Top 10 Reasons Why Christmas is NOT an Emergency.

Posted on December 8, 2007
Filed Under emergency fund, savings |

1) If I spend my emergency fund on Christmas, my car is guaranteed to break down before New Years.

2) Christmas should be about celebrating the birth of Christ.

3) It comes around every 365 days.

4) Life will not stop if everyone I know doesn’t get a present.

5) Old Fashioned Christmases are nice.

6) Children value the things they do get if they don’t get as much.

7) Handmade gifts are best.

It doesn’t matter what you give someone, it’s the thought that counts. (Thoughts are free though.)

9) Dozens of lists of stuff under $10 that no one wants or cares about.

10) Maybe there is a Santa Claus.

Does it sound convincing? It’s that time of year again and with the best of intentions, I still have the majority of my Christmas shopping to do. The eternal optimist, I have told myself every month that next month would be better and I would do a little shopping then.

And hey, next month was better. I stopped going in the hole from one emergency after another, but not good enough to have excess money to spend on gifts. And the month after that was a little better.

This month has been the best yet. I have managed to tuck a little money away in my emergency fund. I am not back where I was this time last year but I’m getting there a dime at a time.

The problem is I have been totally focused on getting the budget balanced and pinching those pennies that I have forgotten about Christmas. Could it have been a year since the last one? It seems like yesterday.

I have been trying to decide if this time of year was the best or worst time to start getting my finances in order. I guess financially it’s better now than January when I would have to recover from spending way too much. But those few hard saved dollars in the Emergency fund look so enticing.

Right now, I am wishing for the days when I got a paycheck every week or so. Budgeting was so much easier when I knew when and how much money would be coming in. Owning a business might be the American dream but starting one is a budget nightmare.

My kids are grown or mostly grown. They understand the realities of a budget and if they don’t they are going to have a lesson this year. We all knew that starting a business would mean sacrifices.

So here are my Christmas Resolutions.

I will not touch my emergency fund for Christmas.
I will buy small meaningful gifts for the people closest to me.
I will NOT go into debt for Christmas.
I will send Christmas cards to the rest.
I will NOT touch my emergency fund for Christmas.
I will enjoy the holiday by spending and treasuring my time with family and friends.
I WILL NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR CHRISTMAS.
I will save money for next Christmas even if it is only $5 a month.

I am off to chant this to the tune of jingle bells while decorating the Christmas tree and hanging the lights.

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