Welcome to the 2019 Christmas Savings Club. The club is open to anyone who wants monthly accountability to save for a cash Christmas.
On the 25th of every month from January to November in 2019, I will hold a virtual meeting on the blog to give updates on our progress, motivate one another, and help all of us save for a cash Christmas.
My monthly goal is $100. This should cover my tentative 2019 Christmas budget that I based on what we spent in 2018. I’m challenging myself to find the cash outside of our budget. So far I’ve found the money in a variety of ways:
- In February, I received a check from Ebates for $40.92. This is money I earned from my Christmas shopping last year, so it’s appropriate that I apply it to my Christmas savings. Read: My Ebates Review
- Also, in February, I received a check of $45 from a family member who was reimbursing us from a group gift that we took care of over the holidays. I added the check to our savings.
- In March, I added $70 in $1 bills that I had been setting aside for the past year. Last year, a friend of mine on Facebook shared that she saves $1 bills that have Federal Reserve letters that match the first letter of her kids’ names. I thought that was an interesting way to save, so I started collecting $1 with C, J, K, L. I had amassed $70 and thought it was a perfect addition to our Christmas account.
How did I do in April?
April was a very easy month for me to find our $100. We received a small tax refund and as soon as the money hit our checking account, I transferred $100 to our Christmas Savings Account. Easy peasy! I don’t know if there will be an easier month than April.
May’s Assignments:
1. If you have not done so, read the very first post: Introducing the Christmas Savings Club, and write a Christmas budget. Divide your total by 7. That is the number of months between 4/25 and 11/25. This number is the monthly amount you need to save between 4/25 and 11/25.
I offer a FREE Christmas Budget spreadsheet to my email subscribers. Sign up for my email newsletter HERE.
You will also find a Christmas Budget spreadsheet in my Family Budget Spreadsheets bundle.
2. If you have not done so, open up a separate checking account specifically for your Christmas Savings. I like the online bank, Capital One 360 (referral link), because it connects with your local checking account, but is not quickly assessable.
3. Find your monthly savings goal for May and any shortfall from February – April.
Need some ideas to find extra cash? I have a long list of ideas in this post: 25 Ways to Find Money
How did you do in April?
In the comments, let us know how you are doing with your Christmas Spending savings. You don’t have to divulge your goal, but please let us know HOW you found or saved the money.
Find all of the Christmas Savings Club meetings here!
