The end of the year brings with it not just the spirit of Christmas but also the need to be getting ourselves ready for a few parties, the buying of gifts, the buying of decorations, and all that other stuff. It's quite natural to feel some financial pressure at this time of year as there's so much you've got to do. It doesn't mean, however, that you should be neglecting the control you have over your own personal finances at this particularly difficult time. You don't have to make your life stressful, and you should certainly be striving to get rid of the stress and have a really enjoyable holiday period. Staying on top of your money during the holidays doesn't mean you have to take the fun out of it. It's really about creating the space to enjoy the holidays without the burden of stress dragging into the new year. The holiday period kicks off with a proper assessment of how much you're going to spend on it. In other words, you need to be able to work out your budget for the period and know how much you can spend on each activity without then having the worry of not having any money left in the future. In that respect, you don't have to view the budgeting process as some sort of restriction on what you want to buy. It's actually a very useful tool which will help to prevent you from being stressed in the future. One of the best ways to make this period happy for everyone is to focus on sentiment rather than on the cost of the gifts. The people we are close to will never care about how much the gift costs; they will simply care about how much you've thought about them. "It's the thought (that you can remember them) that counts more than the actual present". The best way to achieve this is to try and arrange a gift exchange to create the festive atmosphere. There are, of course, many ways of getting presents without spending a fortune, e.g. making them yourself or having a dinner at home. You will need to have a list of the people you're going to be buying presents for and what you actually want to buy. For a long time, opening my bank app was like walking into a haunted house. I'd do it with my eyes half-shut, bracing myself and hoping that the figure that appeared wasn’t any lower than I'd been dreading. Living from paycheck to paycheck wasn’t just a financial reality; it was a very real emotional burden, and it was a constant source of stress. The whole thing changed when I realised that budgeting wasn’t some draconian system designed to strip all the fun out of life. It was simply a way of giving my hard-earned money a direction so that I could finally get a bit of peace. It was a real struggle to get my head around my finances, and I had to be absolutely honest with myself as to where the money was going. I discovered that my daily coffee, all of my unused subscriptions, and all that takeout food that I didn't actually need was the real drain on my financial security. Having a realistic budget didn't mean that you had to go completely cold turkey and cut everything out of your life; it just meant that you had to be aware of what actually brought you value. The first thing I set about doing was to build my emergency fund as I simply needed to have some money in the bank to feel safe and secure. Of course, no financial journey is ever completely smooth, and life has a habit of throwing you a curveball when you're not looking. There was a period a few years ago when we were in a very tight spot, and it was absolutely necessary to take out a temporary loan to get us over the gap. It initially felt like a massive let-down. The key thing was to look at that loan not as a failure but as a commitment that you were going to honour. Simply incorporating the repayments into your household budget every month was a massive learning curve in terms of accountability and it really did instil the habit of living within your means. During the holidays it's important to keep an eye on your day-to-day spend so that you can keep your overall plan on track. Regularly checking your bank accounts will help you to avoid any nasty surprises and will allow you to adjust your spend as necessary. The real spirit of the holidays is in the good times you have with your family and friends and it's the little, more affordable moments that really count. Giving yourself the gift of financial boundaries today is the best way to set yourself up for a good start to the next year. Today, managing my own money is less of a nightmare and more of an act of self-care. Budgeting and saving money haven't just improved my bank balance; it's given me financial freedom, confidence and peace of mind about the future. Money will come and go, but if you've got a plan then you're in control of your own life.
No comments:
Post a Comment