Happy Holiday’s, and here’s to a beautiful 2017!
All it really takes to keep your holiday spending from ruining your post season mood is some preparation and planning. No new tricks required! Be organized for the season.
The first is simply to get yourself together and plan what you want to happen. Get your calendar and take note of the important activities that will happen in the next few weeks. Things like when is the company’s Christmas party and when your house guests are scheduled to arrive for the holidays (e.g. siblings, parents, etc).
List what you need to prepare during these times so you are not caught unaware. Create your gift list and the grocery list for any food and house items that you have to buy. You should also take note of special dates like when your holiday vacation will start.
Make sure you have given your gifts to colleagues before this date. All of these lists will help you keep tabs on all the activities and preparations that you have to accomplish. It will keep you from forgetting important purchases and hopefully avoid unexpected expenses.
Determine the costs involved and how you can afford it. When you have organized what needs to be bought, done and attended to, it is time to assess how much the holiday spending will cost you. Not only that, you have to know how you will fund all of it. Assess your finances and see where you can save to make room for the expenses that you have to meet during this time.
Check if your credit card can offer rewards and other freebies. Take advantage of all of these if you can.
Make a budget.
As soon as you have the list of expenses and your means to pay for them, it is time to organize everything in a budget. Check out the online budget templates on PracticalMoneySkills.com. Allot a certain amount for each expense and make sure that you stick to it.
Choose how you can tighten your spending.
Check on how you can lower your spending to avoid putting yourself in debt because of the holidays. If there are gifts that you can do on your own, then that is what you should do. If there are expenses that you can forego, then you may want to think about cutting back to keep yourself from the need to use credit for some of your holiday spending.
Be good to yourself, be good to others, be good to your credit health and you will walk along the path to financial freedom in your own time. It's a lot easier than it sounds but, I know you can get there. With my help, you can get there a lot quicker.
Call me to answer any questions you might have about securing a home loan for your family.
Sergio Lebrija
Evolve Bank & Trust
602.618.7683 Cell
NMLS# 252088
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