We have been enjoying a period of the lowest gas prices in a very long time. At the end of the past few months, I’ve had to double check my budget for errors because my gas expenses were a lot lower than they would usually be. Many of us are spending almost half as much money on gas as we were six months ago. While the prices are starting to tick back up from the low of $1.99 in many places, we should not let this moment pass by without using this as a way to gain more traction towards meeting our financial goals. Make sure the money that you are now not spending on gas serves a purpose other than evaporation in your budget. Here are five things that you can do to take advantage of these low gas prices:

1. Pay off excess debt.

If you are still working on getting out of debt, then the best option with your surplus of gas money should go toward paying off your debt. It is critical that you get out of debt as quickly as possible as it will make reaching your other financial goals that much easier.

2. Beef up your emergency fund.

Most financial experts recommend that you save anywhere from three months to an entire year’s worth of expenses for emergencies. Emergencies are not just limited to job loss. They can include things like transmission repair, home air conditioning repair, etc. that can cost thousands of dollars. It would be devastating to put so much effort into getting out of debt only to seep back into it when something breaks.

3. Take care of other car expenses.

Not everything the dealer or repair shop recommends is necessary, but things such as oil changes, tire rotations, fluid flushes, etc. are essential to extending the life of your vehicle. Now is the time to get some of those things done that you have been putting off.

4. Increase Your Giving

While the gas bill may be cheaper for everyone, plenty of people are still struggling with job loss or underemployment. Charities still need funding to meet their goals for their communities. Homelessness still abounds. Increasing your giving to those around you or an organization whose mission you believe in is a great way to spend your surplus.

5. Spend on Yourself

Yes. I said it. You can increase spending on those things that you have been putting off doing for yourself. Go out for that extra dinner with friends. Pay someone to clean your house or mow your lawn so you have the time to do things you really want to do. Buy that new device that you have been putting off because you’re hyper focused and your current one is falling apart. Take that online course you’ve wanted to take but just put off. As long as you do it within reason, take a little break and enjoy this season.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the gas prices won’t be this low for long, so enjoy it while it lasts. However, make sure that the money that you are saving is still used purposefully so that you stay on track to meet your goals.

We all have certain brands and  products that we love that perhaps we have used our entire lives. I grew up using things like Vaseline lotion, Listerine mouthwash, Kellogg’s cereals, Kraft barbecue sauce, shopping at Walmart to save on all of those purchases, etc. Many of those products followed me into my adulthood as purchasing was a habit. However, when I decided that I needed to curb my spending, I realized that the products that I was accustomed to using were not always on sale when I needed them. Furthermore, the store that I thought was saving me a ton of money on those items weren’t even offering the items at the best prices.

In order to maximize the amount of my savings, I had to end my brand loyalties by switching brands. That didn’t mean I stopped using certain products forever. I just decided to try other things. If you want to put some big dents in your spending, you must be willing to switch brands and try new products regularly.

“How does switching brands save me money?”

1. Manufacturers offer larger coupons on new items.– Manufacturers spend a lot of money on advertising when introducing a new product. Coupons are a form of advertising, and they also work with stores to highlight those new products in their sales papers and store displays. Coupons for newer products will be higher in value. I remember being able to get Gillette’s ProFusion razors for nearly nothing when they were first released. When combining the promotions at CVS and Walgreens with the usual $5.00 coupons, I was getting the razors for free after store rewards. However, when the Schick Hydro razors came out, I was willing to switch brands to save money again. I also got to see if the new product could do a better job.

2. Products usually go on sale about every six weeks. Though there are exceptions (like Crystal Light being Buy One Get One Free at Winn-Dixie nearly every other week), many items get their deepest discounts in six week cycles. Unless you have access to enough coupons to buy six weeks worth of product, you’ll have to switch brands as different brands or varieties of the items you buy go on sale. So, if Kellogg’s cereals go on sale during the first week of August, it may not go on sale again until mid-September. If you run out of cereal before then, instead of paying full price for Kellogg’s, you will be better off buying the Post brand cereal that is on sale.

