The holidays are now over, we’ve put the ornaments, the nativity, the special lights away –
though here in Finland we keep those Christmas lights on for a couple months more to add some merriment to the darkest time of winter- and with a little luck, the Christmas tree is also out of the house. It’s the time of the year when we look at our accounts holding our breath to see exactly how much December’s damage was.
There are dozens of articles that tell you how to prevent a Hard January (as a low-cash month of January is known). But if you didn’t pay attention and you hit your wallet for a little bit too much last month, here are a few ideas on how to get through January with dignity and –hopefully- a little bit of money at the end of the month.
Organize your food for the month a bit more carefully for now
In my house, my partner and I divide functions and I’m in charge of our food needs: I decide what we eat during the week, make the shopping lists and for the most part, cook. And I
don’t know about other people but for me, the weeks after Christmas are a time of completely uncreative to handle menus, shopping, or cooking – all the essential elements to keep your family happy at the table-. However, this is the month when it’s most important to be aware of what you eat and what you buy. We all tend to excesses during to the holidays, not just in shopping but in eating, so in January it’s necessary to watch both budget and health, and try to eat better. Organize your home’s menu for several days at a time, and shop after you have eaten, since shopping on an empty stomach always leads to buying too much, especially unhealthy snacks.
Additionally, to help you save a bit more, why not try having your morning coffee at home instead of getting it on the way to work, and bringing lunch to work with you. It’s just a month, it goes by before you know it, and those coffees and meals will make a big difference on your budget if you can avoid them.
Don’t wait for the end of the month: pay your bills now
By doing this you get a clear view of how much money you‘ll have left to get you through the
end of the month. If there are bills that have not arrived in the mail yet, but you know more or less what you usually pay, budget them in.
If you have extra cash in your budget and you used your credit cards a lot last month, try and pay a bit extra on those. It will save you on finance charges. If not, at the very least, make the minimum payments.
Avoid shopping malls
I don’t need to explain this, do I?
No payday loans!
I know that when your budget’s in trouble, when things don’t add up to make it through the end of the month, the first solution that comes to mind is a loan, especially a payday loan.
But if there’s one piece of advice I’d like readers of this blog to take away from this post, it’s this: never, ever, take out a payday loan. Here’s why.
Say you need $500 and a payday lender says, Ok we’ll give you that loan and on your payday you give us $540. The brain tends to think “$8 for every hundred that I borrow, so it’s 8%”. Your brain is skipping out on the fact that you’re paying $8 for every hundred dollars for a loan that you’re going to pay back in 11 days. When you extend that amount to actually fit a year, the annual percentage rate of that payday loan is not 8% but 358%.
Just… no.
Other solutions
If you truly need help to get through the end of the month, talk to the companies to whom you owe money this month. Look at your account and figure out how much you’re short. If
you have several credit cards, try calling the credit card companies of those cards with the lowest interest rates, and ask to skip this month’s payment. It will cost you extra in interest, but they won’t charge you a nonpayment fee, and it’ll be one payment that you don’t have to send this month. Making these calls is tough, but sometimes circumstances demand exceptions.
If you have loans at our Credit Union, same thing: you can request to skip a payment. If you already did this in December than you can’t request it now, but if you deferred your November payment(s), you are OK to request one more skip. If you paid the Credit Union loans already at the beginning of January, it’s OK; you can request the skip-a-pay retroactively and the Credit Union will put the funds in your account.
If all of these solutions aren’t enough, then yes, consider requesting a loan, but go to the Credit Union for that; their rates are always competitive and they have no hidden charges. If the minimum loan you qualify for is too much, it’s OK, you can immediately turn around and pay whatever you don’t need right back to the loan as they have no prepayment penalties.
And, in the future…
I have a couple of ideas to help you prevent this kind of problem at the end of this year:
Instead of leaving your entire gift shopping for December, why not try and buy gifts here and there throughout the year? If you think about it, you likely have quite a few people who you know so well that when you’re out you sometimes, you see something and think “such and such person would love this”; if you can afford it when you see that item, buy it, and keep it and other presents you’ve bought ahead in a specific place at home, a place you’ll remember later on. If you get used to doing this, throughout your life it will save you time and money.
Lastly, it’s still just January, you have time to open a Christmas Club to start saving next month. They’re a huge help at the end of the year.
See you next month and good luck!
No comments :
Post a Comment