www.dotcomhunter.com Setting a Budget for Christmas Shopping It is never too early to start thinking about setting a budget for Chri stmas shopping. As much as we would like to be able to purchase anythin g we want for our friends and relatives, it is an unfortunate reality, that many of us have to budget carefully to be able to purchase Christm as gifts for all of our friends and relatives during the holiday season . With this in mind it is very important to set a budget for Christmas shopping and to try to really stick to that budget. Some people take an interesting approach to setting a budget for Chr istmas shopping by waiting until they are ready to start shopping to set the actual budget. These individuals usually do this because th ey are saving specifically for the purpose of Christmas shopping. Wh ether they open up a bank account specifically for Christmas shoppin g, set aside money for this purpose in an envelop each week or plan on using a percentage of their income from the month of November for Christmas shopping it is important to set a budget and determine a plan for purchasing all of your Christmas gifts without exceeding th is budget. Other people take a different approach to setting a budget for Chris tmas shopping by shopping throughout the year and incorporating thei r spending for Christmas presents into their monthly budgets. These individuals may allot a portion of their monthly income to gift givi ng and either purchase the gifts on a monthly basis or simply set as ide the money for a Christmas shopping spree at a later date. Those who spread out the Christmas shopping by doing a little bit of shopp ing each month not only keep their budget in control but also elimin ate a great deal of the stress which often accompanies last minute C hristmas shopping. Still others take a more interesting approach to setting a budget f or Christmas shopping. Those who typically receive a financial bonu s at work around Christmas time may base their budget on the amount of money they are awarded in this bonus. This strategy may work ou t well for some as it does not allow them to alter their normal mon thly spending strategy because these bonuses are typically not cons idered in the regular monthly budgeting. However, unless these bonu ses are guaranteed annually, there is some risk involved in this st rategy. Often annual bonuses are awarded based on criteria such as the company’s earnings and the individual employee’s contributions to the success of the company. The company may not enjoy financial success or the contributions of the employee may not be highly valu ed and therefore there may be either no bonus or a bonus much lower than expected. When this happens, those who count on bonuses for C A gift from www.dotcomhunter.comwww.dotcomhunter.com hristmas shopping may find themselves in a difficult situation. Budgeting for Christmas shopping is particularly important for those who plan to use credit cards to make their purchases. In the case o f credit card purchases it might be worthwhile to spread the Christm as shopping out over the entire year and repay the debts associated with the shopping monthly. This will help to prevent carrying a bala nce and being charged interest on the balance each month. However, i f it is necessary to do all of the Christmas shopping at one time, i t is wise to save up during the year for these purchases. Before you begin shopping, evaluate the amount of money you have saved and set a budget for your Christmas shopping. This way even though you are using a credit card and will receive a large bill the following mont h, you should have enough money to repay the bill in its entirety an d avoid paying interest on the debt. Even those with the best of intentions may find themselves going ov er their budget when Christmas shopping. When this happens it is im portant to keep things in perspective and avoid going too far over budget. You may spend too much on one or two people on your Christm as list but you can recover from this by purchasing less expensive gifts than planned for a few other people to compensate. PPPPP Word count 688 A gift from www.dotcomhunter.com