“But I just HAVE to have my Eight O’Clock Coffee!”

So, if you just have to have that one brand of coffee, toothpaste, or whatever, this is what you need to do.

1. When you see a good coupon for that item in the newspaper or online, buy multiple copies of the newspaper and print two copies of the internet coupon per computer.

2. Stock up on the product when it is at its lowest price.

In most cases, I prefer switching brands and trying different products. You may even discover a new product or brand that you end up liking better than the one you usually use.

Question: What brand or product can you not do without? What new products have you tried in your quest to save more money?

This seems like a silly statement to make, right? This is something that I’ve heard Dave Ramsey say a lot on his radio show over the years. We all know that Christmas is on December 25 every year! However, many of us allow Christmas to creep up as if it is on some unpredictable, rotating schedule each year. We don’t plan for it because we fail to make a Christmas budget and don’t think about it at all during the year. Then we end up throwing away most of the progress we made all year in order to have presents to put under the tree.

That’s why it is so important to make a budget and to write a new budget each month to deal with each month’s unique issues. December and that whole season may call for its own separate “Christmas budget.” It is also important to think about other events that we know happen at certain times of the year so we can include those into our budget, especially if we need to save for it in advance. Here are some examples:

• Christmas is on December 25. (We already went over that!)
• The family reunion is in August.
• Mom’s birthday is in September.
• The car insurance premium payments are due in July and January.
• The apartment lease ends in November and it’s time to move, so there’s a new security deposit, fees, moving expenses, etc.
• Your daughter is getting married in November.
• You have been asked to be a groomsman for your college best friend’s wedding in October in another state.

So as you can see, the silly statement announcing Christmas as being on December 25 is more than about saving for Christmas. It is about viewing your financial life from a long-term perspective. There are going to be enough unpredictable things happening in our lives. Let’s do our best to make a plan for the things we already know are going to happen.

Since the Christmas holiday season is most likely the longest event away for many of us, let’s make a plan. It’s pretty easy. There are only two steps to creating a Christmas budget that will help keep the money stress away.

Step 1: Figure Out What a Typical Christmas Season is Like for You

Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• Are you traveling or are people traveling to you? What’s the estimated cost of travel?
• How many people do you usually buy gifts for and how much are you willing to spend on each person?
• Are your gifts limited to family, or will you be buying gifts for close friends, parties (i.e. white elephant gift exchanges), etc.?
• What plans do you have to support any charities during the holidays?

Those are a few questions that will help you gather an idea of how money you will need to make it through the season without incurring any debt. Detailed answers are not necessary. It is just necessary to think about these things in advance so you can create your action plan.

Step 2: Make Your Christmas Budget and Start Saving

The next step is to figure out a savings plan to fund the Christmas budget. For many people, putting money away each month throughout the year is going to be the best way to save for Christmas. Saving $100 per month between June and December will yield you $700. Saving $50 per month will yield you $350. How much you decide to save depends on how much you plan to spend. Remember, this all depends on how much you plan to travel and how much you plan to spend on gifts. If you are a smaller gift type and all of your family lives in the same town, you won’t need to spend as much as someone who needs to travel 500 miles and wants to buy larger gifts.

Furthermore, you need not put every dime you plan to spend in December in a savings account. You just need to put away as much as you think will exceed whatever you’re able to provide out of your monthly budget. In 2013, I was able to fund my Thanksgiving and Christmas travel out of my normal monthly budgets, but after that, I did not have much left over for gifts. So, this year, I plan to save enough throughout the year to cover gift purchases.

Get Started!

So, whether you are planning for Christmas or planning for the many other things that happen throughout the year, it is important that you take account of those events before they arrive so that you don’t derail your goals. Hopefully, you will be able to take care of many of those items with your regular monthly budgets. However, bigger upcoming events may require you to put money away in a savings account each month. Planning is one of the best things we can all do to keep ourselves on track, so let’s get at it!

Question: Does Christmas (or birthdays, a quarterly or semiannual bill, anniversary, etc.) always seem to  creep up on you? What are you going to do to make sure that doesn’t happen this year?