Winter is Coming: Adapting your Budget for the Holiday Season
What does Labor Day mean to you? For some, it’s a celebration of the United States’ mighty workforce, the backbone of the economy. Others see it as the last public holiday before Christmas, for all that entails. For most, though, Labor Day symbolizes the last days of summer — giving way to shorter, cooler days with looming expenses.
Before we bum you out with winter woes, it’s important to acknowledge that summer, too, is no budgeting picnic. With vacations, heightened utility bills (A/C is life), a typically fuller social schedule, and camp tuition, all add up to a hefty bottom line for the average household. While these burdens tend to be gradually lifted in the lighter months of September and October, come November most of us gear up for footing the biggest bill of the year: the Holiday season. Here are some tips you can put in place today that will give you some breathing room down the line.
Frugal for the win
Shopping frenzies will take place this year, and you will be a part of the madness, as they (and you) always do. Other than depriving yourself of new things altogether, the best way to avoid over-paying for the items you’re interested in is to know exactly how much they can be had for. Knowing the retail cost of your mom’s favorite perfume will make it that much easier for you to assess the best deal in the moment of truth — Black Friday. Purchase it, wrap it, and then store it safely until it’s time to surprise her. Potential savings: on average, you could spend over 40% below retail on products bought on Black Friday.
Explore the great indoors
Lower temperatures and fewer daylight hours usually translate to more time spent indoors. This can be a great thing for your budget, for a number of reasons — you can save on restaurants, entertainment, alcohol, clothing and more. To avoid feeling caged, you can use this time to ‘nest’ in your space, taking advantage of your cooking abilities to prepare food to take to work, and using your crafting abilities to complete simple, satisfying projects. Think of painting an odd wall or adding plant life, that sort of thing. What’s more, you can use your friends’ aversion to being outdoors to deepen your friendship, by hosting potlucks and opting for stay-in movie nights. Potential savings: up to $300 per month.
Fail to plan, plan to fail
Thinking of taking a vacation during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Guess what, so is everyone else you know. Be sure to plan your vacation, book your accommodations and purchase your tickets well in advance — 6 weeks or more, if possible — to avoid last minute rate surges. Potential savings: up to $1,500 per person for the same (domestic) vacation package, assuming your top choice isn’t sold out.
Rise to the challenge
Any way you slice it, the last months of the year are going to be difficult, money-wise. If you and other members of your household are up for it, consider taking on a no-spending month challenge. This means that aside from necessities (rent/mortgage, gas, insurance, ongoing subscriptions and groceries), everything else is off limits for 30 days. You can agree on the specific terms of the challenge you’ll be taking on, but generally this means that restaurants, alcohol, entertainment, apparel and other surplus categories would be strictly off limits. On one hand, it sounds tough, but on the other — it’s only 30 days. Potential savings: between $800-$3,000 per household.
If you’re not quite ready to say goodbye your carefree summer ways, but you’re dreading the expenses of the fourth quarter, we urge you to try the methods above. It’ll keep your spending balanced year-round, and prepare you for costlier times. We know, none of this makes up for the harsh fact that summer’s fading. The good news is, it’ll be back before you know it.
Originally published at gochange.co on September 6, 2016.
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