Do you have a Christmas account fund?

[cruisnfamily]

Are there still banks that offer these accounts? I would LOVE to have one but I don't know where to open one. I do do it myself now but I'd really like to have the traditional, put away X amount weekly and they automatically mail you all your money the first week in Nov.

 

[brunette8706]

Are there still banks that offer these accounts? I would LOVE to have one but I don't know where to open one. I do do it myself now but I'd really like to have the traditional, put away X amount weekly and they automatically mail you all your money the first week in Nov.

*
Hi! You may want to try your local credit union.

 

[neatokimmo]

I don't have as many presents to buy as some of the larger families on DIS so I just pay for them when the CC arrives. I have noticed my spending has a natural cycle, I have zero big bills due in December or January so the extra money on the card is covered with the $ in my checking account.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I don't have as many presents to buy as some of the larger families on DIS so I just pay for them when the CC arrives. I have noticed my spending has a natural cycle, I have zero big bills due in December or January so the extra money on the card is covered with the $ in my checking account.

Holy crap. I remember when we were doing No Buy threads together and your daughter was just a baaabbyyy!!! I actually don't even think you had her yet. OMG! She's gorgeous!!!! And OLD! I hope someone figures out the slow motion button before I have kids.

I digress...

We have a "Christmas Account" along with a vacation account, a baby account, a house account, a savings account, etc in my ING. Really? It's all mental. We invest where we want to invest and usually pull out of savings if we're doing that. Otherwise it's our liquid savings called different things. I really think it's just mental but it works for me. Half the time I end up transferring what's left into savings and starting over again in January

 

[SaraJayne]

*
Hi Sara!

Yeah, that's the only way that works for me! LOL! If it's in my checking account, I'll be sure to spend it! LOL! I need it out of sight out of mind.

Enjoy your holiday.

Brunette

As long as it works for you, that's all that matters.

 

[katibosch]

Hi All!

My husband and I have been doing the Christmas Holiday fund at our credit union. It works out great! YOu simply designate the a certain amount of funding each week or bi-weekly into your Christmas account. By the end of November you will receive a check. This really in my opinion is a great idea to have extra cash for Christmas gifts.

Anyone else do this?

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Brunette

No, because we don't spend more than a few hundred dollars on Christmas presents. Most of our extra money goes to vacations, and we DO have a fund set up for that, with automatic deposits.

 

[neatokimmo]

Holy crap. I remember when we were doing No Buy threads together and your daughter was just a baaabbyyy!!! I actually don't even think you had her yet. OMG! She's gorgeous!!!! And OLD! I hope someone figures out the slow motion button before I have kids.

I digress...

We have a "Christmas Account" along with a vacation account, a baby account, a house account, a savings account, etc in my ING. Really? It's all mental. We invest where we want to invest and usually pull out of savings if we're doing that. Otherwise it's our liquid savings called different things. I really think it's just mental but it works for me. Half the time I end up transferring what's left into savings and starting over again in January

lol thanks! She will be FIVE in Feb. FIVE!

 

[bigmama67]

Our local bank has the holiday club and this year I'm giving it a try with just $10 a week. We'll see how it goes. I figure I won't miss that little amount, and how can it be a bad thing?

I've also been saving a "dollar a day" plus whatever small unexpected cash comes in, and putting it in a separate vacation fund. Hopefully by the time we get to August, it'll be a nice amount!

 

[mrodgers]

I'm new to the whole savings account thing as we are just getting finances and debt fixed.

I have a budget laid out in Excel per paycheck and have several categories such as gifts, vacation, car repair/replace, household, etc. I have a set amount listed on the side of the budget. I don't plan on putting X amount each week in, instead, I am funding each individual fully and moving to the next fund once the former is filled. Until the vehicle is paid off, there isn't a lot of "extra" money, so I want to have the important funds filled first (such as heating oil and insurance) before bothering with "extra" funds. Everything that isn't a monthly bill goes to my Credit Union account in which I can move from checking to savings and back as I see fit.

Example, heating oil fund is set at $1000. I'll fil that with $1000 then move on to putting extra in something else such as Christmas or whatever is the next important. When heating oil is purchase for say, $600, then I'll go back to funding that until it is back to $1000. Eventually, we will get to the point to where everything is funded and will just be topped off as we use it.

