Adjusted for inflation, your holiday budget is shot
Greetings, shoppers.
If you’re wondering how big your budget is the current holiday season, the answer is, “Nope, not that much.”
The fine folks at WalletHub, a personal finance website, ran the numbers, and you’ve already blown your Christmas budget on Thanksgiving turkey and cranberries.
(Personal finance tip No. 1 from your Uncle Burtie: NEVER spend any amount of money whatsoever on cranberries. Sweet potatoes are another matter.)
A news release states, “To help consumers avoid post-holiday regret, WalletHub used several key metrics, such as income, age and saving-to-expense ratios, to estimate the maximum spending amounts for consumers in over 550 U.S. cities.”
The list of cities with the biggest average holiday budgets ranged from Newton, Massachusetts at No. 1 with $4,206, down to Lauderhill, Florida, at No. 558 with a $217 holiday budget.
Kentucky shows up twice on that list of 558 U.S. cities with the richest holiday budgets — Lexington-Fayette at No. 222 with $1,385, and Louisville at No. 258 with $1,282.
That means the rest of us mope along at less than $217 with which to lavish ourselves with decorations, gifts and feasting.
(Personal finance tip No. 2 from your Uncle Burtie: Resist the temptation to keep up with the Joneses — especially if it’s the Joneses of Newton, Massachusetts. Besides, hanging all those strings of lights, and setting up that many inflatables takes up time better — and more economically — spent in your easy chair.)
Personally, my budget comes out to $3.72. This is why all my friends will be receiving Lilo and Stitch Valentine’s Day cards (24, including two for teacher) that I found at a thrift store in July for 53 cents. I’m signing them with red and green Bic pens (98 cents) for that festive touch.
This leaves me with $2.21 for gifts for all my friends.
(Personal finance tip No. 3 from your Uncle Burtie: Begin increasing your rude and abrasive behavior round about August, hit full stride for boorishness by mid-October, and by December, you won’t have many friends left to strain your budget.)
I once found a box full of Altoids Smalls at a salvage store for 40 cents a tin. That meant for my $2.21, I could buy five tins of fancy mints, with 21 cents left over for sales tax on all my holiday purchases
Not only did five tins of mints provide enough flavors so that I could dump them out, mix them up and treat everyone on my gift list to a handful of colorfully festive better breath, but if I pared down my list enough, everyone could have their own private tin of Altoids Smalls, including me.
(Personal finance tip No. 4 from your Uncle Burtie: Shop smarter, not longer. Putting any amount of thought into a gift generally costs more and detracts from the serenity you feel at job well done, “done” being the operative word.)
That about covers today’s holiday shopping tips for people who live where we do. And remember, shop locally. With our budget, we can’t afford a tank of gas to go out of town.
Send cheap holiday shopping greetings to Burt at burton.w.cole@gmail.com or on the Burton W. Cole page on Facebook.