This holiday season, it’s important to prioritize your savings to ensure that hosting and gifting-giving don’t derail your goals. Between holiday events, travel, and the countless other things that stack up between Halloween and New Year’s, it’s easy to lose track of your expenses if you’re not careful. With these three easy tips from the experts at Evolve Bank & Trust, we’ll help you keep your savings on track and your spending in check.
1. Plan Ahead
By planning ahead as much as possible, you give yourself the opportunity to be selective. Avoid rushing for the last ticket on the flight home or paying for rush shipping on a last-minute gift. By mapping out travel and gift spending as far in advance as possible, you avoid an item being out of stock or out of price range. Even if an item or ticket is too expense, with enough advance notice, you can budget it across multiple months to save properly.
2. Make Shopping Lists
Shopping lists can keep trips to the store on track and help you avoid impulse purchases. Whether it’s grocery shopping for an event you’re hosting or gift shopping for the holidays – either way having a list in hand helps to avoid additional or unnecessary purchases. Many also find it help to keep a specific budget for holiday spending – to ensure you do not go over budget on a big-ticket item.
3. Shop Deals
With all the expenses of the holiday season, it’s always a good thing to find a deal. Everyone knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there are other ways to save. Look for your credit card company’s cash back or 2x point retailers. If you normally shop at grocery store A but your card is running a 2x points or cashback deal this month for grocery store B, it may be worth the switch. Be sure to opt into all rewards programs within your card’s rewards program and shop the deals there.
Evolve is here to help you keep your savings on track. Whether it’s an Evolve Savings account or our Simple Steps to Save resource center, we’ve got the tools you need.