FTC disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Welcome to my monthly series on how we can plan to have a Christmas without debt. Not having debt eases stress and anxiety, which means we will appreciate the holiday more and be able to enjoy the extra time with loved ones without worrying about the bills that will come due in December.
As I mentioned in my December Christmas without Debt post, you should know how much you should set back each month based on your spending last Christmas. You should plan on either spending that whole monthly amount through the year -- or setting it back for use at Christmastime -- or a combination of the two.
This month we are going to focus on cards and greetings.
It is quite possible to get lots of free items from places like Shutterfly. Also Zazzle often has cards highly discounted before Christmas. Many people want to use a photo on their cards, and so you don't want to order your cards now if that is your choice. Otherwise you might be able to find non-photo greeting cards for next to nothing this time of year. Set this money back but do watch for sales.
But you can go ahead and buy your stamps now. While it won't be next year's Christmas designs, you post office usually has some left over -- or you can order at www.usps.com. Maybe you just want to plan on using generic stamps. Or you may want to watch Zazzle and order custom postage with your photo on it.
You can find great deals on holiday themed return address labels this time of year. A year ago, I found some great Charlie Brown Christmas labels. They were cheaper than other labels, so I ordered quite a few to use all year. (So what if my return address label has Snoopy at a mailbox? Who doesn't love Snoopy?)
Before you order your address labels, be sure to start your shopping through Rakuten. I've earned hundreds of dollars back from them doing shopping I would have done anyway. Even better, when you sign up, you get a bonus $10 when you make your first purchase through the site.
It doesn't matter if you go ahead and order your stationary this month or just set the money back, but the point is, take 1/12 of what you spent at Christmas out of your budget this month, and put it towards next year's holiday expenses.
No comments:
Post a Comment