How You Can Get Back on Budget After the Holidays
Saturday, January 13, 2018, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
The holidays are for overeating, oversharing, and overspending. Unfortunately, most people often go beyond their budgets during the holiday season. With a long list of gifts to give and family to visit, it’s understandable.
However, once it’s all finally over and you’ve had too much pie, here are some helpful tips for getting your budget back on track for the coming year.
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Budget in Advance
Starting early can help prevent future holiday overspending. If you can create and stick to a reasonable budget during the rest of the year, you’ll almost certainly find more room for extra purchases around the holidays. By reducing your spending throughout the other 10 months, you’ll feel less stressed and less likely to make impulsive (and more expensive) gift purchases.
It’d also be a great idea to start making purchases before the holiday season arrives. Generally, there are people on your list who you can shop for early on. You can get ahead and reduce holiday spending by utilizing sales that happen the rest of the year. You’ll save time and money by spreading out your gift purchases.
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Utilize Gift Cards
Although they can be easily forgotten about once the holiday season is finally over, be sure to utilize any gift cards you received from your friends and family. Using these gift cards after the holidays will help you from spending most of your own money and allow for a bigger time frame to get your finances and budget back in order.
There are so many options for gift cards these days too, which will give you more options while trying to get back on track with your budget. Companies also tend to give great bonuses with gift cards during the holiday season.
Typically, they’ll include a fantastic coupon or small gift, and some companies will give an additional cash bonus with the purchase of a gift card, which means even more spending money for you.
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Declutter Your Space
Now that the holidays are over, it’d be a great idea to look around at all the things you no longer need or use. Clothes, electronics, decorations, games and toys, now that the holidays are over, what do you have double of? Of course, decluttering your space isn’t always the simplest job, but it can be beneficial to your home and (hopefully) your wallet. If you need help getting started, try these decluttering tips.
After you decide what’s staying and what’s going, selling what you no longer have use for is a great way to earn some extra money. If it’s warm enough, host a yard sale. If it’s not, consider joining a local buy, sell, trade group or list your items on websites such as eBay and Craigslist or even pop in to a consignment shop. You’ll give yourself more income to work with and reorganize your home at the same time.
Dealing with the aftermath of the holidays can be tricky and overwhelming. After all the presents, traveling, and eating, you might be at a lost on how to get your finances back in order. By using some of these tips, you can get your budget back on track and start looking forward to the rest of the new year.
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