Still Shopping?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and even the newer Cyber Tuesday have all passed and some of us can sit back drinking eggnog knowing our holiday shopping is done.  But for others who avoided the insanity, or for those who simply are the procrastinators, fear not – there are still deals to be had! The trick is knowing the best time to buy for WHAT you’re looking for. Savings.com recently released a handy calendar giving you the best dates to buy particular items for 2012 – definitely worth a look!

In the meantime, now is the perfect time to start saving for NEXT year…I know it seems a bit premature, but the sooner you start saving the more your budget will thank you.  Just this week WSVN Channel 7 news visited us to share the TFCU Holiday Club account with their viewers for their Money Monday special report.

The beauty of the Holiday Club Account is that you don’t have to do anything more than determine how much you want to save, and when you want it saved.  Tropical does the rest.  You don’t even have to worry about making sure the money is available when you need it in November and December.  In October, the account automatically moves the cash from the Holiday Club account to your Checking or Savings account (whichever you prefer).   The funds are available to you at any time in the year! 

Check out what I learned about how one of our members uses the Holiday Club Account.  This member has transformed the Holiday Club Account into an art.  This is what they told me:

“I put money aside each paycheck.  By the time May comes around, I have enough saved up to pay for my kids summer camp fees.  In June and July, I am able save more which I use for back to school expenses like uniforms and school supplies.  Then from August-December I save for Christmas.  I use the amount set aside as my budget for the holiday shopping.  I have done this for the past five years.  I started because I got tired of these big expenses “creeping” up on me each year.  I found myself scrambling to get all of these expenses taken care of, knowing fully that I was spending mindlessly all year long.  Now I don’t even notice the money taken from each paycheck, we learned to manage without it and we are OH SO thankful that when we need the money, voila!  There it is!”

As you can see, this member has perfected the art of saving and is using the Holiday Club account to pay for all of the “big” expenses.  Imagine how you could save a little bit each paycheck and then get a BIG payoff!   All you have to worry about now, is which stores and websites have the best deals and when you need to go there! Even if you hadn’t made use of one this year, don’t despair – there’s ALWAYS time to get started, but the first step is to get into a branch or go online and open your account TODAY!

 

My favorite advice? Use your TFCU Visa to pay for all your purchases and then pay the credit card right off with your Holiday Club savings, that way you get the credit card points and still don’t overspend! Best of both worlds!

^Amy