On the 25th of every month from January to November in 2013, I'm holding a virtual meeting for the Christmas Savings Club. The goal for this monthly accountability meeting is to give updates on our progress, motivate one another and help all of us save for a cash Christmas. Today is the fourth meeting, but anyone can join at any time.
If you are new, please read more about the Christmas Savings Club in the first post and join us. I'm still offering a FREE Christmas Gift & Spending Budget excel spreadsheet, click that link for more information.
On with the meeting...
How did I do in April?
Our monthly goal is $100. That number includes gifts for our kids, extended family members, teachers, friends, neighbors, bus drivers, service people, our Christmas cards, stamps, and our donations towards the Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program.
As I said in the March meeting, my husband and I are going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University online course and we have never in our marriage sliced and diced our budget like we are as a result of this course. We have made gift giving a line item in our budget since it can be a budget buster unless it is planned for. I transferred $115 to our Christmas account in April. $15 was my shortfall from January & February and $100 was my April goal.
How did YOU do in April?
Did you reach your goal for April? Were you able to save more than you needed to get ahead? There is nothing wrong with that! Or were you short for the month? Please let us know in the comments.
May's Assignments:
1. If you have not done so, complete the Christmas Gift & Spending Budget worksheet.
2. If you have not done so, open up a separate checking account specifically for your Christmas Spending Savings.
3. Find your monthly savings goal for May and any shortfall that you have from January through April.
4. Start thinking about some handmade gifts that you can make for your friends and family for the holidays. Some projects might take some time, so it's better to start planning now.
Let us know how you're doing with your Christmas Savings Account in the comments. You don't need to leave specific numbers if you don't feel comfortable, but let us know if you did anything specific to save your goal.
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These last two months have gone by so quickly. I'm glad I set up automatic deposits so I didn't even have to think about saving for Christmas. 35% to goal!
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