By Brittany Crow |Staff Writer|
A stress-free holiday season starts with a budget and with only a few weeks away, it’s time to start thinking about the season of giving!
The upcoming holidays will have your undies in a bunch if you don’t start budgeting to catch those great sales.
If you have participated in Black Friday, you know you must prepare for it mentally. But where do you start when it comes to budgeting?
Here are some tips that can help you prepare for the madness!
Student Sara Sells shared her budgeting strategies for the holidays and how she prepares.
Sells explains that she gets a little stressed about finances during the holiday season.
“I try to be proactive and start putting some money aside in September or October so I don’t freak out completely,” said Sells.
Putting aside money a few months before the holiday season is a great way to help you budget and will prevent you from splurging all at once.
Sells suggests students to do some comparison shopping to make sure they find the best deals on everything they need.
Another key is to review your expenses before going out shopping; it’s the best way to help you avoid holiday debt.
Student Brittany Lopez mentioned that she puts a large sum of money away into a different account, and doesn’t touch the account until it’s time for her to start shopping.
I stopped by the accounting department on campus and asked Professor Ghumlam Sarwar a few questions regarding saving and budgeting for the holidays.
Sarwar recommended starting a financial plan ahead of time.
He usually shops in store because online shopping can add a lot of taxes at the end of your order.
Sarwar feels everyone should be disciplined when it comes to shopping, meaning to not go out with a group of friends to do your holiday shopping because you can find yourself spending more than you had hoped.
Try setting aside time to write down what you need to buy before going shopping.
When you have a list of people that you need to purchase for and you plan out what you want to purchase for each of them, your shopping will go smoother.
Student Meagan Hudson expresses that during the holiday season she does a lot of window shopping until it comes time to start purchasing gifts.
Hudson’s idea of budgeting during the holiday season is going at the last minute, something that others try to advoid at all costs.
This allows her to better keep track of what money is coming out of her spending account.
Budgeting every expense during the holiday and being watchful of your accounts can be difficult to do for many of us, especially when we already have so many bills as college students.
Always remember to save more money than you need so that you won’t fall short when you get to the register.
Doing so will help you be stress-free during the holidays and enjoy the time with your loved ones.
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