Weekly Saving Plans in 2014

Weekly Saving Plans in 2014

Did Christmas expenses throw your budget for a loop? Do you remember the Christmas Savings Plans that a lot of our parents had through their employer? My mom had $5 a week taken out and would get it just before Christmas so she could shop without busting the budget.

My husband and I adopted the cash only plan for Christmas and birthdays years ago. We set a budget for each of the seven children and put away a little as we could.  Our original budget was $2,000 for birthdays and holidays. This meant that we needed to put away $38.50 a week. Some weeks we were able to do more but there were weeks that this was just not there.

Over the years, our budget hasn’t changed too much except we now budget for each family. Five of the seven children are grown with children so my list has REALLY gotten longer. We still set aside as much as we can each week for gifts and our vacation.

To help with our planning, we use a simple spreadsheet. Depending on the goal, we will grab one or the other. There is even one for the little ones to use to start saving for something special or to be able to buy their own gifts for friends and family. I remember one year our daughter Beth had $38 saved and wanted to get everyone a present. She had 26 people on her list! We all may have gotten unique gifts, but she managed to stay in budget and get everyone something that she thought they would love or be able to use. I still have my swan trivets from that Christmas.

I hope one of these will help you with saving for either Christmas or that special event. Each is available in excel format (with auto fill enabled) but can be printed as pdf or image. Let me know if you have any questions or issues downloading the files.

Dollar Per Week – This spreadsheet will have you match the week with a dollar amount. Week 1 you deposit $1, Week 2 will need $2, and so on until week 52 for $52…resulting in $1,378.00 in a year!

Weekly Best Amount – This one has same idea as above but you pick the dollar amount from $1 to $52 each week. The idea is that some weeks may have more extra and you can knock off the larger amounts. Some week that $1 deposit might be all that you can manage. End of year is the same amount saved.

Equal Weekly Amount – This one has the same amount deposited each week. Pretty simple to follow

Kids Savings – Here is one for the kids to use to save their money for something special

Save What You Can – This one is blank per week. You will need to set your goal and determine how much you can set aside each week.

It really doesn’t matter how you save, only that you do. There is nothing more stressful than either not being able to pay a bill or pay one bill and then not be able to make the mortgage because the van died.

As 2013 comes to an end, take a look at the budget and see where you can save a little to set aside. Make next Christmas one that doesn’t make you dread the mailman in January!

 

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