US Air Force Community Readiness Consultant * Certified Financial Counselor * Military Educator *
Empowering veterans to become financially secure through a common sense approach, that's easy to understand.
Good morning and welcome to another Money Mike minute. With Thanksgiving next week, lots of shopping is going to be taking place next Friday, Black Friday. So I figured, hey, let's talk a little bit about spending for the holidays. I know I've hit that topic before, but with it just being here next week, I figured, hey, we'll we'll hit that topic one more time and make it. Hopefully it'll be fresh on all of our minds and we have to fight. The temptation to go out and overspend when we find those great deals that the that the different places have in place to draw us in to buy more stuff. So. So what comes to mind when I'm thinking about holiday spending, first thing right off the bat is make sure you have a plan when you go somewhere to shop. One of the worst things that we can do is just go in and just to look around and not really have a game plan, especially if we're on a tight budget. Already, and that's kind of who I'm speaking to this morning. Those that are on a tight budget, not quite sure how much they have to spend, get a plan together before you ever leave the house. Get an idea of who you want to buy for and and make a list. Make a list and and then follow that list once you get to the store. Don't, don't deviate from it. Really important. Another thing I often talk about whenever I'm talking about spending for the holidays is if you're if you have a large family, why don't y'all consider drawing names? Especially if you're a young service member just coming in, you're not making a whole lot, so therefore you don't have to buy for every single body in your family. If you have a huge family, take think about drawing names. That's a great way to help relieve stress not only on you, but. Also other family members that may not be willing to speak up and say, hey, you know, I don't really have a lot of money this go around this year or so. Think about that again, have that plan in place. And we're also remember moving forward that Christmas happens every year, so we shouldn't be planning for it the week before Thanksgiving, after Black Friday. So we should be looking at this throughout the year and put this stuff on a budget. Hey, we have Christmas coming up at the end of the year. And start setting money aside throughout the year that way. It's not such a burden right at the last moment. And we're not tempted to put it on credit cards and then pay for it for the next 6-8 months. So those are things that come to my mind when we're thinking about holiday spending. I just wanted to throw that out there to you. Please come by the center here at Sheppard Military Family Readiness Center, Building 960 and sit down and talk with one of our counselors. We would love to sit down, do a budget with you, help you go on track. Especially with the new year coming up, set some new goals, maybe some things that you haven't done in the past and it starts with a good solid budget or spin plan is a lot of people call it. So please come by and see us. Don't forget to wear red on Fridays. I thank you so much for tuning in and again come see us at the Military Family Readiness Center. Have a great day and a happy Thanksgiving.
