Birthdays and Christmas have a funny ability to sneak up on us every year. Use the planner sheets to sit down and list out all the birthdays and christmas presents you expect to buy for the year. I always include a birthday party category to fund unexpected birthday party invites.
For Christmas, Fill out everyone you intend to give gifts to. Parents, kids, families, friends, neighbors, grandparents, etc. Make a category for things like, dining out, new Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, Postage, Pajamas, etc. List out what you spent last year in each of these categories.
There are two ways to proceed. Either pick a dollar amount you want spend on each and every person and then figure out how to save for that throughout the year, or wait and fill out your annual budget and with the leftover amount for the year, go back and decide how you will spend this on each person over the year.
What to do when you don't have enough money to cover these expenses? Look at getting a side gig to help supplement the expenses. Or get creative. Find gifts you can make to give to each person and plan ahead, so you have the time to make meaningful gifts. Sacrificing to give to others brings so much joy, and planning ahead can really take the stress off of giving.
Vacation Planning- List out every vacation, weekend getaway, staycation you want to take for the year. Budget an amount for each vacation. In the "Mo. Bud Use" column, add any amount that you can use from your normal monthly budget. For instance, if your vacation is 10 days, you could take some of your grocery budget and gas budget from the month and add it to the vacation budget. Once you have these all planned out, decide how bust to save for them, whether monthly, quarterly, tax refund, bonuses and add them to your annual budget under vacation savings.
When it comes time to plan the bigger vacations, use the blue boxes to plan out how you intend to spend the budget. Plan an individual budget for food, gas, spending, hotels, souvenirs, park passes, whatever you intend to spend it on. We left a few blank spaces for you to customize your budget.
Annual Large Savings- Use this to plan and budget anything you plan to buy for the year. Whether it be a mattress, new tires, new sofa, and decide how you will save for this. Enter the amounts into your annual budget under Large Savings and save it in your savings until you are ready to spend it. I like to use Acorns.com. If you are interested, click https://acorns.com/invite/2NPH3F and you will get $5.00 to start saving for your large purchases.
my Level 2 Family Finance Planner has printables to help you plan and track these expenses throughout the year. Check it out:
https://familyfinanceplanners.com/products/blank-family-finance-planner-level-2
