Planning your finances this Christmas will help you enjoy not only the festive season’s celebrations, but the New Year too
Everyone loves Christmas but nobody wants to end their festive season with a painful financial hangover.
It is starting to look like Christmas and all we can think of is how it’s going to be, what you will wear for the church service, your children, what they will wear. What’s for the menu? (The most essential part during the festive season, in my view of course. If you are like me, I will require to complete my menu with a juicy chicken thigh😋😋😋) Now, if you are planning to travel to the village for Christmas that’s another budget all together. What gifts you will give for Christmas? Who will receive the gifts?
Many questions are coming into your mind and you are overwhelmed. And when you look at the savings you have put aside for the festive season, it's basically not enough. You will probably be looking at getting a soft loan from a friend or at the office or a loan shark. It’s just not enough and it can never be enough.
Don’t wait to brace yourselves for the subsequent financial shock, when your debtors knock on your door in the first week of the New Year. Remember you are starting a new year and you don’t want to start it on the wrong foot with unrecorded debts.
Overindulging in food and drink is so often matched by overdoing our spending, with the result that the first part of the New Year turns into a damage repair exercise for our budgets.
I will fill you in on what I will do on my part; hopefully you can pick a thing or two to help you turn your Christmas into a financial success rather than financial excess.
- Plan Ahead.
As the saying goes “a failure to plan is a plan to fail,” and when it comes to the holidays, truer words were never spoken. Taking just a few minutes early in the season to set a budget, plan your menus, and determine your priorities can be the difference between memories to last a lifetime and a holiday you’d simply like to forget. Planning ahead is especially important when it comes to a lot of things.
First, draw up a budget for your Christmas spending; not just for presents, but the additional spending on food, drink and socializing.
Coordinate this Christmas element of your budget within the rest of the household budget; so that you can manage the overall effect Christmas spending has on your finances over a number of months. Spend what you have planned for and stick to that.
- Use the loyalty cards
Those who ignore these loyalty cards during your shopping you could start thinking of this one more time. From my experience these loyalty cards are a great savior during this season. You may not notice it but every time you make your shopping say at Nakumatt, Shoppers or any other supermarkets or stores with a loyalty cards, you give your card to the teller and she swipes it before entering the items you have bought, the total amount you pay comes back to you in points and these points can be redeemed to pay for your glossaries the next time you have less cash on you.
You can decide not to redeem your points for the whole year and use them to help finance your Christmas spending. So don’t take these loyalty cards for granted go on and get one they are for free though some stores decide on which spender to award them with the loyalty cards.
- Start shopping early enough
Start shopping early enough to avoid the high season prices. We know the horror of last minute Christmas shopping. Starting early gives you more options and more time to decide what to get. You may even have the luxury of shopping around!
Beat the crowd and start early this will also prevent you from throwing money to the problem when you don’t get what you want hence spending much unexpectedly.
- Sell, sell, sell
It's simple commerce, really. If everyone's buying, it's a good time to sell. Is your house full of things you don't need (like unwanted Christmas presents and unused exercise equipment from last year)?
Try to sell them online or opt for a car boot sale if you've a lot of stuff to offload. You've nothing to lose but you could earn some extra festive cash.
- Maximize the value of a Shilling.
Planning a village vacation isn't the only time the strength of a Shilling deserves consideration. Case in point, for less than the price of many pair of shoes or expensive clothes, you can feed unprivileged Tanzanian children a healthy breakfast by donating as low as TZS 5,000 to a project we started in 2016 to help unprivileged children in orphanages 4 times a year. You can contribute to the cause by simply sending your contribution to this account.
Account name: Josephine Lukoma
Account number: 5336925552
Bank name: Exim Bank Tanzania
Swift code: EXTNTZTZ for bank transfers
Yes it’s a personal account but I guarantee you these contributions and more from my personal savings every three months reach the intended recipients.
Now let’s help those who need the most help. Don’t forget to state the purpose of the deposit as “contribution to the unprivileged” so it can be easily traced.
Not only does it feel good, but you couldn't possibly quantify the investment return charitable giving produces. What you do this Christmas for someone who is truly suffering could save or substantially enhance the most precious gift many of us too often take for granted.
Hoping I have helped a soul out on their Christmas finances. Nevertheless Christmas never ends if you don’t use these tips for this Christmas try next year’s. This is the best gift I can give you this Christmas.
All I want for Christmas is for you my reader to subscribe today and don’t forget to like and share with your friends and family as it’s the time to share. You may save a soul from the financial hangover this New Year.
Happy holidays!
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