Get ready for the Christmas holidays by starting your savings plan now

The spring season is just around the corner, which means that you might not be thinking about the Christmas holidays quite yet. But did you know that if you start thinking about Christmas and the summer holidays now, it can create a lesser financial burden on you and your family when they do finally roll around?

Let’s take a look at how you can get ready for Christmas and the holidays by starting your savings plan now (hint, it’s never too early to start planning)!

1. Open a savings account. If you don’t already have one, now is the perfect time to consider opening one. By doing so, you have a place to put back a little money to start saving for Christmas and the holidays. In addition, you may be able to have automatic withdrawals come out of another account and go directly into your savings so you don’t even have to think about it. Don’t have a lot of money to spare? No worries, even a few dollars here and there will give you a head start on your Christmas holiday savings.

2. Buy now not later! One of the reasons why a lot of people wait until the holidays are upon us to start their Christmas shopping is because they assume they will find better deals and sales closer to the time. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true. While you may miss out on the odd bargain if you wait for the pre Christmas or Boxing Day sales to start, you can usually purchase many items now or during the spring season that will either save you money or be the same price as you would pay if you had waited. For example, electronics go on sale all of the time as do fashion items like clothes and shoes; plus booking a trip may be cheaper if you do it way in advance and so on. You can also check to see if the store you are purchasing from has a price guarantee so if an item goes on sale later, you can get back the difference.

3. Work on paying off your debts. How will this help you save for Christmas? If you work on paying off your debts during the spring, when the holidays come around, you will have more cash on hand to spend since less of your money will be going towards debts. Not only will this help you save money on the holidays, but it can help you throughout the rest of the year. It also means that if you have more expendable income, you’ll be less tempted to put holiday purchases on your credit card.

Time goes fast. Don’t let Christmas and the summer holidays come around without having a plan - you can easily start planning now in the spring! And, for more holiday savings ideas, check out Five ways to start saving for Christmas now.