Karen Zink, 38, of Papillion is a stay-at-home mother of three who approaches Christmas spending with a year-round savings plan and a 7-by-5-inch notebook.
The notebook, which she carries in her purse, includes a detailed list with names of gift recipients, a budgeted amount per person and possible gift ideas. When she buys a present, she writes it down by each person’s name and logs the amount spent.
Karen keeps a running tally of the expenditures to make sure she stays within the budgeted amount that she and her husband, Ron, have agreed on and saved through the year.
Ron, a field service engineer for a medical company, and Karen, who works part time cleaning houses and an office, have been spared major economic hardships related to the economy. But the recession made them think about what could happen, and that was enough to change their ways, said Karen, an Omaha native.
“We’ve always tried to stay within what we could afford,” she said. “I think with the recession, it just made us re-evaluate even more and spend what we have instead of charging.”
About two months ago, the Zinks closedly reviewed their budget again and decided to pay only cash for certain expenses, so they don’t overspend. They also listed items like “going out” for which they typically didn’t track or set aside money.
While they’ve reduced some expenditures, the Zinks still are spending — just more carefully and with a better accounting of it on paper, Karen said.
“It’s just more looking at what our budget is and finding how we can stay within the budget,” she said.
Karen has kept her Christmas budget notebook since 2002. After the holidays, she and Ron evaluate how they did.
Last January, as they budgeted for the coming year, they discovered that they had charged about $300 during the holiday season. Even though they paid that off immediately, Karen said, they decided to save more this year to prevent charging.
They saved $1,200 for Christmas spending in 2008. This year they set aside $1,500, which they think is more true to what they spend.
Karen started her holiday shopping about two weeks ago. She’s purchased only a few stocking stuffers, but she’s already logged them into the notebook.
Friday, she’ll hit the stores with her sister, looking for bargains.
“I’m ready.”
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