I’ve written about Christmas a lot on this blog. I love treating my loved ones, without having to spend a ridiculous amount of money. I love cooking up a storm in the kitchen, knowing I haven’t paid a stupid amount for the food! As a family we plan for Christmas all year round, so we don’t get to mid November and wonder how we’re going to pay for stuff. Let me tell you how we do this. Read on elves, read on.
Work It Weekly
I release this blog post 10 months before Christmas. The date is 25th February. I did a quick search and it’s 43 weeks until Christmas. We have a separate Christmas savings account which automatically gets a set amount transferred over to it every week. That means we have a budget for presents and decorations and food. Trips out too, don’t forget those festivities! Planning weekly means you don’t have to suddenly come up with a lump sum in one go. The lump sum is already there and you’ve barely noticed the money move from your current account to the Christmas savings pot. We went with £10 a month last year. Having not spent all of that we’ve reduced it to £9 a week. Ok, you’ve missed almost ten weeks of saving but we can’t do anything about that. The best time to start to plan for Christmas is right now.
What can you do in London this Christmas?
Spend Throughout The Year
So often we see potential gifts on offer throughout the year. Having a Christmas fund allows you to buy those and pop them away on top of the wardrobe. Buying stuff at the best possible price is to key maximum happiness for both the recipient and you as the spender. Obviously you cannot do this with fresh food, but you can with drinks and some packs of crisps and nibbles for instance.
Do This Yourself
You may have seen TV adverts for companies who you can pay throughout the year and then get vouchers to spend in November and December. What’s the point in paying someone else? I don’t know the ins and outs of those companies but I know that some have folded in the past, leaving people without any cash for Christmas. I assume they take your money and either invest it or make their own cash off the interest. Make more of your own money but doing it yourself. Find a high interest easy access account where your Christmas savings will make an extra few pounds for the festive season.
43 Weeks
So with 43 weeks to go, how much could you filter away each week to make Christmas that little bit easier in 2020? £10 would give you £400 three weeks before Christmas so you have time to spend it. £7 a week would be £280, £4 a week would make £160. This is all excluding interest. Figure out how much you usually spend or give yourself a budget that you’re going to stick to this year. Don’t forget, if you save more than you spend, this can help the ‘long’ January too. Let me know what you’re going to do and how you plan for Christmas, over on Twitter.
Use my free Plan For Christmas tracker (below) to keep a close eye on what you’re saving for the festive season. Download it, print it off and give yourself a goal figure to aim towards. Divide that total by 100 and you’ve got your ‘elf’ amount. When you’ve saved that, cross one of the elves off. It’s really that simple and you can keep track of your progress. Let me know how it goes!
