Finance Pro Tip: Christmas is Not an Emergency
497 views · Published 4 March 2016 · 4:17 · Indexed 4 November 2026
Channel: Utah State University Extension · 2016 · Howto & Style
How to tackle Christmas without using your emergency savings. ........ Ah, an emergency! My house is on fire, there's been an earthquake, I, my furnace went out, and I'm headed right into the coldest time of the year, I've gotta replace it. These are emergencies. Christmas, is not. Hello, it's Amanda Christensen with Utah State University Extension. Today's quick financial tip is about Christmas. Christmas is NOT an emergency. It comes around every 12 months. We know that in 12 more months December will roll around, and the 25th of December will be here. It will be Christmas again. Don't rush out and overspend only to find that when January rolls around you've piled on a little more debt, a little more than you would have liked, and you've got to dig yourself out of that. And it takes till May to do that, and you turn around in six months and do it again. Don't treat Christmas like an emergency. Emergency as defined by the dictionary states: a serious unexpected and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action. Having a baby on an airplane. Christmas is not an emergency. Whatever your budget, whatever you decide you can spend on Christmas the most important thing I would recommend, which is tip number two, is to set reasonable expectations for Christmas. This might mean a discussion with your spouse if you're newlywed, and you have never been together for Christmas before. It might mean sitting down deciding how much you're going to spend on each other, so that no one's feelings are hurt or expectations aren't met on Christmas Day. It also might mean sitting down with your children and having a discussion about Christmas, the meaning of Christmas for your family and how your family will choose to celebrate that holiday when it comes to gift-giving. My third tip is to shop early and after. I know it's the middle, ah, ish, of October right now, and you've seen the Christmas decor in the stores. I just, I saw a Christmas commercial the other night and whether or not that frustrates you because you feel like Thanksgiving gets skipped over, or makes you excited to see those decorations in the stores already, set that aside and, and, level with me for a minute about your budget. Now is the time to start spending for your Christmas expenses, to stretch those expenses out over a couple months, rather than all in December, so when January rolls around, you're in trouble. After the holidays, the decorations go on sale, the anything that isn't a perishable item or that your kids aren't or someone's not going to grow out of, so I would say clothing is not something I'd recommend buying a year in advance, but if there's a toy that you know your kids would like or some item that you can buy on an after-Christmas sale and save that for the next, through the next year, keep track of it, knowing that you have it, you can really really come out ahead, uh, next Christmas. My fourth tip: Christmas is really all about the giving, so while you're planning your budget, while you're setting aside your expectations for gift-giving to each other, think about how you could give a little bit of your money or possibly your time to someone in need. That's all I have for this financial tip. Thank you for watching. If you have any suggestions as to how you stay ahead of your holiday Christmas spending, please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you. Thanks for watching. I'm Amanda Christensen with Utah State University Extension. We'll see you next time, bye. ................. Connect with USU Extension! Facebook - http://facebook.com/usuextension Twitter - http://twitter.com/usuextension Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/usuextension LinkedIn - http://linkedin.com/company/usuextension Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+usuextension
