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Surviving
the Holiday Cash Crunch
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Dashing
around doing your Christmas or Hanukkah shopping at the last minute
might not be the only crunch you’ll have to survive this
holiday. The biggest squeeze is often on your cash supply. Buying
for friends, classmates, roommates, family, friends, and romantic
interests can take its toll on your finances. Fortunately there’s
plenty you can do to lessen the impact on your bank account.
Plan
for your gifts for the holidays. Who and how much for each
person. Deciding this before you go helps you narrow your focus
and thus succumbing to the lure of the holiday sights and sounds.
It may be best if you are arranging gift exchanges to set a dollar
limit as a guide so that people aren’t under pressure to
spend more for fear of under spending.
Use
your creativity. Make your gifts or provide a useful service
such as a home cooked gourmet meal, or if you have younger brothers
or sisters a free night of baby sitting so your parents can have
a night out. The home cooked meal can be a welcome treat for them
to not have to cook dinner. You can make it special by having
a nicely arranged table with candles, flowers, and perhaps unlike
what you’ve been using at school, cutlery that matches! For
some recipe ideas check out the Campus
Kitchen Database.
For
further ideas on homemade gift ideas click
here.
Watch
the entertainment budget. Christmas and New Year’s holidays
may drain more cash from your pocket since Orientation week. The
spirits of the holiday’s can take a big chunk of cash. If
you are a non drinker this is less of a problem, however if you
are the cost of holiday drinks and inflated prices at New Years
bashes can take a big chunk of your cash.
Cut
your accessory costs. Wrapping, bows and accessory costs can
add up. Dollar stores can be great for getting these items cheap
or you can use your creativity to save more. Decorations can also
be costly for something you only use a couple of weeks each year.
If you have a habit of spending on these consider whipping up
some your self. For
a few ideas click here. If you have a place to store it you
may find you can stock up for half price or less a few days before
Christmas or on Boxing Day at the very least.
Consider
gift certificates for favorite stores (both to buy and for
gift hints for yourself). If your favourite store has great boxing
day sales, you may want to go this route as your money will usually
go further at these events.
Cash is king! Do your shopping with cash rather than credit
card. Perhaps nothing contributes to overspending than not having
to come up with the money at the time you buy. At the same time
avoid the don’t pay for three months deals as they too tend
to push people to spend more.
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