The Federal Reserve keeps hiking interest rates to control inflation but the war in Ukraine, shipping delays, and COVID-19 variants have all drastically affected the prices of everyday goods.
Holiday shopping can be rough, but it doesn’t have to be if we plan ahead.
Back in the day, layaway was the popular choice. When the holidays were coming and bills would be high, people would put everything on layaway months in advance and pay in installments.
However, as layaway started to diminish, Christmas clubs popped up.
Christmas clubs are short-term accounts that encourage people to set money aside for the holidays. They work by making consistent contributions from January through October. Deposits are made in any amount and interval that fits the account holder’s needs.
On November 1st, the money is withdrawn for holiday shopping.
Credit unions are the best place to look for Christmas clubs. While many large banks no longer offer this specific account type, a savings account, whether interest-bearing or not, works in much the same way.
We may not be able to predict where the country will be financially this upcoming holiday season, but it couldn’t hurt to open one of these for next year and years to come.