Christmas Savings Club | July 2019

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. You can read the previous posts on my progress here, but here’s a recap of the variety of ways I’ve found the money since February:

• 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.
• In April, we received a small tax refund and I put $100 of our refund into our Christmas Savings account. It was a pretty easy month to find the cash.
• In May, I made money from a yard sale and put $50 towards our Christmas savings. I also earned $20 from Ibotta and $7 from Ebates, and found $23 within our May budget.
• In June, I was rather uncreative and pulled the $100 from our monthly budget.

How did I do in July?

I was still a bit uncreative in July, but I also had a stroke of luck. While on camping trip to Avalon, NJ. I ran every morning on the beach. On one morning, I found a $20 bill ON THE BEACH! It was early in the morning and there were only a few people on the beach, so I stuck the bill in my pocket and put it in our Christmas Savings Account when we got home.

As luck would have it, I also found $3 laying on the ground at various places when we got home. I also received a $4 rebate in the mail.

The balance of $73 came out of our July budget.

August 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 4. That is the number of months between 7/25 and 11/25. This number is the monthly amount you need to save between 7/25 and 11/25.

I offer a FREE Christmas Budget spreadsheet to my email subscribers. Sign up for my email newsletter HERE.

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. If you came up short prior to July, find your monthly savings goal for July and any shortfall from February – June.

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 July?

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.