Sheri Here!
Keep your eyes on your wallet and your hands on your purse – hummed to the old tune Keep Your Eyes on the Road and Your Hands on the Wheel.
Black Friday
Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have all come and gone. If you are like many you’ve been shopping for deals and making the retailers’ heart sing.
Black Friday was originally the day after Thanksgiving. It earned its title because traditionally, the retailers profits post-Thanksgiving turned from red to black. Retailers make about 40% of their annual sales in the last quarter of their year – typically November, December and January.
But whether that’s true this year, in these crazy times – who knows. It seems like everything is on “sale”, but is it really a good deal? Only if you feel it is and your budget agrees (oh that b word, darn)!
Holiday Budget
Speaking of budget, did you create one for the December holidays? It’s not too late! You can still do it. The budget will help you to avoid overspending. Your budget could include a list of people to buy for and an approximate amount to spend to keep you focused.
The harder thing to manage is the expectations of those around you. It’s never too late to start or continue the conversation that “Santa” may not bring everything this year. You can ask for a wish list, with the items in priority order and caution the writer, that the wish list doesn’t guarantee, it’s going to happen!! After all, it is a WISH LIST.
Living with a Budget
I know it’s hard to not give the family everything they want, or you want to give. This maybe the year that the kids start to learn about a budget, and they can help you live within it.
In some instances, it might be time for a new approach. Maybe with the extended family rather than everyone buying for all, consider drawing names. Each person is only buying one present and you set a spending limit. You get the idea – a way of reducing the amount of money that you are spending on gifts or gift cards.
A large family can be amazing for great relationships (or not) but tough on the pocketbook and the spending budget during the holidays.
Christmas Fund and Other Money Saving Ideas
Maybe next year you can start early and set up a Christmas Fund early in the year. I remember doing that years ago – putting aside a certain amount of cash from each paycheck in a special savings account. There are ways to set aside real money during the year, to avoid spending credit for the holiday expenses. This is where you can get creative and ease the hit to the wallet next year.
What other ideas do you have for stretching your holiday budget? I’d love to hear. You can leave a comment and fill me in. To help you out, you might like my “101 Ways to Save Money”. Just click here and I’ll send it to you.
I’m always looking for great ways to save money or to add to the “101 Ways to Save Money”! Try it – you just might find some great ideas to help the wallet. Click here!
Around Town
I’m speaking on December 6 at 1:00pm PT on the BadA$$ Women Summit. You can sign-up here. I would love it if you would come out and support me. I’ll be talking about From Bankrupt to $1Million for the Dynamic Professional!
You can buy my book Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation here.
Ciao,
Sheri
