This is a public service announcement. Christmas is coming next year on December 25th. If you start saving now, you won’t have to put anything on credit cards. It’s quite simple really. If you know how much you spent this year and you plan to spend the same amount next year, you can calculate exactly how much you need to save each month.
Example Scenario Part 1:
If you have a family of 6 people and you plan to spend $50 on each person that would be $300 for next Christmas.
Christmas Budget = $300 = (6 people x $50 per person)
To figure out how much to save each month you would divide $300 by the remaining months. I have created this little table here to help demonstrate how much you would need to save if you started in a particular month. So, if you are reading this post in February, you have 10 months to save. You would need to save $30 per month for 10 months to reach your goal of $300 by Christmas. If you read this in June, you would have only 6 months left to save, so you would have to save $50 each month for 6 months to reach your goal of $300 by Christmas.
| Month | Months | Save |
|---|---|---|
| Dec | 12 | $25.00 |
| Jan | 11 | $27.28 |
| Feb | 10 | $30.00 |
| Mar | 9 | $33.34 |
| Apr | 8 | $37.50 |
| May | 7 | $42.86 |
| Jun | 6 | $50.00 |
| Jul | 5 | $60.00 |
| Aug | 4 | $75.00 |
| Sep | 3 | $100.00 |
| Oct | 2 | $150.00 |
| Nov | 1 | $300.00 |
| Dec | 0 | Christmas |
What about Black Friday?
If you want to have the money by Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. You’ll have to step up the pace a little.
| Month | Months | Save |
|---|---|---|
| Dec | 11 | $27.28 |
| Jan | 10 | $30.00 |
| Feb | 9 | $33.34 |
| Mar | 8 | $37.50 |
| Apr | 7 | $42.86 |
| May | 6 | $50.00 |
| Jun | 5 | $60.00 |
| Jul | 4 | $75.00 |
| Aug | 3 | $100.00 |
| Sep | 2 | $150.00 |
| Oct | 1 | $300.00 |
| Nov | 0 | Black Friday |
Example Scenario Spending:
If you made it to your planned shopping date and you reached your planned Christmas Budget, then you’re going to have a Merrier Christmas, because you won’t have the January Credit Card blues.
Now for the final part, take your budget and divide it between envelopes for each person. Then when you go shopping, as you buy items for that person, you take it out of their envelope. Once, the money’s gone, you’re done shopping for them. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
New Year Resolution:
If you make any resolutions this year. Promise yourself to save up for Christmas and avoid charging Christmas. You’ll be much happier if you save up for it.
