Here are some tips to enjoy your festive season without breaking the bank so you can survive the dreaded month (January) that follows.
Here are seven tips to surviving January from the National Debt Advisors:
- Budget: Look at what your bank balance looks like after the December damage has been done. Then allocate reasonable amounts to the necessary expenditure.
- Draw up a shopping list: Now that you know how much money you have and what you need, draw up a shopping list and stick to it.
- Price compare: Go around from store to store to find the best prices for the items that you need for the month. Remember to resist the temptation of purchasing at the very first stop.
If you’re afraid that you’ll be too tempted, collect brochures or check out online catalogues.
- Plan your meals around sale items: While looking for the items you need, make a note of some of the things that are on sale and not on your list. This might help you come up with new meal ideas while saving you a chunk of money.
- Dry January: Cutting out alcohol for January is a popular tradition.
Drinking water won’t only cut a ton of your spending on nights out, but drinking a glass of water before every meal will also keep you fuller for longer, which will cut spending even more.
- Resist using your credit cards: even though it may be tempting to use your credit cards over this time, try to fight the urge.
- Take public transport or carpool: If you generally enjoy the luxury of driving your car to work every day, perhaps you could consider taking public transport. If you’d rather not take public transport, perhaps you could carpool.
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