax return from last year, and decided that I did not want to wait until February or March each year to get that sum of money.
With that raised, I got a withholdings schedule from my trusted accountant. It reflected how much in taxes I needed to pay each month taking into consideration the number of exemptions I selected. I thought for a fifteen hundred dollars tax return and modified my personal exemptions from married and zero to married and five. In this scheme, I was able to acquire $95 dollars more in my paycheck, which I immediately deposit in my tax savings account. Plainly add one more exemption on your pay check and that will really supplement your holiday gift shopping.
Third, purchase items throughout the year. Pay close attention for good deals, even giveaways. I remember signing up for a checking account that was offering an iPod. The catch is that I have to make a couple hundred dollar deposits and maintain the account open and active for 180 days. If these conditions are met, the local bank will ship the iPod. Approximately, I received the iPod middle of December. It arrived just in time. I gave that as a gift to my son.
Four, do not forget to visit your local establishments for clearance sales and end of season sales. You can also find great stuff over the Internet all year round.
Just keep your eyes open!
Holiday shopping used to be stressful, though now I realize that I can simplify things and make it a little bearable. Now, I actually enjoy gift-giving during holidays. I hope you too will feel the same.
