Did you over spend over the holidays?
Are you ignoring calls from your bank about how your balance is in overdraft? Or your bills are still not paid?
Sorry for this, it can be quite stressful. But guess what it can be fixed and avoided in the future.
Immediate recovery plan
- Assess the damage: which bills remain outstanding and by how much? It is good to have a clear picture of how bad the damage is rather than to avoid it.
- Call your service providers for extension in payment due dates
- Skip a week of grocery and use only what is in your pantry. Truth is you probably stocked more than you needed for the festive holiday so you have groceries to keep you going. Doing this could save you about $100 a week and could be done every other month.
- Sell or return extra gifts that you do not like or need.
- Garage sale
Future plans:
- Have a conversation with friends and family about reduced costs of gifts and spending. Suggest a price limit.
- Plan gifts ahead of time and start buying them mid year to avoid last minute spending
- Save money to cushion after holidays
- Pay bills in advance so that you have extra time after holidays before you can start paying regular bills again
- Set up auto transfers so that you have enough in your savings. Have a look at your budget and see what your regular monthly expenditure is, e.g. $1200, divide this by 11months and set up an auto transfer to your savings account so that at the end of the year your have money enough for an extra month’s bills.
- Make your travel plans in advance
- Smart shopping
- Budegt
- Save
Finally reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and hope you realize that spending time with family and friends is more important than buying them expensive gifts.
