2013 Savings for Christmas - do it now!

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Ahorsesoul

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Oct 13, 2007
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Yes, every bit counts and by the end of the year it will be a nice amount.
 

Ahorsesoul

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8 more savings months

Only 9 months till Christmas which boils down to only 8 months to save. Please start today if you haven't started.
 

ejagno

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I actually spent some of my gold coins (Christmas savings) for Easter. I always stuff plastic Easter eggs with candy and usually some gift certificates to McDonald's, Children's museum and things like this. I forgot to get the gift certificates this year so I placed shiny gold coins in a few dozen of the plastic eggs. Surprisingly the kids all came out with some money and really enjoyed it. One grandson was so excited because he thought it was doubloons. I told the parents that this was real money so don't toss them out like a trinket. They had a blast but now I have to go to the bank and replenish my $24 gold dollars. Every week I get $19 in gold coins to save for Christmas. That's the odd amount on my weekly check. I did order one stocking stuffer so far. It should be in this week. I'm so excited...........the first gift of the year.
 

sierra_mtns

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Oct 9, 2011
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DH and I have Christmas Club that gets money put in it each of my paydays.
Every Saturday morning, I log into our checking account and whatever is in there in "loose" change (anything under $10) is put into Christmas club. So if there is $108.88 in the account, then 8.88 goes to Christmas Club. If there is $333.33 in checking, then $3.33 goes to Christmas Club.
I have been buying one gift card every Rudolph/Candy Cane Day or buying one Christmas present.
I have a Kroger grocery card and a Walmart grocery card. If I am budgeted for $150 a week and only spend $127, then I put that extra $23 on whichever store I'm at when I finish shopping.
 

missjane

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Ellen, Have you noticed the gold $1s don't have "In God We Trust" on them? It's the first coin without it produced in the US.

Sierra, every little bit helps. That's a neat way to do both things. I have a card for WalMart that I have $5 or 10 put on every once in a while when I'm checking out. Some will go into Christmas Club account today.

Is anyone doing the chart from Pinterest?
 

ejagno

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Jane, I did not notice that. What a shame! And people wonder why our nation is in such a state of economic and moral decline. They can take God out of schools, off of money and everything else but they can't take him out of our hearts.
 

Christmaslvr

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DH and I have Christmas Club that gets money put in it each of my paydays.
Every Saturday morning, I log into our checking account and whatever is in there in "loose" change (anything under $10) is put into Christmas club. So if there is $108.88 in the account, then 8.88 goes to Christmas Club. If there is $333.33 in checking, then $3.33 goes to Christmas Club.

I LOVE this idea!! I'm going to try this!
 

Cindylouwho

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Just got a refund back for some items I had purchased by mistake. All refunds go to my Christmas account. Liking the gift card a month. Will have to remember that the next time I'm at the store for something small (which makes it easier to spend extra).
 

Ahorsesoul

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Do it Now Savings

If you haven't started today is the day to start. Call your bank to see how to set up a Christmas savings account or get out an envelop to put in some cash.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Put a little something into your Christmas Savings!! Do it Today.
 

missjane

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Thanks, Diedra! I need to go online and transfer to our Christmas Club account from our checking account. I've been putting $5, 10, or 20 on our Wal-Mart GC, too when I think about it. I need to be more diligent about it, though.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Keep up your Christmas Savings. WTG MHHers.
 

Christmaslvr

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Sad to say I've had to dip into my Christmas savings...no idea why but we will barely make our bills this month...sigh. 1 step forward 6 steps back it seems :(
 

Ahorsesoul

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I am thankful you had the Christmas savings to dip into. What a blessing.
 

Winged One

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Having the savings to dip into, so you stay in the black, rather than having to slip into the red, is a positive thing. You have time to rebuild the savings during the rest of the year, or to plan more frugal options for gifts (including time to craft, or ability to turn summer fruit gluts into alcoholic concoctions for pennies, etc, or even pick up out of season things in the summer/fall sales) rather than having to panic.

I am about to go to the bank this week for a withdrawal, but I hope to rebuild those savings after our summer holiday next month (and with no au pair for 2 months - between her "pocket money" and the amount of food she eats, she is a BIG dent in the budget at the moment!).
 

Christmaslvr

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I have to share my story! I last posted here that we had to use what we were putting towards Christmas for groceries because things were really bad for us financially. I have been praying on it and took the steps to "sell" some shares in the investment accounts that I've had for 20 years. This money is to pay for my DD's college loans when they start becoming due later this year. I do have a lot more in there than I need for the loans and always thought I would start "taking" when it comes time to retire. ANYWAY I bit the bullet and decided to take what I think will equal about $1000.00...just enough to make our car payment and have several hundred as a cushion. I could come up with no other solution.

So yesterday was payday and I never look at my check online (I have direct deposit) but decided to look since things are tight and I didn't know what my OT would be. I see that there were 2 checks issued...one for a Referral Bonus in the amount of $1,500 which nets to $1,010.00. I immediately went to my boss and said there was a mistake. He asked me if I'm sure I didn't refer someone for a job and I joked that I didn't know anyone here to refer! lol Payroll forwarded me the referral paperwork which had my name on it and asked me to confirm. I told her while I wished I did, I didn't refer this person, that I didn't know anyone by this name. My boss contacts the recruiter who tells him yes my name was on this person's job application. This is starting to freak me out and I begin to wonder if I'm having a Senior moment and just can't remember! lol My boss finds out this person works in our building (we have several sites across the country) and calls her. He comes over to my desk and tells me it's mine..."she said you met her in a Kitchen store..." that's all he had to say and I started crying. I DID meet someone who worked in a store in the mall and we were there talking for awhile. She said she was looking for a job and I told that even though I just recently started there, here's my company's information and website, look and check out the job postings. Well she did that back in February and was hired in April. She put my name down as being referred by...CAN YOU IMAGINE???? While I was at first overwhelmed by the gift of this bonus money, I then realized and became more overwhelmed at what she did for me! Even now when I think about it I start crying again. We met for lunch yesterday and I have to say that the true bonus is having a new friend!

I'm so sorry this is so long...I just had to share! Thanks for reading!
 
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Ahorsesoul

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Nancy, what a blessing.
 

missjane

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Nancy, I love it when God answers my prayers in ways I never expected! What a gift to be thankful for.