There is one thing that never changes about Christmas and that’s the fact of how EXPENSIVE a holiday it is. I still don’t get it! Everything seems to be on a higher side during this period, leaving many broke whiles crossing over into the New Year season and that shouldn’t be so. Growing up, Christmas has been one of the seasons I always look forward to, many save all year long just to have memorable moments. I super love Christmas but for many years the expenses that comes with Christmas sucks the joy out of the holiday leaving us stressed, overwhelmed, and with an empty or almost empty bank account. Guess you know what I am talking about, if you haven’t experienced being broke after Christmas then you need to stop reading right way! But if you are like me who seeks to find means to spend less but yet have a blast during this Christmas and still have enough money for early next year then you are on the right page. Here are some Six Tips that should help resolve the aftermath of Christmas to our bank account: 1. Plan ahead. Always planning saves one a quite lot of troubles and headaches. Knowing very well you would have to buy gifts for the kids, wife, parent, friends, Bae and some family members, know how much you want to spend on each person. Checkout for discount sales, clearance sales and other promos. The best places to get such offers are the mall and local retail shops. Never forget to plan your outings, vacations, your festival groceries, clothes and other items you would need for the season. Also, set a spending limit and strictly tune your mind to follow accordingly. 2. Choose a less expensive lifestyle. You don’t need to buy extremely expensive items to prove you having a good time. You could gather 3 to 5 friends to make homemade food. Try your hands on new dishes – That sounds fun. Make pastries, fruit juice (Half a basket of oranges, ginger, pineapple, mangoes, watermelon, bananas and voila! you could make your varieties of smoothies) Why spend soo much getting a glass of smoothies whiles you could make jugs for less…Never thought about this I guess lol. Don’t you ever get tired of always buying Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Ice Cream? Why change all your wardrobe because it’s Christmas, Crazy right!? But some people do that and end up being broke in January. So why not just get a couple of new clothes and shoes and save up the money for the following year. Ever tried creating your own cinema at home? Create your date or movie night with friends at home, here is the trick buy 1litre coke or any preferred drink (Quantity depends on your size) Make hot homemade popcorn either salt or sugar flavoured and hey! Have chocolates on the side as well makes the moment epic! 3. Avoid the malls and stores Flee! From the malls and stores if you want to spend less, expect to see things and items that would attract you easily during the festive season. Those lovely Christmas designs and light could easily gain your attention any time you find yourself in these places. Your girlfriend will point, your wife will point, your kids will point, your friends will point, even your eyes will point so you know what flee! And online shops especially ladies always on Instagram surfing for what to buy, for the festive season stay away from visiting online shops in those places. 4. Never go out with your Visa or ATM card Ever carried your Visa card with you and visited a place with amazing stuff you loved and found yourself punching in your secret code and you asked yourself “how the hell I get here!”. I don’t know but there is one damn spirit that follows us whenever we carry our Visa cards in our purse, wallet or back pocket. So if you know you want to limit your spending, live a less expensive life avoid the Visa cards, make sure you always leave them at home and carry just enough cash to sustain you for whatever agenda that took you out. 5. Try free events You don’t always have to go for paid events, turns out some free events are more exciting than the so-called paid events. Going for free event doesn’t make you less a man or woman, remember we trying to spend less this period and live a less expensive lifestyle. At the end of the day, the aim for these events is to have fun, a good time and experience. And yeah! Free programs and event are being organized every time. 6. Remember what the festive season is all about. Many people have lost the real touch to what Christmas is all about, it’s not about how many gifts you had or gave, how many places you visited or how many times you had fun. Christmas is about something MUCH bigger than that! Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God. And this should guide you through the season as you reflect and prepare towards the New Year. Cheers!
Source: Trenditonline.com/ Paul Ogbodu
