Are You Prepared for the Holiday Breaks?

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” -Brad Paisley

Actually, 4 days have passed already. What did you do on those days? What happened in your life? If you made a list of New Year’s Resolutions, were you able to do them or any one of them? You see, time really flies.

“Time is gold.”

“Every minute counts.”

“You can’t turn back times.”

They’re all true. You don’t notice every passing time until it’s a new month. We’re all caught up with our routine, our worries, things like social media that preoccupy our mind. Soon, it’s going to be a year-end again. Are you prepared for the Holiday breaks?

Photo credit

Working from home for 3 years already, Holiday breaks hadn’t been my concern. I’ve always had work even during Holidays… but it wasn’t the case last 2015. I didn’t have work for more than 2 weeks!!! For goodness sake, how are we going to survive for the next days? How am I going to feed my kids? Of course, I am overreacting.  

Working from home, being a freelancer has its ups and downs, too. We all know that. There are times that we complain to have jobs more than we can handle. And there are “off-seasons”. Lucky enough if we have a full time job and a couple of part-times on the side. Otherwise, it’s going to hurt us if our client/s all of a sudden decide/s to take a grand holiday breaks.

Obviously, I didn’t prepare myself to this kind of situation, financially and emotionally. Financially, because we need money during Holidays so that we can travel and buy gifts. If there’s no extra income, then, there’s less chances of enjoying the Holiday breaks. Emotionally, because I didn’t think that it can be so devastating to have nothing to do or to not work for weeks! I felt so lost like I didn’t know what to do each day. I still tried to make this time of the year special for my kids. I gave a few surprises, and involved them in some activities related to these events. But I think it could have been more enjoyable if I had enough money. And though I have been trying to make them happy, my worries were eating me up. Are you prepared for this?

I bet you wouldn’t want to go through this. So, take heed. Prepare for the Holiday Breaks. Save money.

Last year, I came across an article that talked about putting aside a certain amount and increase them each week. I actually tried it for a few months. I was surprised that I was able to save that amount. Unfortunately, I used them when my daughter was hospitalized.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’m sharing with you the 12-month saving challenge. I picked the smaller amount because it’s more realistic on my case. If you think you can put aside higher amount, then, do so. Remember the promise of a grand vacation while doing this.

Photo credit: Rappler

Is this doable? Yes, it is! Here are a few tips:

1. Designate an area where you can create a “room” for your savings. Some people use mason jars. You can use envelopes. You can use 3 or more mason jars/envelopes to hold savings for education, health or emergencies, and for holiday breaks or travel. Label them however you want it.
   
2. Be creative to make it more inspiring and encouraging. Maybe somewhere beside the jars, you can put a list of the things you want to do or buy at the end of the year. Put photos of places you want to go to. You can put some inspirational quotes. Or just put a large print out of the amount of money you’re aiming to save.
   
3. Work. Work. Work. If you have work, you have no reason not to save money.
   
4. Involve your family. It can be more fun if you let your kids or partner contribute.
   
5. Develop a habit. It’s like taking baby steps. You won’t be able to do that if you don’t start in the first place. Even if you fail, start again. Soon you’ll realize it’s becoming a natural process of your body to  go to that room and drop the money.
   
6. Celebrate! Don’t forget to spend your money to where you’ve allotted them for. Enjoy your holiday breaks. This will give you good memories that will inspire you to continue saving money for the rest of your life. 

See you in Disneyland next year! (Who knows? *wink)