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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Easing the Financial Burdens of Christmas Shopping


Although we would all prefer to not have to worry about finances when it comes to Christmas shopping, the truth is that most people do not have unlimited funds to spend on Christmas presents. Most of us have to set budgets for Christmas shopping and have to repay any debts which are incurred while shopping for Christmas presents. There are ways to ease the financial burden of Christmas shopping. Some of the most common ways to ease the financial burden include spreading out the Christmas shopping throughout the year, opening a Christmas savings account, and sticking to a strict budget when it comes to purchasing Christmas presents.

If you typically wait until the last minute to do your Christmas shopping, you probably understand the stress of last minute shopping all too well. Not only is it stressful to have to find appropriate gifts and purchase them, wrap them, and deliver them to the recipient in a short time period, but it also places a tremendous strain on the wallet. The problem with this type of Christmas shopping strategy, in addition to the stress of finding great gifts, is that you are faced with paying for all of these gifts at one time. This can be very difficult, especially if you are already on a tight budget and don’t have a great deal of money left over in your monthly budget. Without proper planning, you may be faced with the dilemma of either shortening your list of gift recipients or purchasing inexpensive gifts for each member on your list. If you plan to shop throughout the year, you may find you are able to purchase gifts for one or two individuals on your list each month. This strategy of spreading the Christmas shopping throughout the year makes the financial burden of Christmas shopping significantly less difficult.

Opening a Christmas savings account can also be very helpful in easing the financial burden of Christmas shopping. It is helpful because most Christmas savings accounts accrue interest and do not allow you to withdraw money from the account before a certain time. This allows you to gain a small amount of interest on your savings and ensures you won’t be tempted to use the money you are saving for Christmas shopping for other expenses throughout the year. You could always take an envelope and add a percentage of each one of your paychecks during the year, but if you save this way you will not be earning any interest on the money you are putting aside. Also, you may be tempted to use some of the money for small purchases or emergencies which arise during the year. A Christmas savings account is so convenient, you can even have money directly deposited into it from each paycheck, or you could simply transfer money into your Christmas savings account from another account each month.

The financial burden of Christmas shopping can be eased by setting a strict budget and sticking to it. This is important because it can help to keep you from spending more on shopping for Christmas gifts than you had intended. If you budget carefully and plan on only spending as much money as you already have saved, or as much as you can afford to spend, than you do not have to worry about going into debt to provide Christmas gifts for your loved ones. While it is important to set a budget, it is also important to track your purchases to make sure you are sticking to your budget. If you go over your spending limit on a few people on your list, you will have to consider either eliminating a few people or reducing the amount of money you can spend on a few people. This will help you to remain under your budget.

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