That's it, after my post yesterday, I've made the decision that I'm giving up on my budget until 2018. Christmas has just run away with me. I've been trying hard to stick to it, but am finding it increasingly difficult, as you can tell from my monthly posts. I just need to step away, spend what I have to spend during this next month and then just try to start afresh in the New Year.
I'm just looking forward to when the seasonal spending is over and I can get back to normal life and a normal monthly budget. At this time of year, the demands on one's finances are just too overwhelming, working or not. I know I have a choice to spend or not, but it's difficult to suddenly stop buying presents for people who may by now have bought one in return.
Anyway, I'm sure everything will work out okay and I still will be trying to keep spending to a minimum, but I'm so tired of posting overspends every month, that I won't be publishing a round up in December. I'm taking a break from making readers suffer the details of my overspending habits and I'll be back with hopefully more positive posts of this kind from the end of January.
Good luck with your budgeting over the Christmas period. I wish you all so much more success with your budgets than I've been achieving recently.
Good for you, no point adding more stress to a busy and potentially stressful month.
ReplyDeleteWe've stopped tracking our spending as it made no difference to the amount we spent so it was a bit of a waste of time. As long as we save the amount we want and don't spend more than we have we're happy.
I agree it doesn't seem to make much difference to how much I spend either. I am starting to save more and pay more towards a pension though which is good.
DeleteLike you say, I just want to enjoy December and the build up to Christmas and not fret too much over how much I'm spending. I'm still trying to be a bit careful though.
If you regularly over spend, you should revisit your targets, they should not be too easy but at the same time they should be achievable for you. Unattainable targets do no good at all.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right Marlene, some of my budgets were set when I was trying to pay off debt, but now I'm debt free I should probably relax them a bit and reduce the stress of overspending.
DeleteProbably a wise move if you are feeling overwhelmed by it. Christmas is becomming an increasingly expensive time as everyone wants a slice of your money and gifts are getting pricier. I only buy small gifts of about £6 for some of my friends but you don't get much for this now so I have to be very creative.
ReplyDeleteIf it means anything I have been impressed with the way you have handled and tracked your budget all year even when your job became more intense so I wouldn't get stressed by an overspend - they are not huge amounts by some peoples spending standards.
Thanks for your kind words. I think your gift giving system whereby you have a fixed amount that you spend sounds great. For some recipients I would really like to do this as the amount that gets spent has started to get silly and is unnecessary. I may broach the subject for next year.
DeleteThe holiday season is one that I am finding it harder to stick to a budget. In my case it isn't the gift giving portion as we have a set cost that is spent. It is more the cost of everything else from snacks, to food, to regular household costs that keep right on sneaking up.
ReplyDeleteSetting our budget for next year is going to be rough.
God bless.
I agree, all those things add to the pressure in a market where prices are rising. Good luck with setting your budgets next year.
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