Author Archives: Charlene Bey

Holiday Budget

Now that the holidays are quickly approaching you might be thinking that you have to buy so many gifts with so little time and money. Here are our holiday budget tips to making shopping easier.

1. Create a holiday budget. You can do this by visiting www.mychristmasbudget.com. This budget lets you see how much cash you will have available to spend on Christmas gifts.
2. After creating your budget, make a list of the names of individuals you will be purchasing gifts for and right down the gifts that you want to purchase for the individuals.
3. Check for the best deals for items that you want to purchase.
4. Stay within your budget that you’ve created buy not over spending.
5. Shop at stores that price match.
6. Use coupons. An excellent site with a wide variety of coupons is www.retailmenot.com. This site has both printable and online use coupons.
7. If you have to use credit cards for your holiday purchases, use the card with the lowest interest rate and try to pay off the holiday purchases asap.

What are your tips for staying on budget during the holiday season? Let us know in the comments.

Contributor | Charlene Bey Charlene Bey is an Accountant and is the owner of Easy Flow Bookkeeping, LLC. Charlene eats, sleep and lives accounting and loves giving her opinion when it comes to being financial savvy.

Being a Budget Socialite, I am always finding ingenious  ways to being fabulous without having to crack open my sample sale kate spade wallet. I have devised this top 10 list that can get you on your way to becoming the financially savvy socialista that I know you can be.

1. Set a short term financial goal. What financial goal(s) would you like to see within the next 5-10 years?

2. Set a long-term financial goal. Think about what age you would like to retire and how much you will need to live comfortably without having to worry about finances.

3. Train yourself to be financially independent. Create a budget and not rely on credit cards for purchases. If you must use a credit card, make sure that it is for a purchase that you can pay right off.

4. Buy a home. This is a great time to purchase a home with the housing market rates.

5. Fund or continue to fund 401(k) or IRA account.

6. Have at least 6 months worth of salary saved up for a crisis.

7. Pay off credit card debt if you have any. Start with the highest interest rate card 1^st.

8. If you have children, now is the time to start saving for college. No age is too early.

9. If you have student loans and you are having a hard time making the monthly payments, call your loan holder to reevaluate your payment plan. If you call, they will work with you.

10. Think about starting a business. There are a numerous amounts of tax advantages for small businesses.

Let us know what you think or if you have your own ways to being more financially savvy.

Contributor | Charlene Bey Charlene Bey is an Accountant and is the owner of Easy Flow Bookkeeping, LLC. Charlene eats, sleep and lives accounting and loves giving her opinion when it comes to being financial savvy.