“Avoid Debt this Holiday Season” plus 1 more

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST

The holiday season seems to bring with it budget-busting expenses. Many of us find ourselves pulling out the credit cards in an attempt to meet all our expenses when it comes to the holidays. From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year, it’s easy to spend beyond your means. Here are some ways to avoid debt this holiday season:

Re-evaluate Your “Needs”

The first thing you need to do is re-evaluate your “needs”. While it’s fun to spend on your holiday food, entertainment and gifts, take a step back and figure out what is really necessary. Make a list of holiday priorities. In some cases, you might be surprised to discover that maybe your children don’t need one more toy, or that it isn’t really necessary to spend money on an expensive table centerpiece that will only be used once.

Part of re-evaluating your needs includes going through what you already have and making a note of it. If you already have outdoor decorations from last year, do you really need to buy more? Could you, perhaps, make some of the items on your list, rather than buying them? Carefully consider your situation, make your shopping list, and determine which items are most important to purchase. Those should be the things to take care of first; maybe you can avoid buying less important items. It’s an automatic way to save.

Put Together a Plan for Saving Now

Add up what you expect to spend during the holiday season, and make a plan to meet your obligations. Decide how much you can set aside each week to go toward holiday spending. You can either spend that amount each week, stocking up and preparing for the holidays (you can use layaway at some stores to help you with gifts), or you can set that money aside in some sort of account used for that purpose. If you figure that you need to set aside $50 a week to pay for your holiday spending, and you don’t use that $50 one week, save the money so that it starts to add up.

The earlier you put a plan into action, the better off you’ll be. You can purchase items little by little, as they go on sale, or as you find coupons, or you can save the money up and spend it at once when you reach your goal amount. Breaking it down, though, can help a great deal when it’s time to pay the bills.

Look for Ways to Earn More

If you don’t think you can cut back, or save up the requisite amount of money, you need to take a more active approach. Look for ways to earn more money. Consider a seasonal job, or think about starting a side hustle, or looking for quick cash, such as what you can get for plasma donation. Earning more is a way that you can improve your situation, and make sure you have the cash to avoid borrowing in order to pay for your holiday expenses. If you are going to spend, it’s important that you have the resources to do so if you aren’t willing to cut expenses.

Bloggers for Charity

Posted: 29 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST

One thing I love about blogging is the opportunities one is presented with to help others. Throughout the year I have seen bloggers raise funds for various charities and causes, unfortunately I have never really taken part in any of them. When I was informed about Bloggers for Charity by my friend Mark at The Blunt Bean Counter, I had to take part. Robb over at Boomer & Echo was kind enough to let me “borrow” his intro for the contest, so here it is:

Bloggers for Charity

Bensimon Byrne is an advertising company and client at Mark's accounting firm, and every year at this time they host a number of events to raise money on behalf of the United Way, including an auction where friends, clients and suppliers of the firm donate goods or services that can be auctioned off.

This year, Mark had a great idea to auction off a guest post on his blog, and he challenged other Canadian bloggers do the same in order to raise money for this great cause.

Any Canadian blogger is welcome to join the effort (the project is not limited to financial bloggers) and encourage their fellow blogger contacts to join the Bloggers for Charity initiative.

Here are the contest rules:

1. We are auctioning off the opportunity to write a guest post on this blog.

2. All bids are made in confidence to us at info-at-financialhighway-dot-com.

3. The auction will close on December 16th, 2011 and the winning bidder will be contacted by email.

4. The winning bidder will be required to send us a copy of a donation receipt between December 17th and December 31st (personal information can be blacked-out) to confirm the donation has been made. (This donation will be tax deductible to the winning bidder as long as the donation is made to a registered charity).

5. All of the Bloggers for Charity guest posts will be published on January 17th, 2012.

6. The winner is welcome to write a post on any topic, although in the spirit of the contest, it would be great if the post is about a charity or charitable experience, but that is not a requirement. The guest post can't be a marketing piece, but the author can provide a brief bio that will be used in the introduction. Alternatively, the author can remain anonymous.

7. All bloggers who participate are asked to email Lynda at Lynda@cunninghamca.com to note their participation and then contact Lynda with their winning bid so that Mark can tally the donations received. All individual donation totals will be kept confidential.

Bloggers, please take this opportunity to join the Bloggers for Charity project and extend this offer to your readers.

Readers, this is your chance to guest post on Financial Highway and, more importantly, to support your favorite charity.

I will post updates in the comments section, so if you are interested in keeping track of things just subscribe to the comments!

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