Money-Saving Tips for Thanksgiving Day Dinner

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For many people, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season – time spent with family and friends, celebrations, and if you’re one of the lucky few, a little time away from work. I’ll admit, one of the things I most look forward to is all of the delicious food associated with the holidays, especially Turkey Day.

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6 Common Credit Card Mistakes

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When I was in college, there was no shortage of credit card representatives on campus, encouraging students to open a line of credit to build or improve on their credit scores. To entice us even further, every company offered a “free gift” when we signed up (and what college kid doesn’t love free things?). It seemed like a good enough idea at the time, so I opened my first account with little knowledge of how credit cards worked. This was mistake #1, and it led to plenty more until I realized how I should be using it, and how to manage my debt.

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Frugal Fixes

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Did you know that there are a ton of things you can do around your house on your own to save money? Some of them might seem scary at first, but a lot are fairly easy to learn how to do!

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Take Down Your Debt

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Not many people are debt-free these days. You might have student loans, a mortgage, or credit card debt eating away at your finances. I’ve been working extra hard at eliminating what debt I can, and reducing balances where I’m able to.

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Holiday Budgeting: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

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It’s starting. We haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet and I’ve already seen Christmas items for sale in stores. While part of me is secretly excited, the other half of me dreads what the holidays can do to my bank account. While all of the seasons we celebrate are really about being thoughtful and enjoying the company of the ones we love, gifts and celebrations are sure to sneak their way in, which can really start to take a financial toll. If you start to prep your budget now, you’ll find yourself a lot less stressed once the holiday season officially begins. I’ve learned from my past mistakes, and I think I’d like to consider myself well-prepared this year. Check out a few of the guidelines I followed for getting my budget holiday-ready…

Start planning now. Will there be any parties or celebrations you’ll be attending or hosting? Will you be giving any gifts? Will you be traveling? Thinking of these kinds of things now can help you plan your budget for the coming months and make adjustments as needed. Use your current budget to determine how much extra you can set aside to save for holiday spending, and adjust accordingly, if needed. For example, I like to trim back on my “going out” money and some of my vacation savings to focus more on season-specific things, like gift-giving.

Save a little at a time. This was one of the best decisions I ever made! I found myself in credit card debt every year from going overboard on gifts, and it would take me at least a month or so to dig my way out of it. This year, I set aside a little money out of each paycheck strictly for this kind of spending (I based my total goal on what I typically spend on Christmas presents, and I divided that number up by 11 for how many months I’d be saving for). While it’s a little late to start this now, you can do a mini-version of it by determining how much money you can set aside from each of the paychecks you’ll receive between now and the end of the year. Keep this in mind for next time!

Prioritize. Now that you know what you have to work with, decide where it’s going. Are gift-giving and party-hosting at the top of your list, or would you prefer to direct more of your holiday budget towards charitable giving? Divide up your holiday budget to give you more specific spending guidelines.

Start shopping early. If you have an idea of what you’ll be buying, it can be a great idea to keep an eye out for sales or deals on any of those items you might see available now! I’ve not only found that I can save more money this way, but it also allows me to make adjustments to my budget, based on whether I over- or under-spend. Saving money allows me to direct anything extra I have to other priorities on my list, or even better, come in under budget!

Do it yourself. Want to save a little extra? Take on a few DIY projects! You can choose to do a number of things on your own instead of spending money on store-bought versions – think gifts, decorations, homemade cookies, etc. These things often end up being more cherished anyways, and your thoughtfulness will be appreciated!

Have the holidays crossed your mind yet? Are you doing anything to better prepare for them?