Tiffany Raiford
How’s this for a Tuesday shocker; there are only 28 weeks left until Christmas morning. That’s right; just over half the year to go until we wake up in the morning to tear into our gifts with our loved ones, and it’s not that much time. Sure, it’s June. But wake up, people; June is halfway through by now and we have no time at all left until it’s over. Summer vacation will be over before we know it. School will start, football season will arrive and we will suddenly be in a place where it’s time to start our Christmas shopping.
Now, I love the holidays as much as the next person. Maybe a little bit more; there is something so amazingly beautiful about the time of year in which people get together and show their love and support of one another, their family values and just the general cheer that the season brings. However, it’s also something I don’t plan for this far in advance. I don’t really think about it until it’s time to dig out the Halloween decorations. I do, however, have a Facebook friend who counts down the weeks until Christmas every single week. This week, I happened to take notice when a comment under her post read, “I wish I would have started that weekly challenge to save $1,000 before the holiday so I could some good shopping this year and not stress. Too late now.”
Is it too late? I don’t know if it’s too late for people who need to find a way if you find a different way to save. I’m not a mathematical genius, but I did see something recently on Pinterest that I went back and found and thought I would share with everyone if you need some savings before the holidays arrive but you forgot to start until now. You’ll start now – as in this month. You might have to catch up a bit to get there if you are starting right now into the second week, but here you go (I’m counting Friday as deposit day every week, but you can start any day you please).
- June 3 – Save $26
- June 10 – $27
- June 17 – $28
- June 24 – $29
- July 1 – $30
- July 8 – $31
- July 15 – $32
- July 22 – $33
- July 29 – $34
- August 5 – $35
- August 12 – $36
- August 19 – $37
- August 26 – $38
- September 2 – $39
- September 9 – $40
- September 16 – $41
- September 23 – $42
- September 30 – $43
- October 7 – $44
- October 14 – $45
- October 21 – $46
- October 28 – $47
- November 4 – $48
- November 11 – $49
- November 18 – $50
- November 25 – $51
- December 2 – $52
- December 9 – $53
- December 16 – $54
- December 23 – $55
- Total Savings – $1,215
The savings here is designed to work so that you are able to save a bit here and there without actually breaking your budget. Most everyone can afford to spend $30 -$50 per week on things in their budget, so the point is to allow you to save those things from your budget and into savings.
If you aren’t sure how you can afford an additional $30 to $50 per week in the budget, we have a few amazing suggestions for you. Skip one meal out and stay at home. If you are like my husband and I, you could save more like $200 per week if you skip one meal out and stay home. If you can, stop making trips to the donut shop or the coffee shop every morning and you’ll have another $6 a day to add to the savings you are putting away for Christmas.
Clip some coupons and see what you can save at the store so that you can make more room in your budget. It’s not always easy to do this, but it is something that is easily done when you put your mind to it and are able to focus and get started.
Call your cable company and ask if there is any way you can take your payment down a bit. Many times the company is happy to work with you if you are a longstanding customer with a good history of making on-time payments whenever you can. It’s nice to know you can save a little money every single month so that you can put it away toward your monthly savings. Another idea is to pretend you have another bill. If you want to save $200 per month, pretend you bought a small car and you have to make that payment every month. Then stick that money into your savings account and call it a day.
Photo by Getty Images
Comments
Loading…