The title is just to catch your attention!
Although you know I love Christmas and for the Festive Fund Tracker Challenge I chose the name challenge, but instead of writing my name, I chose the word Christmas!
Hence the question, how much is the word CHRISTMAS worth? Not actually Christmas, because we can’t put a price on it! (me thinks!) If you are curious you get get the tracker and find out for yourself. I will tell you this, if I’m able to save the amount that Christmas comes to until December each pay check, I’ll have saved $330! Not too shabby ha?!
I also am going the Bingo Card Challenge and so far, I don’t have a lot but it’s slowly motivating me to be more intentional. If I do cross out all the bingo amounts until December, plus the amount from my Word Challenge, I’ll have around $700 in cash for my Festivities!
You are probably thinking… “Well, Sara, I can’t afford to save that much from now until Christmas, I just don’t have the money to put aside!” And I understand that, but, I’m a firm believer that we can o anything for a short period of time. We can stop buying something for a short period of time, whatever we usually buy. We can spend a month without Netflix, read a book instead (I love Netflix but I’m thinking it’s worth not having it for a month if Christmas is in Danger!)! This is just an example of the many things we can do without for a short period of time, that we take for granted and don’t realise how much we actually spend on these things!
I hear you when you say, “Christmas is not that important, my kids are grown and we just get together for Christmas dinner and I don’t really spend too much on that.” Awesome! How about, now that the kids are grown, you use the money you save to treat yourself to something you really want but never could because, well, kids, life, money… whatever the reason you didn’t do it! And you will have ca$h, actual money to do it! Believe me, it feels completely different when you come out of that spa and it’s paid for and you won’t have to think about it again! Or you can charge it to a credit card and when it comes up at the end of the month and you have to let that balance run until next month and you stress about it (I can see that little line on your forehead, the one next to your right eyebrow!). Of course you can pay with your credit card to accumulate those miles, but when the bill comes at the end of the month you have the cash to pay for it! No stress!
Ultimately, it’s your decision, your life is exactly that, YOURS, and it’s yours to design. You, and me for that matter, have the power to decide and to do things the way we feel is best. However, assume your actions! Take responsibility for your choices! It’s important that we don’t make the wrong decision, or know that we could do better, and then feel angry when we scroll through social media and feel like we can never do anything fun, like those posting the pictures, because we never have any money! I know there’s lots of sides to consider on this one, but, yes I’ve been there and sometimes find myself back there, and my first reaction is being jealous (sorry!) of those people because they do so many things I would love to do! Then I pause, I think about why I’m jealous and I actively work to let go of the negative feelings and see why I have no reason to be jealous. And yes, we don’t actually know what that person’s life really looks like on the inside.
I hope this gives you food for thought this week! If you find you do have these feelings as well, try to find a quiet spot, grab a pen and some paper and just write about the reasons this happens to you. What could you do differently so that you felt more at peace with where you are at in life.
You got this, you are worthy and you are in control!
S – The Sparkling Budgeteer
