Holiday Business Expenses
Budgeting for spending at home and away at the office are two entirely different types of budgets. The same rings true if you are an employee, upper management or a business owner. To break these down it is rather easy, employees typically are asked to go in on a gift for their direct boss. This is easy to budget for since it is typically around the $20 price point because all staff is pitching in towards one nice gift. Additionally, a lot of offices and business do encourage togetherness and the holiday spirit by sometimes featuring a secret Santa name draw as well. This again will usually have a price cap on it and will be explained weeks before the gift exchange. This gives the employee a few paychecks to budget for one more gift at the office.
Management positions typically make a bit more money than regular employee positions and managers will often give a bit more during the holiday season. Managers also purchase their boss’s a gift and they will usually give each of their employees something small as a thank you. Business owners obviously typically have more freedom with spending and their Christmas gifts are usually in the form of a bonus to all employees right before Christmas. Sometimes the business owners will also pay for a office holiday party and have it catered for their employees. This is another expense that must be accounted for when budgeting out the holiday season.
Budgeting for a Christmas gift and employee party are only two portions of the holiday budget expenses. The holiday season is obviously nestled right into the middle of the winter months. This is the time of year where it gets darker earlier and the air is much crisper. On top of budgeting for celebrations and gifts, businesses must also make a plan to reduce their Titan Power utility bill spending. This frees up more money for these end of year celebrations.
Holiday Budgeting Tips
Budgeting for the holidays on both a home and office level is important. You do not want to build up an extensive amount of credit card debt with interest rates because you did not plan ahead. The thing about the holiday season is that it happens annually so you know it is coming and you theoretically have twelve months to prepare for it. Many banks offer a Holiday Club savings account. Look into this because it is one of the easiest ways to save. Each direct deposit paycheck you receive throughout the year instantly puts a small percentage that you selected into a Holiday Club savings account. You cannot access this money until after Thanksgiving.
If your banking institution does not offer a Holiday Club savings account there are still ways to budget for the holidays:
- Set a predetermined amount of money aside from each pay check that you will not use until it is time for holiday shopping
- Find a side hustle that you can do in your spare time that pays out in PayPal and leave the money in your PayPal account until it’s time to shop for the holidays
- Purchase gift cards from the kiosk at the grocery store weekly when you go, save these to use as gifts or save them to use at stores when it is time to shop for the holidays
Saving is not everyone’s forte but there are ways to help those who are not frugal with their holiday budgeting. If you simply cannot leave actual cash that you set aside alone and will likely spend it then do not trust yourself, trick yourself. Find an online part-time job such as reviewing websites, filling out surveys, editing content or becoming a virtual assistant. These tasks are completed in your own free time and typically pay via PayPal. Leave that money earned throughout the year in the PayPal account and use it for holiday shopping in December. Another way to trick yourself is to purchase gift cards every week when you go grocery shopping. There are kiosks right near the check out for big box stores, visa, Master card, restaurants, online stores, etc., you can put them away and save them to either simply gift in December or use them to shop at those stores to purchase gifts.
Holiday budgeting is definitely something that you have to plan for, but you will experience a less stressful holiday season if you are not worrying about finances. You will be happy that you planned ahead and budgeted for all the activities that happen during the holiday season.
