Make a list, and check it twice

If you've waited until the last few days before Santa comes to town to finish your Christmas shopping, here are some ideas to get you through the holidays on a tight budget.

What do you need?

First, take a closer look at what you're dealing with. How much do you still have allocated in your budget for gift-giving? Who do you still need to buy a gift for? It's important to make a list to ensure you aren't forgetting someone. Having to make an unplanned purchase later may throw you over budget.

Check your list twice

Santa was on to something when he made his list and checked it twice. Maybe consider doing the same. Do you really need to buy a gift for everyone on your list, or did they make the cut simply because you're in the Christmas spirit? It's easy to get overzealous and want to give a gift to each friend, colleague, and teacher your child has. However, that can get super expensive. Review your list and narrow it down to only those that are truly necessary. This will give you a better idea of how much you can spend on each gift.

Don't overindulge

There will be plenty of cakes, pies, cookies, and other treats to overindulge with this season. Make sure you're checking account isn't included on that list. Consider purchasing your gifts using only cash or gift cards. It's easy to spend an extra few dollars here and there to upgrade a gift, but it's not necessary. Trust me, your friends and family would not want you in a financial bind over a Christmas ornament or candle box set. As Jim Carrey says, "No holiday should manipulate you to the point where you're going into debt just to show someone you love them."

Bust up the boxes

Speaking of box sets, consider splitting up a gift set. Yes, you heard me correctly. Bust the set apart to create multiple gifts. For example, I recently purchased a two-candle set, each with a different scent. Although it was boxed together, separating them could provide me with two gifts instead of one. This allows you to spread the joy to more recipients.

Boutique antique

Remember, it is "Tis the season to give", not "Tis the season to buy". Consider making something to give as a gift. Are you good at baking? How about crafts? Often times you can find clearance items at discount stores or even a thrift shop. Dust it off, spray it with some Windex, and slap an initial on it. Now, instead of something used or boring, you have a boutique style one-of-a-kind gift.

Consider donations

If you're the type that burns your cookie, or your finger on a hot glue gun, you can always take a different route. Consider making a donation to a favorite charity. Some shy away from this, out of embarrassment for the size of the donation they can afford. Believe me, the charity will be happy to receive any amount. You won't even have to let the recipient know how much was given. Simply give them a card that says "Merry Christmas! A donation to (fill in the blank) was made on your behalf."

If you would rather take a more hands-on approach when making a donation, you can always check with the charity and see if volunteer help is needed. Your card can then include something like "5 hours of work was donated on your behalf". 

Gifting it forward

It's also important to remember that gift-giving issues are truly a first world problem. Some would care less about the scent of a candle versus the warm that it can provide. Consider creating gift bags with socks, gloves, toiletries, and snacks to hand out to those less fortunate. For the amount of money you plan on spending for one gift, you could make multiple gift bags. I assure you, it will truly be appreciated.

If you're really short on cash, consider giving the gift of time. No, I'm not talking about a watch, but your actual time. Set up a meeting for now or in the future to get together simply to hang out. It may be over lunch or even a cup of coffee.

Whatever you choose to do, just make sure not to overdo it, with the cookies or the gift spending.

Merry Christmas! 

Michelle Kuehner is a Registered Investment Advisor Representative and President of Personal Money Planning. She is also a Certified Credit Counselor and Certified Financial Health Counselor, writes Fix Our Budget blog, and has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry.

Your Home Sweet Home (Repair) Fund

We all know (or should) that an emergency fund is a vital part of any savings plan. Having three to six months worth of non-discretionary monthly expenses to continue paying the mortgage, vehicle payments, and other bills can be such a blessing in the event of a financial catastrophe. However, that isn’t all you should be saving when it comes to protecting the roof over your head.

A housing maintenance fund should also be established to help cover those inevitable expense that creep up. Here’s why…

Budgeting Blunders

Creating a budget is not that difficult. In fact, it can be jotted down on a napkin with a crayon. But sticking to a budget is where the hard work takes place.

Here are a few areas where I see budgets take a nose-dive. Don't let one of these budget blunders allow you to become a victim of a savings snafu.

Keep It Simple

One of the largest mistakes people make, by far, is creating a budget that is too complex.  In an attempt to allocate each penny, which is a good thing, they create a budget that has forty five or more line items, which is not a good thing.

How Your Fund Raiser Could End Up Lowering Your Funds

Online sites meant to help can actually hurt

(Also published on The Penny Hoarder) 

My community pulled together recently to help a young father battling cancer for the second time. A local cupcakery held a fundraiser in his honor and donated $1 to his family for each cupcake sold on a particular day. The store was packed, the lines were long, and the cupcakes sold out quickly -- well, at least the triple-chocolate cheesecake ones did.

When it comes to raising money for a cause, what used to be as simple as putting out a donation jar has been made even easier -- you can ask people to donate right from their smartphones through crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, GiveForward and YouCaring.

But does that help actually hurt you when it comes to tax time? As the recipient, do you need to claim the funds you raise through a crowdfunding campaign as income, or is that money considered a gift?

The Baby Boomer Boomeranger: Adult Children Returning Home

Jeopardizing Your Retirement By Financially Helping Adult Children

As parents, we want to give our children more than what we were given growing up. Whether it’s the latest technology, the newest clothing trends, or the most memorable vacations. That’s human nature, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But at what point is it time to cut the financial umbilical cord?

The Boomeranger

One-third of baby boomers are still helping their adult kids in their 20’s and 30’s financially. Actually it appears many of these baby boomers gave birth to boomerangers…adult children returning home to live with their parents. Not only are these parents stuck covering the cost of a roof overhead, but at times also a cell phone, car payment, car insurance, and health insurance.

At what cost do these extra expenses have on the parents? More often than not, a hit to their retirement savings. Whether it’s less being put back, or funds being borrowed or disbursed, not as much is getting holed away.

Wait, you bought what? Where? Taking online shopping to the next level...

Death is an awkward topic for many people. Let’s face it, most of us don’t like to discuss the inevitability of our own demise. It seems like talking about it is avoided almost as much as gluten these days. Yet it is something we will all eventually have to face.  

Timing is key

Expressing your wishes ahead of time relieves a great amount of stress from the family. It goes without saying that discussing funeral plans with someone in good health is much easier than with someone knocking on death’s door.

I remember all too well having the painful conversation with my late husband after he was diagnosed with a terminal and aggressive form of brain cancer. 

As luck would have it, we had the talk just a few months prior when discussing his mother’s future desires. However, the desires one has when they believe they have another forty or fifty years may end up changing when that time-frame decreases to forty or fifty days. This is where some of the confusion, and stress, can begin for the family.

A pig, a lizard, and a magical gun walk into a bar...

We've all seen the commercials... The flying pig, the dancing lizard, and Flo with her magical gun that allows you to name your price for insurance. But can these marketing products really claim as much savings in your budget as they have space in your memory? Maybe. Let's break it down and see...

In a perfect world, all insurance companies would offer the exact same coverage for the exact same super cheap rate to everyone. But we don't live in a perfect world. Accidents happen. Some people drive faster than the posted limit. Others need to attend a few sessions of road-rageaholics. So the only way to get the best rate is to shop around a bit.