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There is only 362 days left until next Christmas. If you ended putting any portion of this year's holiday on credit, you may want to consider setting up a Christmas Club account for next year.
There is nothing fancy or complicated about Christmas Club accounts. You place a small amount of money into an account on a regular basis which adds up during the year. The money can be withdrawn in a lump sum right before the holiday season. If set up with a credit union or bank, you're usually required to make a set monthly or weekly deposit to the account and there are penalties if you withdraw the money early or in some cases, you may not be able to access the money until the specified date.
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The problem with standard Christmas Club accounts is that the interest you earn will be minimal if anything at all, but the interest is usually not the main reason for creating these accounts. While the account won't pay much in interest, you still earn a good return since you avoid the credit card interest you would otherwise have to pay without the account. It's also a "forced" saving method since you're likely to leave your money in there all year due to the penalties for early withdrawal.
If you are confident that you can add to the account on a regular basis without the penalties, then you can set up your own Christmas account on your own. Simply choose an online bank that pays high interest and use it exclusively for your Christmas Club account. This also give you the advantage of being able to access to the money to purchase holiday gifts at any time during the year when you find them. Since shopping before Christmas is often more expensive than other times of the year to purchase gifts, this can be a great savings advantage.
There is nothing fancy or complicated about Christmas Club accounts. You place a small amount of money into an account on a regular basis which adds up during the year. The money can be withdrawn in a lump sum right before the holiday season. If set up with a credit union or bank, you're usually required to make a set monthly or weekly deposit to the account and there are penalties if you withdraw the money early or in some cases, you may not be able to access the money until the specified date.
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The problem with standard Christmas Club accounts is that the interest you earn will be minimal if anything at all, but the interest is usually not the main reason for creating these accounts. While the account won't pay much in interest, you still earn a good return since you avoid the credit card interest you would otherwise have to pay without the account. It's also a "forced" saving method since you're likely to leave your money in there all year due to the penalties for early withdrawal.
If you are confident that you can add to the account on a regular basis without the penalties, then you can set up your own Christmas account on your own. Simply choose an online bank that pays high interest and use it exclusively for your Christmas Club account. This also give you the advantage of being able to access to the money to purchase holiday gifts at any time during the year when you find them. Since shopping before Christmas is often more expensive than other times of the year to purchase gifts, this can be a great savings advantage.
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