Debt Recoveries Australia
How to Budget for the Holiday Season
Hi, my name is Adam Stewart, Debt Collection Expert and owner of Debt Recoveries Australia.
This time of year can be quite stressful for our debtors who are struggling to pay their instalments, so here is a holiday season budget that may help you to maintain control of your spending and keep you on track for the new year.
Having a good budget will empower you with direction, confidence, and freedom from anxiety. Most readily found budget advice is simply to decide how much you will spend this year and to not go over that amount. Sticking to a spending limit is sound strategy, but you need a better plan of attack, so you don’t get into further debt. A spending limit relies solely on self discipline and does not offer any tips or tricks.
This budgeting tool distributes funds in accordance with how important the recipient is in your life.
First, decide how much you are going to spend.
Second, make a list of everyone for whom you will buy gifts and assign a point value to each person based upon a comparative amount you would like to spend on them. For example, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being high, your spouse may receive a 5 but your next door neighbour a 1.
Third, total all the points.
Fourth, divide the total amount you plan to spend by the total points. This quotient is your budget factor.
Fifth, go back through the list of people receiving a gift and multiply the budget factor by their point value to determine how much you can spend on each of them.
You now know how much you can spend on each person. The point value in this budget tool helps you distribute your funds as a reflection of how close the person is to you. An accurate relative dollar amount helps focus our energies.
Once you have set your budget, hopefully, you will have freedom from fear, and reduced anxiety.
Here are some other quick tips for the holiday season:
- Personalise your greetings cards ( make your own!)
- Family-wide Secret Santa ( set a limit you can work with)
- Decide as a family to donate to charity, instead of buying presents
- Go camping instead of an expensive overseas holiday
- Consider asking your guests to BYO on the big day
- If you haven’t got the cash, don’t buy it. Simple. No credit card purchases
- Find some bargains on Gumtree, Amazon or Ebay, instead
- Get debt help from Financial Counselling Australia, so you can be prepared.
Debt Recoveries Australia is the expert at recovering your outstanding debt without the drama. For more information, email at us email@debtrecoveries.com.au or call 1300 799 511. Talk to us about your debt collection concerns via Skype at debtrecoveries.