The Holiday Money Hangover and New Year's Resolutions

What would our lives look like if we could all accomplish what we manage to accomplish the month before December 25^th all year long? With seemingly little additional effort we squeeze in shopping, baking, holiday parties, gift wrapping, deliveries, visiting, correspondence and a whole lot of extra spending. Oh, and a few favorite movies as well. (Mine’s The Grinch That Stole Christmas, what’s yours?)

And on December 26^th, many of us wake up from the flurry of activity and excitement of it all and our bank accounts (or credit cards) have a bit of a hangover. Even those of us with supportive budgets and normally good adherence to them can get carried away. “Oh, I really should just pick up a couple of more things for the kids.”

Do you know who doesn’t have a hangover? Anyone who still uses the old-fashioned “Santa Saver” accounts of yesteryear. Those people have been putting $100, $200 or even more into their account all year long, and then voila, they magically have a nice little sum of money to fund not just gifts, but all of the other expenses that pop up during the month of December.

If you’re someone who has been challenged by getting into the savings habit, Santa Saver accounts are a great way to experience the wonders of setting money aside for what I call “predictable, but non-monthly expenditures.” It will not only make a wonderful positive impact on your 2014 holidays, it might also inspire you to start your own “silo” accounts where you save for other priorities that you know you need to, but just haven’t found the willpower.

There no better time that the beginning of a fresh new year to implement some fresh new healthy habits. Log into your bank and see if they have holiday savings accounts. Most credit unions do, while most banks have done away with them (yet one more reason I prefer credit unions over banks; they have services that support your financial growth, not just theirs.) If your bank doesn’t have one, another option is to set up an account at an online bank with an automatic transfer feature. I like ING Direct’s (now Capital One) feature that allows you to name your own accounts.

You might just want to name your account “My No Holiday Hangover in 2014” account, and resolve to do 2014 a little bit differently.

Happy Holidays!

-Stacey Powell

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