So many of us are guilty of overspending during the holidays; the gifts, the outfits, the events, the food. All of this spending can quickly spiral out of control, turning what should be a joyous season into a stressful one. This is especially true if we start early and don’t keep track of what we’ve purchased. This year, keep the stress at bay with these holiday budget planning tips.
Set a budget – and stick to it! This should always be the first order of business. Take a realistic look at your bank account and set a total that you can spend without setting yourself up for a massive bill once the holidays are over. Set an amount for each person you need to buy for and stick to it.
A great way to do this is with the envelope system. Once you’ve set an amount, put that amount in an envelope with the receiver’s name on it. Once the envelope is empty, that person is done.
Keep a list. All too often we buy, assume we are finished, and then see ‘that perfect gift’ that so-and-so just can’t live without. Trust us, they can. Keep a list of what you’ve purchased for each person, and consult it when you’re wondering if you have ‘enough’.
Go DIY. Personal, hand-made items are often far more special than something purchased from a store. Take advantage of the countless boards on Pinterest and make some gifts. Just be careful, some DIY gifts are actually pretty costly, so just price out the items before diving in.
Host a potluck. It isn’t just the gift giving that adds up around the holidays. Hosting a big party and providing food for all of your guests can get pretty costly. This year, instead of handling all of the food yourself, ask guests to bring their favourite holiday dish. This not only spreads the spending around, it may just open your eyes to new recipes to add to your cookbook!
Start saving now for next year. Now is the time to start thinking about saving up for next year. Once the holidays end, start putting away even just a few dollars a week – once next November rolls around, you’ll have an impressive little nest egg from which to draw.
Have a plan to deal with holiday debt. If you know that, no matter what you do, your budget won’t be able to handle the extra spending, and your credit will take a major hit, have a plan in place to deal with the debt. Get in touch with a financial specialist to discuss all of the options available to you and get ready to start 2017 off on fresh financial footing.
At DebtCare, we know how tough the holidays can be when money is a concern. Let us help.
Get in touch today to find out about strategies to deal with debt before it gets any worse. 1-888-890-0888.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has always had a reputation for strict and aggressive collection behaviour. When money is owed, agents will try their hardest to retrieve it. This usually results in extreme stress on the taxpayer and enforcement action that can wreak havoc on their financial stability. What’s worse, those tactics seem to be getting more and more aggressive. If you’ve got CRA tax debt collectors calling, read on.
As the weather gets colder, some of us are happy to welcome the brisk cold weather – a break from the heat of the summer months, even if it brings with it some snow and frozen rain. However, when the freezing isn’t just taking place outside, and instead it is your finances taking a hit from Jack Frost, you may be in deeper trouble than you’d care to admit. This week we talk about the dreaded frozen bank account.
If you are drowning in debt and considering a bankruptcy in Canada or a consumer proposal as a solution for debt relief, you may be thinking that the best approach is to go directly to a trustee. Many trustees advertise that they have a solution to your debt problem, and that is true, but are they acting as your representative? Therein lies the problem.
A few weeks ago, we came across a CBC News article which discussed a recent TransUnion survey, and the results of that survey were quite startling. We’ve spoken before about low interest rates and the fact that many Canadians have taken advantage, but it is clear that those low interest rates have nowhere to go but up. What are the potential impacts of a rate hike? The CBC article enlightened us.
In our experience, for those looking to get rid of their debt, there is often a lot of confusion surrounding the various options available. With so many different types of debt solutions available, it can be difficult to determine which option is the best. Today, in the hopes of providing some clarification, we discuss two such options: the consumer proposal and debt consolidation.
Last week we talked about wage garnishments, a very common form of collection action, and how to stop them. This week we thought we’d follow up by discussing another very common type of collection action, frozen bank accounts, and what you can do when dealing with the freeze.
Wage garnishments, in the credit collection world, are all too common an occurrence. As a form of collection action, garnishing a person’s wages is often an effective way to retrieve a debt owed, and many collectors view it as the best way to collect. Usually these come in the form of personal wages being garnished, so when businesses have their monies garnished they are often surprised and wondering how this has happened.
When it comes to the Canadian economy, the last few years have been a whirlwind of activity. Record low oil prices which hurt the economy and a dollar which fell to levels we haven’t seen in years led the Bank of Canada to drop Canadian interest rates to record lows.