Video: Preparing For The Holidays

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)—You see the Christmas decorations up in stores already, and the holiday shopping season is near.

For many people it’s added stress and money.

When November and December roll around it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of getting the Thanksgiving meal cooked and presents wrapped…

Today, I learned having a plan in place right NOW, could cut down on a holiday headache.
“The sooner you start planning the the better off your going to be,”Financial Concepts Adviser Scott Ferguson

The happiest time of year can also be a trying time… buying food and making sure presents are under the tree can get expensive.

Financial Concepts Advisor Scott Ferguson says make your budget before the holidays arrive.

“It’s better to know what you’ve got to spend then coming out of the Christmas or holiday season in the hole. So if it’s $100 to spend you have $100 to spend if it’s $500 you have $500 but know what you have to spend on those purchases,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson says if your spending plan is more than you would like to spend, there’s still time to save.

“If you start now and maybe you don’t have as much as you would like to spend then maybe you can kind of look at your budget for these coming months and figure out where can I set a little extra aside to have that full budget that I would like to have for the holidays,” said Ferguson.

And Ferguson says you should leave the plastic at home before grabbing a shopping cart.

“You know take cash with you and only spend that cash that you’ve got with you don’t let yourself pull out the credit card and to start swiping extra. Put things aside truly budget it out and say you know what if I’m going to buy X Y and Z and it’s going to cost $25… put that $25 in an envelope so when you go shopping you pull out that envelope to cover the costs,”said Ferguson.

Some Columbus shoppers say they’re taking the financial advice.

“Because some people wait till the last minute your down to your last pennies.. you know and you wanna be happy around the holidays so you don’t wanna wait till the last minute doing all your shopping spending all your money so it’s best to start early,” holiday shopper Angela Sykes.

“It’s less stressful and you get better deals because things go up around November and December believe me they say there are sales prices…. there aren’t,”said holiday shopper Virginia Spencer.

“Mostly I do all my shopping throughout the year and I try to keep an open mind and open ear to hear what people say that they want and and try an go ahead and prepare myself and make those purchases before the holidays get here. I made the mistake a few years ago of making the last minute run to Wal-mart and other stores and I said I would never do that again,”said holiday shopper Jeffery Moody.
Usually, the unofficial kick off to the holiday shopping season is Black Friday November 25th.