Planning you budget for the holidays – whether you like it or not – is almost as much of a tradition as the festivities themselves. There are always extra expenses to account for like presents, food, and guests. A smart approach to this season is to take calculated measures to ensure you’ll have plenty of spending room.

Solidify Your Holiday Budget With These Tips

If implemented correctly, these tips can help you create the perfect holiday budget and reduce your stress.

Map Out Your Finances

If you have an established budget for your standard expenses, this can go a long way in helping you plan for the holidays. If you don’t have this established, now’s a great time to start one!

Start by listing out your monthly household income. Then you should calculate your monthly payment expenses. Anything from your bills, vehicle payments, cell phone bill, your utilities, rent, or mortgage. You should also figure in your other expenses like groceries, eating out, and your small regular purchases.

How does your income align with your expenses? Ideally, there is space for you to use the extra income for investments and savings.

Decide How Much Money You’ll Need For The Holiday

You have to consider your general expenses. Use the finance mapping from above so you have your standard expenses in mind. Try not to account for any bonuses and extra income that you don’t know isn't certain.

Once you’ve considered that, think about the extra you’ll need for holiday spending. Take a look at your bank statements from the same time last year. Did you do a good job sticking to a budget or did the holiday spirit tempt you to overspend? Root out any spending habits that can be improved upon from your past holiday.

Now, shift your mind to the current year and think of the coming spending that you expect. A few categories of costs that you could encounter during the holidays can include things like gift giving. who’s on your list? Do you have specific gifts already in mind? How much will you spend on each person? You also have to consider food. We tend to indulge a bit more during the holidays. Expand the budget for groceries accordingly.

You must also factor in any donating you may want to do. Do you plan on dropping your change into those Salvation Army Santa pots, or maybe donating more to your church this season? And finally, and this is a big one, decorations. Maybe you need to update your supply of twinkle lights. Or your beloved inflatable reindeer has seen its last snowy day. Whatever it might be, do some retail research to see what these costs might run you.

You of course have to account for the unexpected. There are always unexpected expenses - especially during the holidays! Maybe you’ll have last-minute guests or decide to throw a neighborhood party. Put an extra buffer in your budget to make sure you won’t run the bank dry.

To help with adding some more jingle to your step this holiday season, you can consider options like a title for cash. Working with title cash can offer a nice stress relief when working with a tighter budget.

Make A Plan

You’ve got the numbers down. You know your general expenses and what you might be able to expect for spending this holiday season. Time to craft out a realistic plan for the months ahead.

Start putting a bit of income aside each week to make room for the holidays. You can pass on your daily coffee run, do without your monthly trip to the salon, or try not to eat out as often. Make a plan to start saving so you can have some spending room for the holidays.

Follow The Plan

The most important part of this process is sticking to the plan you just came up with. A plan won’t work unless you’re strict with staying within the boundaries you set. It may feel inconvenient now; but you’ll be thanking yourself this holiday season when you can get a peppermint mocha every day and the tree is loaded with presents.

Check-in with yourself every week to make sure you’re on track. Have a candid conversation with the members of your household, so everyone is on the same page.

Get A Title Loan When Emergencies Get In Your Way

While this budgeting plan will make holidays easier, the unexpected can always happen. You or a family member ends up with medical bills, your home suddenly needs major repairs, or your car needs repairs. Whatever the emergency, they can happen when you least expect. For those moments, getting title loans Illinois are there to help.

A title loan is a loan you receive when you use your vehicle’s lien-free title as collateral. You don’t have to worry about giving your vehicle up with this loan – we use your title as collateral, not the car. And if you have bad credit, we will not turn you away or cause any extra problems – unlike other bank loans.

How To Get A Title Loan In Illinois

Receiving a title loan from us is simple as well! You won’t have to wait days or even weeks – like with some bank loans – to find out if you’ve been approved and for how much. If we are able to approve you, you’ll get the cash the very same day – 30 minutes or less, to be exact.

Here is the exact breakdown of our process:

• Fill out the online form. Just head to our website and you’ll find it right on our homepage.
• After you have submitted the online form, it’ll be sent to the store location you’ve chosen. Once we receive it, you will get a phone call from a loan associate from that location. They will walk you through the process and answer any questions you have. They will also tell you the required items you must bring.
• When you get off the phone you can look up title loans near me and find all of Illinois Title Loans, Inc. locations around you. When you arrive please have your state-issued ID, your lien-free vehicle title that is in your name, and your vehicle.
• Once here, you will sit with one of our loan representatives and finish the application. You will learn if you are approved, the details of your loan agreement, and sign papers. Your loan associate will also go over your items and conduct a vehicle inspection. The inspection allows us to determine how much you qualify for.
• Once we are able to approve you and you have agreed to the terms, that’s it! You will learn how much you’ve been approved for and receive the cash right there. Then you and your vehicle can be on your merry way.

Make Your Holidays Simpler With A Good Budget Plan

The holidays are stressful enough without adding on a bad budget. Make things easier on yourself with a solid budget plan to back you up! You will definitely be able to enjoy your holidays a lot more when you are prepared.