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Know Your Priorities to Make Holidays Special
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the solstice, the holiday season can be stressful—with financial stress often playing a large role. To cut through the noise, you have to know your priorities to make the holidays special.
What Is Most Important To You?
Figure out what makes the holidays special for you and your family and allocate most of your spending to those things. Maybe there are other, less important things you can scale back or skip.
For instance, if you love hosting a lavish holiday dinner but are ho-hum about festive holiday clothing, don’t buy that new outfit. Budget more for your dinner instead. The key is to set priorities and identify the important things.
And remember that handmade or homemade goodies, charitable gifts, or the gift of time can mean much more to recipients than presents.
Special Ideas
Here are some ideas:
- Give loved ones a framed photograph of a place or event that is special to both of you.
- Make a charitable contribution in someone else’s name to a fund that person believes in. Mid Oregon Credit Union’s “Holiday Dough” program is a great opportunity to help those who need food, clothing, or shelter, and 100% of the cash collected will go to support local organizations that do good things for people during the holidays. You need not be a Mid Oregon member to contribute. To learn more, visit People Helping People: The Holiday Dough Fund
- Offer to help with a project around the house, take a friend to lunch, or just go for a walk together.
- Give baked goods or pre-made dinners to family or friends.
- Offer to pet sit or babysit free of charge.
Time To Mend Relationships
The holidays tend to bring people together. “So if you have a bad relationship it’s a great gift to mend it and make amends,” says Rob Severson, a financing coach in Deephaven, Minn. “You’ll be a lot happier if you don’t wait and it will probably mean a lot more than a box of candy.”
The holidays are all about giving, so think about next year. Having a planned spending plan will certainly help lessen the stress and help you focus on what’s really important. With Mid Oregon’s Saver’s Club, or a Save to Win account, you can conveniently set money aside with automatic deposits from your account. Visit a branch, or call (541) 382-1795.
Mindfulness Key to Spending Control
Mindfulness Key to Spending Control
Are you spending too much? For many Americans, the answer is, “Absolutely.”
The reasons are varied—lack of a budget or a desire to maintain appearances—but, to better manage your spending, many financial advisers recommend tracking your cash flow and monitoring your emotional state.
Here’s how:
Planning is Key
* Plan. It’s not only big expenses that put you in debt. More likely it’s “death by a thousand tiny cuts” eating up your income. Track your spending with a notebook or online app, shop with a list, consider using only cash for a couple of months, and set up monthly automatic deductions from your share draft/checking account into an emergency savings fund.
* Be mindful. Try to understand why you’re overspending. Maybe you’re trying to keep pace with high-rolling friends or spending makes you feel better—temporarily, anyway. Regardless, when you feel compelled to buy something you maybe don’t need, wait 24 hours and consider why you’re buying it. Ask yourself, “How will I feel when the credit card bill comes?”
Know Your Limits
* Set limits. Know what pleasures you can’t live without and decide in advance how much you’ll spend on them each month. Try to focus on the joys in your life that cost nothing—friends, family, a favorite public park—and for big-ticket items, set aside a little each paycheck until you can afford to buy it.
For help getting started to bring your finances under control call a Mid Oregon Credit Union Loan Officer at (541) 382-1795. You can also email info@midoregon.com, or visit one of our seven Central Oregon branches.
Pay it Forward: Affordable Auto Repair
This month’s Pay it Forward recipient, Pixie Gullickson, brought $500 to Affordable Auto Repair, thanks to Mid Oregon Credit Union and Co Energy Propane. Skip Black, the owner of the Redmond business will reinvest the $500 back into a program he has developed to give away his services to help people in need. A huge thanks to Skip and his crew for all he does in the community.
KTVZ Pay It Forward information