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January is finally at an end, and if I’m honest, it feels like it has zoomed on by! January can often feel like a long old month, mostly because it’s the come down from the excitement and anticipation of Christmas, and partly because it’s usually a month of cold, wet and pretty miserable weather!
However, this January hasn’t felt too bad. I think we managed to get a lot of our Christmas gifts ahead of December and as Christmas itself was a relatively quiet affair I haven’t felt as worn out as usual nor felt that I needed to be watching the pennies after the Christmas spending, in ways that we may have done at other times.
That said, our winter spending does need to be kept in check, and it’s something we have been talking to the children about in recent weeks. They don’t understand how privileged they are and, whilst it would be lovely to give them everything they ask for, it doesn’t really teach them the value of money nor do they understand how we earn money and in turn pay for goods. Here are some of the things we have been talking about with the children.
Plan your Budget
Planning your budget is one of the best things you can do in my opinion. There are the costs that are always there; mortgage or rent payments and utilities and other bills. You can even work out how much interest you’re paying on your mortgage with this handy interest only calculator. It will help you understand what you’re paying and prioritise as and when appropriate. Then there are the less regular payments which for us include the children’s Spanish classes (paid in 12 weekly blocks) and swimming lessons (paid in blocks of 14). As we invariably have the two older children to pay for at the same time, these costs soon mount up. Making a note of when they’re due means that we can have the money ready to pay as soon as we get the notifications.
Plan the big spends
It’s important to plan the big financial spending. We know that this year we need to do some work to the outside of our home so we need to factor that in, and we probably need to buy a new sofa at some stage. Planning in these big expenses means that we can save money to one side and have it ready as and when we need it.
Obviously you can’t always factor in the unexpected bigger spends – for instance, last year we had a lot of unexpected expense with our car which meant we were suddenly faced with bills for a few hundred pounds. Frustrating at the best of times and no doubt very stressful if you don’t have that money to hand. Companies like Polar Credit can be on hand in these situations and it seems relatively straight forward to apply. They offer access to small sums of money (from £25), so customers can just borrow the amount that they need and only pay interest on that amount, rather than having to take a larger sum of money than you require. If you do require a loan or similar it makes sense to take a good look at your options and seek advice if needed, but Polar Credit can be useful in the short term for those immediate financial shortfalls.
For us, having a little buffer to fall back on helps us feel more secure should we be faced with unexpected expenses so we do try to save a small amount when we can.
Map the big events across the year
Look when you have birthdays and other celebrations. Have a wedding coming up? Make sure you book ahead any accommodation or travel to secure the best rates and keep an eye out for outfit and the such. Last year we had two immediate family weddings in quick succession so we needed to plan the clothes, gifts and the such so we could finance it.
Try to buy birthday gifts across the year. It might not always be possible but I like to pick up items such as clothing in the sales when I spot them. There’s often deals on in the supermarkets and I always manage to find pyjamas, jumpers and t-shirts for the children, often half price, for birthday gifts.
Also, use things like Amazon wish lists to your advantage. I often add things on for myself or that the children would like. I keep a reasonably regular eye on mine and when I spot things being heavily reduced I buy them. It doesn’t happen often but I usually manage to keep a couple of items when they’re on a big reduction.
