Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Welcome to Money
Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need, and save the money youwant.
Now, here is your host, Ms.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Kim Chapman.
Welcome to the holiday editionof Money Matters, and I'm your
host, Kim Chapman.
Are you ready for the holidays?
Did this time sneak up on you?
Well, guess what?
All isn't lost because hopefullytoday I can share a couple of
tips of how you can salvage theholidays without breaking the
bank.
So the first thing that you wantto do is start with that holiday
(00:34):
budget.
You really want to have a planbefore you go out shopping.
So, how do you do that?
What do you do?
Think about what it is that youneed for the holidays.
Is it food?
Is it gifts?
Is it travel?
Is it entertainment?
Make a budget based on what younormally buy.
If you can't remember, look atlast year's budget.
(00:55):
Look at what you spent.
Ideally, you don't want to spendmore than 10% of your bring home
income.
Make that budget and then youwant to stick with it.
Make sure if it's$500, that$500has to include everything that
we just mentioned.
Like I said, travel, food, andgifts.
(01:16):
Stick to that budget and committo it.
And so how are we going to dothat?
Think about where you're goingto shop, when you're going to
shop.
But before I even go there, youmay be thinking, is it too late?
What if I don't have any money?
How can I put together a budget?
Well, think about theselast-minute tips, things that
you can do.
There's such a thing called nospend November.
(01:39):
And it's about pausing a lot ofyour extra spending for the
month to make room for theholidays.
So what can you pause?
Think about those non-essentialthings in our budget.
I want those stops to Starbucks,maybe the extra evening out with
the girls, those extra meals, oreven look at some of your
(02:00):
subscriptions.
Are there things that maybe youcan cut out and cancel or even
pause for the next two months?
Those are some easy ways to goahead and add money back into
your budget to get yourselfready for the holidays.
If you're not saving forChristmas already, it's never
too late.
Go ahead and set up someautomatic savings.
You still have time to add maybe$50 a week over the next couple
(02:24):
of weeks to help boost what youhave available for savings.
It's never too late.
Round up is an easy way too.
And this is a good way to startpreparing for next year.
If you round up to the nextdollar and have that change
automatically go to a savingsaccount, it's an easy way to
boost your savings.
And then if all else fails, youcould always look at selling
(02:47):
stuff.
We've done several podcasts onhow you can make good money off
of everyday items that you havein your house that you're
probably not using.
So now that we've got some tipson making that budget and where
the money is going to come from,how do you stick to a budget?
I think that's usually theharder part.
Putting it down on paper can bereally, really easy.
(03:07):
You've got your list$500, youknow who you want to buy for,
what you're going to do with it.
Now it's time to go shopping.
Well, be really, really specificbefore you get started.
Do some price comparison.
We have the technology now towhere you could look at items
now and see what the prices are,and actually do a comparison,
(03:28):
especially if we're looking atdays like Black Friday to see is
it really a deal?
Every time you hear somethingthat says it's a special, it's
not.
I can tell you from experience.
I've put items in my cart atseveral different stores, and
there'll be one price, and thenthey'll advertise that it's the
price, the best price of theyear.
And believe it or not, the pricemay actually even go up 10%.
(03:51):
So use the technology, shoponline, even if you're just
looking at the prices, so you'llknow when a sale truly is a
sale.
Another thing is if you'relooking at buying gift cards or
cash for gifts, those can bereally cost-saving purchases.
A lot of stores, retailers, andrestaurants at this time of year
(04:13):
will offer you specials.
If you buy$50 worth of giftcards, they may give you a$10
gift card free.
Hey, you just got a gift forsomebody at the office for free
while you were taking care ofyour loved ones.
So take advantage of thosespecials.
And while we would never want touse credit cards or get credit
(04:33):
cards to buy our presents, ifyou do have credit cards, if
you're planning to use them,make sure that you have a plan
that you're going to pay it offin full.
But there can be some advantagesto using a credit card.
And I'm going to stress again ifyou're going to pay that balance
off in full, because a lot ofstores will offer you an
additional discount, 5% or 10%,if you put that same purchase on
(04:57):
the credit card versus payingfor it with cash or a different
credit card.
So take advantage of thosecredit card offers.
Again, I have to keep stressing,only if you want to be able to
pay it off.
And you may be saying, hey, Ihave credit cards, but I'm not
going to be able to pay it offright now.
I understand that's the realityof life.
(05:18):
If you're going to do that,still make a budget and then
make a plan before you use thosecredit cards.
Can you pay it off in January ifyou can't pay it off
immediately?
What about February?
Have a plan in place so that youcan pay it off as quickly as
possible so that you're notcarrying a balance for a long
period of time and paying extrainterest and fees on those
(05:39):
holiday purchases.
Because again, we want theholidays to be fun, stress-free.
We don't want to have to havebuyer's remorse come January and
February.
And while we're talking aboutbuyer's remorse, it's the
holidays.
Remember the real reason for theseason.
And so, do we have to go out andbuy everybody a gift?
Consider your talents.
(06:01):
Is it something that you canmake somebody, make for
somebody?
Sometimes a homemade gift,something that really comes from
the heart, can go a lot furtherthan a$500 toy from the store.
So keep those things in mind.
And then finally, I want to talkabout let's get prepared for
next year.
I hear over and over again howChristmas sneaks up on us, even
(06:22):
though it's December 25th everyyear.
So now is a good time toleverage savings accounts or
Christmas Club accounts at yourfinancial institution.
It's a savings account where youspecifically have money
automatically put into thataccount specifically for the
holidays.
You can automate any amount youwant, and generally that money
(06:43):
is available the following yearin November.
It is a great way to startpreparing for the next holiday
so that you won't get caught upin the last minute rush.
So happy holidays, and I hopethese financial tips help you
out.
SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
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