Staying on budget for Christmas and the entire holiday season is tough, but it doesn’t have to be! Today is the first day of summer vacation that isn’t rainy and icky, and I know you probably don’t want to be thinking of Christmas. In fact, you’re probably groaning right now. Christmas? Really?!?! On the way to the pool? Please, hear me out for just a second.
Each year my inbox is full of messages about how a family is struggling more than ever to make ends meet during the holidays. Sometimes this is due to illness, job loss, or other unexpected factor, but most of the time, it can be attributed to a lack of planning. I’ve always approached Christmas savings from the opposite end. I try to help everyone stay on budget by finding the Christmas items you are looking for at a huge discount, but that doesn’t always help if you don’t have a budget to spend. This has led me to open a new feature to the site for 2015.
Introducing the 2015 Holiday Savings Challenge (the Christmas Budget Challenge)
I’d like to introduce you to the 2015 Holiday Savings Challenge! My goal is to help motivate you to save whatever you can to take the brunt of the financial stress off at the Christmas season. You may have noticed the chart above (here’s a printable copy: 2015 Holiday Savings Challenge). This is an easy way to put into perspective how much you need to save each week in order to hit your goal by November 23rd. Why November 23rd, you ask? Because that’s the beginning of the CRAZY Online Black Friday Week. By then, we’ll be posting so many deals that you don’t want to miss.
I’ll be hosting the discussion, reminders, encouragement, and some original savings tips as an event in our Extreme Christmas Savings Facebook group (where 95% of our deal posts are). You can access the event directly here: 2015 Holiday Savings Challenge Facebook Event
***I’d love for you to share this– and your friends will thank you!***
If you’re not on Facebook, you can still participate! I’ll post regular reminders and updates here, too.
Increase Your Christmas Budget with This Secret Tip
Buy gift cards instead of putting up cash. You’re less likely to spend them. If your budget gets too tight, you can always use these to pay for necessities. Many stores even sell gift cards to other stores and Visa cash cards. I prefer ordering e-gift cards so that I can easily file them in my email and not worry about losing them.
Here are a few links to the most popular e-gift cards to make it easier for you:
- Amazon E-Gift Card
- Bass Pro E-Gift Card
- Best Buy E-Gift Card
- Kohl’s E-Gift Card
- Target E-Gift Card
- Toys R Us E-Gift Card
- Walmart E-Gift Card
Register for The 2015 Holiday Savings Challenge and Get Control of Your Christmas Budget
To register for the challenge, click here: http://goo.gl/forms/
We would love for you to check in each week and let us know if you were able to hit your goad: http://goo.gl/forms/