Post-Christmas Savings

Ok, so you opened up all the Christmas presents and have a house full of stuff to show for it.  Now what?  Time to recover financially.  If you didn't save up ahead of time chances are you have a chunk of change on a credit card or a depletion in your savings. It's never too late to start saving for next year nor is it too late to start living frugally.
 Here are some good ways to start:

Save those bags (and boxes) from Christmas!  If they're not torn and are in good shape re-use them next year.  The cost of gift bags can add up in a hurry.

Hit the after Christmas clearance sales.  It's much better to get it 75% off now than pay full price next year and you know you'll use it.

Figure out how much you want to spend on Christmas next year and start saving for it.  If you want to spend about $400 set up a little savings account and put about $35 each month in it.  I use my credits and money from surveys to help with our Christmas expenses.

Set up a monthly budget and stick to it.  We use the printable form from HERE to set up our budget each month.  We found that the envelope method works fine for us.