Welcome to the latest series - "Save Money For Next Christmas"
Christmas is now over, and you have just ran up a pile of debt on your credit cards again. It was fun to give great gifts, but it was not fun putting the purchases on the credit card.
If this is you, welcome to normal America. An America where we charge Christmas on credit cards, and attempt to use our tax refunds to help pay it back.
I remember when this was me. Each Christmas from 1992 to 2002 was a financially stressful time! I ran up a balance on the credit card and commit to use my tax refund to pay it back. The commitment was not very strong, however, because I always ended up carrying large balances on my credit card and paying high interest.
Since Christmas 2003, Jenn and I have paid CASH for all of our Christmas presents. Zero debt. No credit cards. No financial anxiety.
In this series, I will show you HOW we did it!
Step 1 Determine how much money you want for Christmas next year
Jenn and I always showed up a Christmas time without a plan. As a result, we overspent. Credit cards were always happy to catch our slack planning.
There is a great way to determine how much money you want for Christmas. You can pull up a Mini-Budget Form (Excel) and list each person for whom you will purchase a present.
You might want to include line items like Christmas Cards, Postage, Christmas Tree, and "Unexpected Christmas Gift Needs".
The goal with this step is to obtain the amount you want for next Christmas. Is it $200? $500? $1,500? $5,000?
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Save Money For Next Christmas - Part 1
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