How to Stick to Your Spending Plan during the Holidays

 By now your holiday gift shopping is likely underway or maybe even finished! I find that finishing too early can be good and bad. It can be good because you are able to move on and focus on other things and people! It can be bad because you may be tempted to add on more items and deviate from your budget. Assuming you have decided on reasonable limits for each person on your list, below are a few tips to help you stick to (or close to) your plan:


Done shopping?

- Turn off the endless stream of marketing both online, in print and on television. Once I am done with shopping, catalogs go straight into the recycling bin! I delete quickly emails with tempting offers like free shipping and deep discount coupon codes.



- Get out and volunteer your time to a worthy cause. Check the newspaper for local volunteer opportunities and/or find out through local churches what community service projects are going on.



- Have a non-holiday project lined up to divert your attention to other things. I am organizing a cluttered closet and planning for some work to be done on our basement for next year.



Still shopping?

- Find your savings! Promotion marketing is huge this time of year so there are savings available on most everything if you look hard enough. Use the internet to search for printable coupons and sales. Watch your mailbox for coupons and organize them around the items on your list.



- For families, communicate often on how things are going. This exchange of information will help you to be accountable to the plan and each other. Shop together if needed and listen to signs from one another that might mean you are veering off the plan. I know this is hard, but it is an important part of meaningful communication.



- If you use credit cards, keep a running total of expenditures. Credit card balances have a way of creeping up this time of year and I am a strong believer in paying off credit card balances in full every month!



- Give yourself permission to be done! This will help cut the urge to add just one more thing.
 
From the Couponizer.com

Six Money Making Tips from Reader's Digest

http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/6-moneymaking-tips/article151826.html?trkid=ERDI22938-1

CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.allyou.com/general/grocerychallenge/?xid=AOLShortcuts-GroceryChallenge-281x242Banner

All You Grocery Challenge Sign-Up


We're thrilled that you're joining the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge! Show off your shopping smarts by spending no more than $25 per family member per week on groceries over a four-week period beginning July 13. That's $100 a week for a family of four. You could win a $1,000 grocery card plus a year's supply of Knorr side dishes and the chance to appear in ALL YOU magazine.



Follow these guidelines:

During the contest, groceries that you purchase count toward your weekly total. However, feel free to grow, barter or use stockpiled food to supplement your meals. Creativity and ingenuity count!

If you eat at a restaurant or buy takeout, the cost must go toward the week's total.

Household supplies and toiletries do not count toward each weeks total.

Keep track of your money using the optional Spending Log.

Save receipts--you will be required to submit them if you are a finalist.

Post your strategies on our Grocery Challenge blog, and be sure to tell us your money-saving tips

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Teaching Kids About Money Management

Here is a great website I stumbled upon that can help us teach our children (or ourselves) about money management. This would be a great supplement to the LDS booklet, "One for the Money."

http://www.umsl.edu/~wpockets/index.html

This is one example of the helpful doo dads they have on this site.

Also, did you know that this website exists to help us out with other information for childred?

http://www.kids.gov/

These are just a few of resources (free) available!