Seven Days to Christmas Savings (Day 2): Let The Prep Begin!

Day 1: Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: Seven Days to Saving
Day 2: Let the Prep Begin!

The first step to becoming a bona fide money-saving Cha-Ching! Christmas Club member is PREPARATION.

In order to prepare, there are a few questions you should consider:

1) Am I Ok with receiving a great deal of new e-mails at my regular e-mail address?

This really comes down to what your preference is.  As you begin to sign up for ‘free money’ sites, you will receive as many as 5-10 emails per day per site that you join.  This can be overwhelming at first.

• Some people prefer to create an e-mail address that is strictly used for these sites.  It’s easy to do.  There are many to choose from: gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, and others. It seems that the preferred email these days is gmail, but you may prefer to stick with your current email provider.

• Another option is to set up filters in your current e-mail account.  (You could easily find tutorials on how to filter your incoming emails by doing a google search for them.)

2) How will I keep track of the money that comes in?

As you begin to accumulate rewards and money from rewards sites, surveys and rebates, you will want to keep track of how much money is coming in.

• I use my handy dandy Cha-Ching Christmas Club Savings Tracker (an Excel spreadsheet) to keep track of my savings.  Simply download your own copy (click on ‘File’ and then ‘Download’) and then make it all your own.  I like the fact that it does all the adding up for me! I also like this because it helps me keep track of ‘virtual earnings’ such as Amazon gift codes and Paypal cash.

• You could also open a Christmas account at your bank and deposit your earnings in it throughout the year.  Or…if you trust yourself…find a safe box to keep your earnings tucked away.  No dipping into it before Christmas though!

3) Ask yourself, “How much time do I want to allot to this savings adventure?”

You can spend as little as a minute or two per day to upwards of an hour taking advantage of the rewards programs I am going to introduce you to.  It’s a good idea to consider how much time you’d like to dedicate each day to this venture.  You may also want to consider setting aside a segment of your day that will become your ‘free money’ earnings time.  You might consider a half an hour in the evening or a chunk of time in the morning.  It’s up to you how much time you choose to invest!

But keep in mind – in this case, time really does equal money!

Ready to take the next step toward saving money on Christmas?  Go check out Day 3 of our Seven Days to Christmas Savings: Making the Most of Freebies!