New Plans for This year's Holiday Season

Well, I will admit it, like I did in a previous post. I RUIN myself come the holidays. I can't help it, I am a purchasing cow when it comes to holiday gift giving. I don't give my kids all year except on their birthdays and when school time rolls around and they need new sneakers, clothes etc., So come the holidays, I make up for it BIG TIME. I do however do a couple of things right. I start shopping early - usually around the end of August (we live in Florida so buying shorts and t-shirts etc is not a problem) and I spend ALOT of time at the clearance rack (YES MACY's, Dillards and the other big store names have them too!! LOL) However I always overspend. Usually somewhere in the range of $3k - $4k. This year my boyfriend and I are doing something different. We have opened up a Holiday Club account at my bank. You can put all the money in that you want but you cannot take it out for any reason b4 the end of the year (right around Thanksgiving I believe) We opened it two weeks ago with $50. We decided that all rebate checks, loose change and whatever money we had left in our pockets on payday from our previous "allowance" would go into the account. This is a little easier because it's all "found money". This week we deposited another $69!! So in two weeks, we were able to accumulate $119 in the Christmas account. The change equaled about $30 alone. Amazing how quickly it adds up. Of course this account does not accrue interest but it's a great way to ensure decent funding for holiday shopping. Just thought I would pass the idea along to all of you!