1. Pick one charity or organization to donate to as a family. The holiday season includes a lot of celebrations but it also a time we give. Whether it’s putting a little extra in the church offering or giving our spare change to the solicitors outside of our local grocery stores, many of us express our generosity around the winter holidays. Why not take it a step further this year? Together, with your family members or close friends, pick a charity, organization, or church to give an extra offering to this holiday season. Doing so not only makes us less selfish but it allows us to enhance the lives of someone else.
2. Have a limit on how much you plan to spend during your next restaurant outing and stick to it. While sticking to a budget for an entire month can be a bit challenging, why not take baby steps towards this goal during the holiday season? We can do this by thinking about our next restaurant or social outing and coming up with a budget of how much we want to spend. Then stick to it. For example, if you plan to go to dinner with friends then look at the menu ahead of time, determine how much you plan to spend, and make a concerted effort not to go over that amount when you actually get there. Whether it’s a restaurant or some event in our city, try to use self-control by sticking to a budget, not matter how large or small it may be.
3. Vow to do 3 things that don’t cost any money. Because of the holiday season many of us get additional time to spend with the people we love. While we may be tempted to go out to dinner and do various things around the city, we must be conscientious of how much we’re actually spending. Part 3 of this challenge is doing 3 things during the holidays that don’t cost you an additional money. You could watch a Christmas movie on TV, listen to a holiday album, or bake cookies with ingredients you have at home. You could also video call family members that aren’t with you in person, decorate a Christmas tree with your kids, or play a fun board game with your family. Regardless of what you choose, pick 3 things to do that don’t cost you any extra money.
4. Purchase at least one meaningful gift for someone you care about. Along with donating money to others, another part of the holiday season is showing appreciation to the people we care about. While we may be tempted to purchase new designer items or expensive electronics, this year deviate from the norm. Think of one inexpensive, but meaningful gift you can give to someone you love. Maybe it’s a book they’d like, a bottle of wine they’d love, tickets to a show or concert they’ll enjoy, or a framed photo of one of your favorite memories.
5. Pledge to learn a little more about personal finance. Along with giving to others and spending time bonding with those we love, as money savvy young professionals we should take this challenge a step further. This holiday week, why not pledge to learn a little more about personal finance as well? We may not have time to read an entire book or go make a budget for the entire year, but we can still start small. We can pledge to spend at least 1 hour increasing our financial literacy. For example, we could listen to a podcast episode on how to best pay off our debt or read a couple chapters in a book on different ways to save money for retirement. We could even skim a few blogs on different ways to get involved in real estate investing or learn how to lower our tax rate in the upcoming year. Whatever the topic or the method, we should vow to spend a little time this holiday season learning more about personal finance and different ways to build wealth.
Tell me, are you willing to try to 5 step holiday money challenge?