End of Year on a Budget: What’s Your Survival Plan?

Christmas as we all know is a season of love, happiness and giving out. In these times, we know there’s a lot of activities and spending going to happen most especially before, during and immediately after the holidays. And if there’s one thing we must remember, it’s the fact that we will still need to spend some money in the new year because life still continues.

I’m yet to meet someone that loves the long holidays more than me because I don’t think anyone can beat me at planning and plotting. I love having fun. If there’s somewhere something is going down during this festive season, make sure to involve me because we suffer all year just to stay indoors in times like this.

However, in times like this, I fully understand the importance of managing my finances to the tiniest detail because I wouldn’t want to find myself wanting to or being in debt when the new year comes.
I few steps I’ve learnt the hard way over the years is to first have a clear budget for all my plans for the holidays. Next, I know I have to eat and cover some other expenses, so I make sure to allocate some funds for these stuff because they are essential.

Moving on, we all know Christmas is the season of abundance and so all shops would be running promotions. And once again, I’m a lover of promotions and discounts and would make sure to shop in all the supermarkets with discounts for everything I need so as to cut down on my expenses. Just last week, a supermarket I always shop at was giving 10% off everything and as usual, I made sure to cut use it to my advantage and as we speak now, I don’t think I’d be shopping for anything major until we step into the new year. If you need to get something for your home, now is the time. Whether is clothing, food, gifts and other decorations for your Christmas, just get it now and you would not have to worry about it in the coming weeks.

During the festive season , money must be spent on occasions , meet ups and what have you. This doesn’t mean you should spend your entire year’s savings on such events. Know how to manage your spending so as to not empty your bank account drinking expensive wine which you wouldn’t drink on a normal day. If beer is what fits into your budget, drink it as it as. Don’t go about trying to please people who can buy the whole club because at the end of the day, everyone would go back to their normal lives like always.

If only you want to look at the Christmas party pictures when you’re hungry and hope to get satisfied, then I support you fully with our bag of rice. Spurge as much as you can, but remember that the kind of hunger that will wipe your eyes in January would leave you rethinking your life. If this isn’t enough advice , I don’t know what is. Do enjoy your holidays!

all images belong to me.