Balancing Life with Your Budget

Eric | Jan 07, 2010 | 1 comment

Life is full of moments that leave a bad taste in our mouths, you simply turn on the news and you are taken daily stories of cruelty and strange event. But life is also about the wonderful, precious moments and beautiful moments when they come around, we want to celebrate it.

Keep the connection of two people in love, the birth of a new family member, the birthday of a person whom we love to us, these are the times when we have our appreciation and gratitude to these people want to show in our lives.

What we wish to express is priceless, but we like to express it through purchasing gifts at costs that can bust our budgets. Fortunately, there is a way to generously express our emotions while keeping inside the realms of our budgets.

Anticipate Purchasing Needs
Some events are predictable, such as your best friend’s birthday, your anniversary, or Christmas. Take a moment to sit down and write a list of all of the predictable special occasions over the next year that will occur.

Chances are you’ve seen something while shopping that you thought might be perfect for “so-and-so”. Start filling in this list with the gifts you have seen already that would be perfect for a person and an occasion. Keep your occasion list around to refresh your memory before heading to stores.

Build Gift-Purchasing into Your Budget
One reason why special occasions can be budget busters is because they appear as unpredictable expenses in our budgets. You can get around this by building them into your Monthly Budget.

It is helpful to know an approximate amount you want to spend on occasions throughout the year, so sit down and come up with a rough estimate. Then divide this by 12, and you have the amount of money each month that you have designated towards making gift purchases.

Time is on Your Side
By knowing what gifts you want to purchase and for whom (from the list you made in the first step), and by designating an amount you can spend each month (from step two), you can now shop at the most opportune times throughout the year.

This puts you at a huge advantage. Not only can you spend longer picking out the perfect gift for that special someone, but you now have built-in time to wait for the item to go on sale! There are always large sales and deep discounts at the end of a season. For example, purchase camping equipment at the end of summer, or sweaters at the end of winter.

Designate a Space for Your Gifts
Now that you are shopping for gifts year round (such fun!), You must designate an area to hide your gifts, so they do not ruin their beloved and find a surprise! Try an attic, basement and press box under the bed or some other forgotten area in your home.

Using these steps should take the pressure out of the store for special occasions and holidays out because you gave yourself the gift of time and allocated budget. This allows you to enjoy the give freely of themselves, that the true idea behind the giving of gifts.