Shopping Wisely at Christmas Time

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for many reasons. People find much holiday joy in shopping, family gatherings, Christmas parties, special events at church, shopping, lights and decorations, gift giving, and of course, the true Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ. As we move through December, the pace increases, schedules get more and more hectic and there is always one more thing to buy. We will do well to maintain a level head about this shopping lest we do significant damage to our finances. Remember, January is coming.

With proper thought and preparation the shopping portion of the holiday season can be accomplished wisely. Following are some guidelines by which you can plan your expenditures and make the best choices. When the flurry of holiday activity is over you can beam with joy knowing that you accomplished it all without digging you and your family into a financial hole.

1. Write out a spending plan. Don’t make this too hard. Start off with rough, general numbers and then fine tune as you go. You’ve been through the Christmas season many times, so with a pencil and paper you can start putting down anticipated expenses. Be sure to include special foods you buy during the Christmas season, holiday events you will be attending, gifts and any travel-related expenses if you will be traveling to be with family or friends.

2. Know the limiting factors. Do you have a Christmas Club account, or special money set-aside for Christmas? Do you have extra money in your normal household income? Calculate the funds that you have available, and then compare this amount to #1. You will have to be realistic with this comparison and hopefully you will even find a little margin.

Maintain a dynamic shopping list. Your shopping list will be changing with each trip out. Plan before you go shopping. What do you intend to buy (hopefully it is on the list)? What do you expect that it will cost? Does that fit within the spending plan? If not, is it important enough to modify the spending plan.