Hyppychick.com.com

I'm Amanda Saye and I write HyppyChick.com. I am a wife and stay at home mother and understand that time and money can be tight in these times. It's my goal to provide information and access to products that saves both time and money and allows creativity. Making your own gifts and cards can save a lot of money and besides, it's really fun! I've been papercrafting for over ten years now and I am an independent demonstrator for Stampin' Up! a 20 year old rubber stamp and craft company in Utah.

Holiday Budgeting - It's a snap!

Posted on 10/19/2009 11:55:00 AM by Amanda
I believe that one of the biggest holiday stress inducers is money!!

If you're like me and don't want to incur debt for Christmas, you've got to think NOW about how much you can spend on Christmas. If you're really smart - which I have to say, that I am not - you should be thinking about the holidays all year and be budgeting the whole year. But now with the end of October LOOMING before us we can think about the holiday budget and how much is reasonable to spend.

The first step in evaluating your holiday budgeting needs, you need to look at last year's expenses. If you use expense tracking software like Quicken, then you can go back and track this pretty easily. If you don't have some way of tracking this, don't get too upset. Just vow to save your receipts this year.

Once you've got an idea of last year's number, decide if it's a reasonable number. Did it cause you go to go into debt? Or if you're ok with some debt, did it cause you to go OVER the amount you wanted?

With this information in mind, determine the magic number this year.

Other things to do for your budget this year:
  1. Write a list and stick to it. If you decide you're only spending $30 on each family member, do it. If you decide that your contribution to the family meal will be desserts, don't decide that you'll cook potato salad and your famous wiener appetizers too.
  2. Say no to last minute temptations. Sure glitter is on sale at the big box craft store but do you really need a 4 gallon bucket of glitter?
Last but not least, remember that your holiday budget should be liberating. Instead of thinking that you can't do this and you can't do that because you have a budget - said in a whiney voice - remember that this way, the bills will be outlived by the holiday bird.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. You can shop anytime at my Stampin' Up! site then by clicking SHOP NOW. Also, please sign up for my newsletter by clicking HERE or by completing the form on the right.


Labels:

Add a Comment | Number of Comments: 0


About the Artist

I'm Amanda Saye and I write HyppyChick.com. I am a wife and stay at home mother and understand that time and money can be tight in these times. That's why it's my goal to provide you with information and access to products that saves you both time and money and allows you to be creative. Making your own gifts and cards can save a lot of money and besides, it's really fun! I've been papercrafting for over ten years now and I am an independent demonstrator for Stampin' Up! a twenty year old rubber stamp and craft company in Utah. More about me: I'm married to John and the mother to baby girl Phoebe. I live in Douglasville, Georgia - a wee city just west of Atlanta. To contact me, please email me at amanda@hyppychick.com

Contact: Amanda
Douglasville, Georgia, United States

View Blogger Profile

Recent Posts

Labels

Archives

05/2009 06/2009 08/2009 09/2009 10/2009 11/2009

Subscribe

Twitterings

    • Be the next to follow me on Twitter

    Newsletter

    join my mailing list
    * indicates required field

    Disclaimer

    Amanda Saye is an Independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator. The content of this website is the sole responsibility of Amanda Saye as an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator and the use of, and content of, the classes, services or products offered on this website is not endorsed by Stampin' Up!

    Copyright © Amanda Saye; All rights reserved. Nothing may be copied or changed without requesting permission from Amanda Saye. Any items on this website are posted for inspiration alone only and may not be copied for submission to contests, magazines, etc. All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise specified.