30 July 2012

Budgeting for Christmas

It’s only August – Christmas is ages away! Right? Well, it’s about 20 weeks away – which for many people is 10 pays.

If that sounds a little scary, you’re not alone, says Raewyn Fox, CEO of the Federation of Family Budgeting Services.

“Christmas costs can build up very quickly,” Fox said. “That’s only a problem if you haven’t budgeted for it. The best time to budget for Christmas is right now.”

“A simple solution is to put aside a small amount each week, starting now. If you put aside $10 a week now into a savings account, you’d have over $200 by the time you need to do your Christmas shopping. That $200 could go a long way.”

“However most of the clients our budgeting services see would struggle to find $10 a week, every week. We saw over 41,000 clients last year and the average debt was around $25,000, so their priority was repaying these debts as quickly as possible. For many of our clients, Christmas is a small event by necessity,” Fox said.

Here are a few tips to ensure this Christmas does not blow your budget:
• Check your bank statements from last year to add up what Christmas cost. This way you know what you’ll need to have available for the coming year.
• If possible, put aside a small amount each week into a Christmas savings account. Don’t touch this until you do your Christmas shopping.
• Plan early to take advantage of sales. If you know what you’re getting someone for Christmas, you can keep an eye out for when that item comes on sale. It’s possible to save a lot of money by shopping this way.
• Visit a budget adviser to ensure your budget is realistic. You can find your nearest budgeting service by visiting www.familybudgeting.org.nz or calling 0508 BUDGETLINE (283 438).

The New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services is a network of community budgeting services offering free, confidential, non-judgemental budgeting advice.

ENDS
The NZFFBS Inc is a collective of community organisations that share a common code of ethics, philosophy, and commitment to delivering quality, free budgeting advice to families/whanau and individuals. The current membership comprises 150 budget services throughout New Zealand that employ over 1500 predominantly volunteer staff, who worked with over 41,000 clients last year. For free budgeting advice call 0508 BUDGETLINE (283 438).

© Scoop Media