A Shopper's Guide to Saving and Smart Gifting
The holiday season is here, and while this time of the year is filled with joy and cheer, it can also bring about some money worries if you aren't properly prepared. For any money-conscious person, the approaching holiday season can make you think about your increased spending to buy gifts for your loved ones.
However, you don't have to break the bank to spread this year's holiday cheer. By getting an early start this season and following some of our helpful shopping tips below, you can avoid common pitfalls that lead you to spend more than you planned.
Start Saving Now
The earlier you start saving for holiday gift buying, the less of a pinch you'll feel once you start making purchases. While it may be a little too late to start saving for 2023 gift shopping, don't forget to start saving now for next year’s holiday season.
Waldo State Bank makes saving up for holiday shopping easy with the Christmas Club account. This unique personal savings account helps you save for the holidays or other special occasions as a low-risk investment opportunity to grow your money. There's no minimum balance required to open the account, and interest is calculated on a daily balance method.
Create a Gift Budget
Setting a budget for your gifting can keep you from overspending. However, creating a budget isn't enough to keep you on track financially; you must also be diligent about sticking to it once you purchase gifts.
Start by assessing the total dollar amount you have available to spend on gifts this year. Then, create a list of people you want to purchase gifts for. Go through each person on your list, determining the dollar amount you wish to spend on their gift. Doing so can help you create a game plan for gift shopping, as you'll be less likely to overspend if you have a set dollar amount as your limit.
Avoid Impulse Buys
You'll want to avoid making impulse purchases to help keep your gift-buying on budget. Though you don't necessarily need to have a rigid idea of what you want to gift each person, you should have a general idea alongside your dollar limit to avoid being emotionally swayed into making an unexpectedly large purchase.
Go into each shopping trip or online session with a purpose, and be aware of the sales and promotional tactics that stores employ to get you to spend more than you want. For instance, the type of music they play, product placement, and the overall holiday atmosphere can cause you to get lost in the moment and be influenced into making larger purchases.
Comparison Shop
Shopping ahead of time allows you to compare to get the best deals. Especially if you're shopping online, it's easy to compare several sites to ensure you purchase gifts at the lowest price possible. Plus, this will help you avoid impulse buying if you know you want to compare prices with another store before purchasing.
Get Holiday-Shopping Ready with Waldo State Bank
At Waldo State Bank (WSB), we've been dedicated to the financial health of our customers and our community for 110 years now. Since 1913, our team has had a passion for serving genuine financial services to our customers in a way that enriches their lives and the community we live in.
Our steadfast commitment to our customers' financial health doesn't take a break over the holidays. We created the Christmas Club account to help people save up for the holidays and other special occasions to endure less stress during such a joyful time.
So whether you're interested in financially preparing for the holidays or growing your savings for a rainy day, we offer incredible personal savings accounts, CDs, and money market accounts to help you grow your money year-round. If you're ready to kickstart your financial goals before the new year, click here to learn more about our personal savings solutions.
