The festival of lights is back, bringing in the refreshing festive mood. It’s that time of the year when the month is full of family get-togethers, bonding, traditional rituals, fun-filled activities, and surprising your loved ones with gifts. This can be a bit heavy on your pocket since you are required to give bonuses, as a token of love and appreciation, to your family help and all others who have offered you their services throughout the year.
The chances of superseding your budget, therefore, are extremely high. You can be lost in the abyss of expenses with no way out. This calls for an extensive guide on budgeting during Diwali shopping that will help you keep track of your expenses and make the most out of it.
So with this, let’s begin.
Your first step to managing expenses is to make a list of all the imaginable expenditures that you will have to make. This will help you compare your finances available to the expenditures that you have to incur. So while making the list for items to shop for, do not forget to include:
Once the process of list-making is complete, then you can finally allocate money for your shopping expenses. You will also get a clear picture of the areas where you can take serious budgeting decisions and keep your expenses from overshooting.
Selecting the type of gifts and the items to shop for can be a confusing ordeal. Your gift might end up getting stored away, defeating the purpose of giving gifts to them. This requires you to analyze the habits and interests of the person to whom you are planning to give a gift. Remember, that your gift should come in the immediate use of the individual and not get stored away.
If you still feel undecided, then you can buy daily use products in bulks or combos. These types of gifts easily suit the needs of many and can fetch you an exciting deal, owing to the involvement of bulk orders. Cookware sets, tumbler sets, candles and diyas, and commodities like these can be your go-to options.
Once you are done with the selection, you now have to compare the prices to fit them unhindered in the budget. You should compare the prices of the items that you want to buy on multiple platforms to get a rewarding deal. Wholesale markets can bring you better offers than retailers if you plan to place a bulk order.
The season of sales and discounts begins even before the festive month of Diwali has begun. You tend to see exciting offers on brand outlets and popular e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. While the availability of discounts can help you keep your budget in check, you must be aware of all the psychological biases associated with it.
Your brain reacts amiably to words like ‘sale’ and ‘discounts’ shutting off any bits of advice from your rational thinking. Therefore, you must:
You should also lookout for the effective use of gift cards on Amazon, Flipkart, and brick-and-mortar stores. These can save you quite a significant amount of money if used efficiently.
Once you are done with choosing the gifts, analyzing discounts, and places you are going to shop, it is important to execute the shopping process as soon as possible. You may procrastinate and rush in on the last day to shop, and you will probably end up losing the items. This will disrupt your list, throwing all your efforts in vain when you frantically pick up from the remaining items available. You should plan your shopping trips and should try to wrap up the shopping process at least 5 days before Diwali.
This will help you in accommodating any change that you make in the list after a thorough consideration of your budget.
Also while shopping you must be vigilant enough while swiping your card. You must tally the items on the bill and recheck the amount you are paying. Sometimes in the festive rush, you may forget to check the list and end up paying for something that you did not want. This will push your budget off-track and leave you in desperate need of extra cash.
The availability of credit cards can reduce your worries about the expenses, but you need to be judicious in their usage. You should actively compare the credit card statement to analyze how much debt you have incurred. It is advised to not fall into the temptation to swipe the credit card and make payments without any due thoughts. This will only rack up debt for you that you need to pay off, on whose failure you can say goodbye to your credit score. And let’s not forget the presence of late fees and yearly interest charges that you would have to pay.
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