November 26, 2010

The Christmas Rush Begins

So with yesterday being Thanksgiving, and my husband's birthday, we celebrated with a quiet turkey dinner and a little bit of football.

Today, officially brings the Christmas countdown in our house. I absolutely love Christmas, J on the other hand does not. There is no Christmas music or decorations allowed until after Thanksgiving. Now that it has passed, let the Christmas explosion begin! :)

I'm relatively new to this whole Black Friday thing down here. Being that I'm Canadian, our 'black friday' has always been Boxing Day, or December 26. That being said, I've learned to get my deals online. I don't do crowds. I got my Christmas shopping started by ordering a gift that was on my list to give to J, and I saved $25 with free shipping. I paid cash, did not use any CC (yay!) and I plan to keep it that way. So far we have about $1100 budgeted for Christmas this year. I could put that all towards debt, but at this time of year, a lot of that money goes towards causes that J and I both believe in. Last year while we weren't in the greatest position, we still were able to budget $100 ($50 each) to two kids who were listed on the Angel Tree at J's work. I'm pretty good at getting deals and the most for our money. With that, we were able to get quite a lot for those kids and I hope they enjoyed their Christmas Day with those gifts.
We plan on doing the same thing this year.
Thankfully, December is a 3 paycheck month for both J and I, that will help.


Today, I am doing what I said I was going to do yesterday. Making a Payment Calendar from the DRP. I would have done it I swear! But I found a new blog to read, and ended up reading it from start to finish. It's amazing how reading other Personal Finance Blogs can motivate you to reach your goal. The one I read yesterday was Shaking The Money Tree and has definitely done that. Doesn't hurt that the author is Canadian :P

So today, it will be back to my work. So far, with just some preliminary numbers, it looks like we will be able to pay off some of our debt earlier than the DRP has planned. Plus, our Taxes, and a yearly bonus that I will receive in February, which will be between my regular paychecks and roughly the same amount, will all go towards debt.

Perhaps an update on my findings for the DRP later today...

2 comments:

Jolie said...

You are so sweet to mention me. I am so glad you found something worth reading in my little corner of the blogosphere.

sounds like you had a great holiday.

Stephanie said...

I love it! Let the Christmas explosion begin :) It's my favorite time of the year too. I've been listening to Christmas music for almost a month now... not sure how my husband hasn't killed me yet, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts! Keep blogging :)