 

[Snowflakey]

Yes I do and I LOVE it!! Every October I know I have $1,500 waiting for me to start shopping

 

[kthshh]

Since I haven't seen it mentioned before, I'll tell you how we save for both vacation and Christmas. I use my Dependent Care Flexible Spending account at work. I have two children who are in after school care every day and all day in the summer. The money that is paid in is taken out pre-tax. I request statements from my childcare provider and submit for the money twice per year.

It's accessible year round if I need it, but it's not so easy that I can just transfer funds and spend it quickly. After a request is made, the money is deposited into my checking account by the next Wednesday.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I use labeled envelopes. I have one labeled for Christmas, one for birthdays, one for solo vacations and one for family vacations.

I just pull out the cash from an ATM twice a month on paydays and split it up between the envelopes. Right now since I'm done with birthdays for this year, I've been putting extra into the christmas envelope.

Since we have a safe bolted to our cement floor I don't worry about it getting stolen.

I've tried the extra savings account thing but my husband kept pulling the money out thinking it was just extra fun money so that didn't work for us. Even though I'd tell him not to touch it, he'd forget and do it anyway. For some reason he doesn't touch the money in the safe but he doesn't go into it much either.

 

[cari12]

DH and I get paid bi-weekly so there are a couple of months each year where we receive 3 paychecks. So we designate the one that occurs in the fall as our Christmas money. Then we can shop and not worry about the expense.

 

[Karenj2]

I don't use the traditional "Christmas Account", but I have accounts in ING that I send money to automatically every month. (I also have an account for our daughter, our "NO TOUCH" emergency fund, and a general savings account - created before we had a traditional savings account in a B&M bank.)

I put money aside, because DH gets a bit crazy about money - if the checking account has "no" money, he gets all freaked out, and if it has lots of money, he wants to spend it! At Christmastime, he starts worrying that we have no money to buy anything - at that point, I point him to the Christmas account, where money is nicely piling up, and he heaves a big sigh of relief... I don't transfer mine over to our checking account until late December early January, since we pay for our items via CC, which gives us a month's buffer before we pay it off entirely.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I use my Discover cash back bonus as my Xmas fund. That way, I have the money and don't have to use my 'regular' funds.

 

[DISdreamin']

Since I haven't seen it mentioned before, I'll tell you how we save for both vacation and Christmas. I use my Dependent Care Flexible Spending account at work. I have two children who are in after school care every day and all day in the summer. The money that is paid in is taken out pre-tax. I request statements from my childcare provider and submit for the money twice per year.

It's accessible year round if I need it, but it's not so easy that I can just transfer funds and spend it quickly. After a request is made, the money is deposited into my checking account by the next Wednesday.

I do this at the end of the year too. We have typically had the full $5K taken our pre-tax and we just request it in one lump sum at the end of the year. It just goes into savings, but it's nice because you just don't notice it adding up.

I also have money taken out of each paycheck and put into a "Christmas account" (it's just a savings account with a different title, same interest rate as normal savings, we can take it out whenever we'd like) because I like having it there, earmarked for gifts. Somehow it makes me feel less guilty about spending it if we've saved it and given it the name "gifts".

 

[DISdreamin']

DH and I get paid bi-weekly so there are a couple of months each year where we receive 3 paychecks. So we designate the one that occurs in the fall as our Christmas money. Then we can shop and not worry about the expense.

No WAY and I spending that much on gifts. Seriously, though - that is a great idea! Our mortgage comes out biweekly, so it would be anything left over after that, which would be about what I'm having taken out slowly over the year. Nice idea!

Karenj, I think I am related to your hubby. I also would get all worked up if we didn't have an account with that "gift" title, and I also don't like having too much sitting in savings. The less it looks like we have, the better I feel I am at keeping spending in line.

 

[bababear_50]

I have one through my work credit union and I love it.
My Christmas time fund.
I have enough each year to pay for my Disney Vacation Club dues.
Dec and January are expensive enough without worrying about dues.
I don't miss the small amount taken each pay check.
Merry Christmas!


Hugs Mel