Christmas is so much filled with activities like decorating, attending parties, travelling to see friends and families. It is also a season when everyone loves to give. Thus, you feel the urge to buy gifts for almost everyone. It is indeed a very expensive time that even if you set a budget, you have the tendency to overspend it. Some of you are now thinking on how to build up cash again after going overboard during the holidays.
Here are some ideas that you can try to build up cash and regain what you lost during the holidays. Just wanted to share the things that I do:
1. Sum up the cost of each item you spent on during the holidays.
What I usually do is keep a spreadsheet of our Christmas list. As I purchase, I input the price of the gift that I chose. This is something you can actually do next year. But since it’s too late to start this (since you’ve already given out gifts), pick a pen, try to recall and make assumptions on how much the gifts were, then do the math. See if you can still find receipts even if they are already crumpled. Try to come up with an approximate number. After which, try to split the total into cash and what was spent using a credit card.
2. Use an application and try tracking your income and expenses starting TODAY!
After I download and app or use a planner, I’m guilty of deciding to use it at the start of a month. Para malinis (so everything is in order!), as I would say. But the thing is, it will be most likely that you’ll forget to use it at the start of the month. So, you’ll end up delaying and delaying.
What I would advise is to start ASAP! Once you have downloaded the application, start using it.
Okay, so what applications do I use.
One, I use Taxumo (for obvious reasons to some). Since I use it for paying my taxes, I thought might as well use it to log in my income and expenses for my business. By the way, this is a web application, so you don’t need to download anything. You can access Taxumo straight from your browser!
The other application that I use is called Wally. I love it because I know at any given point in time how much I have in any of my accounts and in my wallet. I update it every day (at the end of the day) and I check if I get to balance everything out. So far, I have been doing a great job!
The last application that I want to share with you is called 52 weeks. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the 52 week saving challenge! Well, this actually automates it! But unfortunately, for the past 3 weeks, I haven’t saved anything yet. But, we’ll see! I know that I need to catch up.
3. Challenge yourself and stop buying expensive things.
After calculating, you need to spend less during this time. My rule is to only spend if that thing brings me joy. I learned that from my friend who is a decluttering consultant. This is her blog: https://www.myjoyfulspace.com/. She taught me how to think really hard before buying.
Stop spending on not-so-important things so you can build up your savings. Avoid going to places that will tempt you to buy for expensive items like in the restaurant, bar, departments store, etc. Substitute a high-priced meal with one that you can prepare nicely at home. If you are looking for fun, go out with a friend and talk about good experiences. Some fun things can be free. Well, you do have to make some sacrifices for the shopping spree you did last year.
What I have noticed also is that if I know that I need to track expenses, I spend less. I’m lazy to track a lot so that keeps me from buying a lot of things!
4. Find other means of earning back your money.
It’s timely to be resolute to regain the money you’ve lost. Be determined to incur extra cash to cancel out your debt. Think about your strengths that can be valuable to others. What can you offer and be paid for it? Can you write, layout or bake? Are you good at selling? Can you teach students during weekends?
Don’t focus on JUST budgeting from what you’re earning. That will lead you to fall into the trap of going from pay check to pay check. If you want to earn back the money that you have spent, you need to find extra sources of income and make it happen!
So those are my 4 tips on how to build up cash again after spending it all over the holidays! Do you have anything else to add? Feel free to comment on this blog and let me know!
Happy new year!
Always, your partner towards success,
Mommy Ginger
