With seven months until Christmas Day, it’s never too early to start planning for the festive season. For the last few years we didn’t want the hassle of trying to find money for presents, food and everything else that you seem to buy, in that build up. Christmas time is about family, friends and faith and if we can take some stress out of it, we can all enjoy it more. This is why we plan for Christmas throughout the year.
Set Up A Separate Bank Account
The first thing you need to do in my plan for Christmas is set up a separate bank account. This can be an e-saver linked to your current account or perhaps you can go for the top easy access savings account. Whilst these interest rates are moving at the moment, meaning the best today isn’t necessarily the best next week, you can currently get over 1% interest, easy access. 1% doesn’t seem much, but it’s a lot better than some accounts at the moment. 1% is better than 0%! Once you’ve opened your new account, you need to decide how much you want to save for the festive period.
How Much Do You Want To Save?
This is key. It’s much easier to plan for Christmas is you start straight after last Christmas. With only seven months until Christmas, the sooner you start planning and saving, the better. The closer it gets to the season, the more you’ll likely need to find and save in order to buy what you want to. If you want to save £700 for spending on Christmas, simply divide the amount by however many weeks or months there are left. We usually spend under £500 on Christmas, but £500 is a good target to have. I divide this up across 50 weeks (giving ourselves Christmas week and New Years week off money transfers!). This gives me a weekly amount of £10. I now simply set up a standing order of 50 payments, every Monday, for 50 weeks, of £10. That’s it. No more fussing about with it now. The hard graft is done. The new account will be fed with automatic payments every Monday, giving me the Christmas fund. You can get a free printable for your Christmas savings here.
Buy Throughout The Year
Having access to a fund throughout the year also helps you to buy stuff you want, when it’s on offer. How often have you seen something that the kids would love for Christmas, but you haven’t got the cash to buy it in July? Well, with access to your Christmas fund, you have! You’ll get what you want at the best possible prices. Things often go up in price before Christmas and you sometimes can’t find what you want in stock. Plan for Christmas and you’ll have everything bought, paid for and wrapped before you know it! Obviously you can’t do this with fresh food, but it’s good to know the money is there, waiting for you to buy your turkey. You can buy Pringles when they’re on offer though, they’ll keep! Shloer too, the classic Christmas drink!
What can you do in London this Christmas?
Live Within Your Means
It’s worth mentioning here, that however much you plan for Christmas, you don’t want to bankrupt yourself for one day. It’s Christmas, it’s a special magical time. But how often have kids opened a present and then played with the box? What children really want is time with you, their parents. They don’t always want the latest gadget. Spending time together is more important than spending money on each other. No family wants the stresses and strains of financial hardship. So when I say live within your means, that means have a Christmas within your means.
Use Any Extra For The Long January
If you save up more than you spend, that extra can so often come in handy for the ‘long’ month of January. Many people get paid early in December and then have to make that last a couple of extra weeks until payday in January. If you don’t spend everything you save, that extra £50 might come in handy during the first month of the new year.
Start Planning
As you can see, if you plan for Christmas, you’ll feel less stressed and more organised. Setting up automatic payments removes the hassle and you’ll often not even notice that £10 moving out of your account each week. If that means you don’t buy a takeout coffee on your way to work, so be it! You’ll appreciate the pre-funded Christmas season much more than that caffeine it! By putting a plan for Christmas into place, you’ll be able to enjoy the season, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
