It's January 2016 - Are You Saving/Planning, Yet?

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missjane

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One of the reasons we have MHH is to help us plan for the next Christmas which includes trying to have a debt free Christmas.

If you haven't started a Christmas Club account for 2016, this is the month to do it. Check where you work. If they have a credit union, you can have money deducted from your paycheck that goes directly into an account before you ever get your check.

Also, think about putting a little on gift cards you can use during the holidays. After I realized there was one store I don't shop at much during the year, but do near the holidays, I started a GC for there for this year.

I was surprised how glad I was that I had money on GCs to use because I always have a Christmas Club account. I used the GCs more for seasonal grocery items than for presents. However, I did use my Walmart card for all of my Black Friday purchases that I wanted for gifts.

So far I have:
$100 in the Christmas Club
$30 on a Walmart card
$10 on a Target card
$10 on Super One card

Hope to have more before the end of the month.

Remember, even saving just a little is helpful. You will be so glad when the time comes to have the little extra you've been squirreling away.

Happy saving, everyone!
 

tanya

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Jan 8, 2012
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Yep, I have started.
Its not so much the saving as we go for us- it more the planning that I like.

Our GC's seem to work differently here. We can't get them and then add as we go. So at the end of the year we end up with different GC's with smaller $ amounts- your way seems better!

I usually grocery shop each fortnight- should go every week but just cant be bothered! I pick up a $50 card every time I go. These cards are valid for a variety of shops within the chain- Supermarket, Liquor, Stationery, Kmart (kind of like your Wallmart but much, much smaller) and Target- probably others that I don't use.

I have ordered some stocking stuffers from ebay- coming from China so they will take a while.

I also have $40 to spend on a loyalty card that I collect points for and save all year to buy wine with at Christmas - we give a lot of wine as gifts! And I use it for entertaining. I hope to have about $200 on the card by early Dec 2016.

I will be purchasing some more stuffer type things in our back to school sales- just need to wait til next week when DS goes back to afternoon swim sessions- this week it has been all mornings as they are still running on a holiday timetable.

I will be putting things on layby during our big toy/ game sales in June/ July. Ds is kind of past toys nw but there are lots of other things to get like DVD's, games, x box accessories, etc...

I will also pick up itunes cards when they are on sale at 20% off. (this happens a lot so now I refuse to pay full price for them)
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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My Christmas club is something I have had for over 20 years. I still rely on it. In the past I used it to buy the kids back to school items, but now it sits there as a buffer. My kids get $250 each as part of Christmas so this money comes from the Christmas club. I direct deposit $55 a fortnight into the account.

I too stock up on itunes cards when I see them.
GCs not so much as like Tanya said, we can only purchase a card for a certain amount and are not able to add to them.

I have already asked the kids for a list of DVDs that they might like and will keep an eye out for them through the year,
I have started a list of stocking fillers and as I buy a lot of stocking fillers when I do my groceries, I have added them to the shopping list.

When I am decluttering I will add to my planner anything that I think that the kids might need for Christmas, summer pj's, t-shirts etc.
 

ejagno

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Aug 31, 2010
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Way to go Jane! This year I'm doing things a bit differently. We are a family of 12 and all but 2 have birthdays during the last quarter of the year on top of Christmas. I started with the youngest family member and decided to dedicate a month to each person. During that month I buy their annual (Birthday, Christmas, Easter, stocking stuffers, Halloween,...) gifts. It is so much easier to focus on one recipient at a time.

I am however purchasing gift cards to my favorite grocery store to help with the ever rising costs of holiday meals, baking and treats that aren't a normal part of our everyday food budget.

I'm already on the hunt for my 2016 holiday outfits for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years while cool weather clothing is still available.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Ellen, I like the idea of buying clothing for the next season now. Sometimes you can get great bargains at the end of season sales.
I will be looking for summer things soon, sunblock, tee-shirts, shorts etc. marked down but can be used for next summer.
 

missjane

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Ellen, I like the idea of focusing on/buying for one person each month.

Our BDs fall similarly. I've already bought DSIL's and DDIL's BD presents. His is early February and hers is late February, followed by DGS#2 and DD18 all within 7 days of each other. DH's is early November with mine following exactly a month after and DD23 two days after mine and 2 weeks before Christmas. How crazy is that? Then, throw in Valentine's! LOL

I've noticed that Dollar General and Family Dollar put several types of GCs on sale througout the year. FD had $25 GCs for $20 last week. None I wanted this time, but I made a mental note to check the sales circulars for them.

Tanya, we have KMart here, but not a lot of them. There's one about 40 miles from us. I went there the day after Christmas and bought a few things...some placemats I love! Not fancy at all - plastic, in fact - but I loved the festive look of them. I just took them off the table Sunday night. I really like KMart and wish this one was closer. I'm just thankful it's still open, as many of ours closed several years ago.
 

snowlvr

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Oct 14, 2007
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I started a Christmas club last year in June I think and was really pleased with how painless it was-I have $60 come out every paycheck-twice a month-and it adds up quickly...I had not thought about getting gift cards from the grocery store to use for all the food I need to buy at Christmas-what a good idea! I will do that at least once a month, and get a Visa gift card once a month too-we give those to a number of favorite nieces and nephews..love these ideas!