Saving for the Holidays: A Bucketed Approach
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but also the most expensive. Managing finances for the holidays can be stressful, but with the right plan, it doesn’t have to break the bank. If you’re already saving for an emergency fund, that’s fantastic! Now, we want to make sure you don’t need to dip into your emergency savings for the holidays.
We recommend you setup a separate bucket for the holidays and start saving a little more from each paycheck to cover any planned holiday expenses. it’s important to start now and save something every pay until the festive season rolls around.
The amount you save will depend on the amount of expenses you’ll have. On average, you’ll need to save over $600 for the holidays. This includes gifts, decorations, food, charity donations, etc. You may need to save more if you’re planning on going away during the holiday season or if you have kids. (Or maybe you need to save less.)
Once you know how much you want to save, login to the Quber app and we’ll get you setup with automated savings, so you can set it and forget it!
Try out our Holiday Challenge: Save $100/month for 6 months and earn additional Save to Win bonus entries while you save! Find it under the Challenges section in the app.
If the Holiday Challenge doesn’t work for you, you can create your own Holiday Jar instead.
1. Create a new Jar with the total amount you want to save.
2. Add a Calendar Rule to your Jar, and choose weekly, biweekly or monthly depending how often you get paid.
3. Calculate how many months you have until you need the money. (From the date this blog was published, you have about 6 months to save).
4. Divide the total you want to save by the number of months.
5. If you want to save biweekly, divide the monthly amount by 2; if you want to save weekly, divide the monthly amount by 4.
6. Enter the amount to save based on your calculation above and set the start date for your first transfer to occur.
For example, to save $200 in 6 months, you would need to save about $35 a month, $17 every 2 weeks or $8 every week.
If you don’t have an account with QUBER, but are interested in our bucketed savings method, replace our digital jars with our own home-made saving jars!
The average American household holds over $1,200 in credit card debt after the holidays. Take control of your finances this holiday season and start saving now. This way, when it’s time to break out the eggnog and chestnuts, you’ll have peace of mind that your holiday expenses are taken care of.
With a little planning and the appropriate amount of savings, you can keep your holiday spending in check while still having the best festive season. 🎄