Tasha Hackett, Author at Heavenly Homemakers

Is it possible to have a stress-free Christmas? Yup! Tasha shares how!

Hey Everyone! Tasha here. I wrote a Christmas Budget script for us to read together. I put on my brown tweed blazer and I was immedietly inspired. (The equivalant to my thinking cap, because it’s winter in Nebraska and cold in my house; not just because I think it makes me look like a sophisticated Mommy-turned-naptime-writer.) This play will be a hit! Someday you’ll see it on a marquee and you will stop and take a picture and tell all your friends, “I know the girl who wrote that!” and it’ll be grand.

Naptime writers unite! I promise wearing a blazer makes you legit.

The Best Financial Christmas Story Ever

Enter Tasha and HH Reader

Me: Christmas is coming soon! Only 300 and something days left! I can’t wait to start my Christmas Budget.

You: Tasha, no… please stop. It’s February.

Me: I know, right?!?! Only ten months left to plan. I’m so excited!

You: Tasha, you’re out of control! Nobody wants to plan Christmas right now. We’re so DONE with Christmas. I mean, really. Some of us haven’t even taken the decorations down.

Me: Yikes! Better get on that. But really. Let’s talk about Christmas for this year.

You: Do we have to?

Me: Yes.

You: No.

Me: If you trust me, I promise to deliver the most stress-free, relaxed Christmas you’ve ever had in your life before. It’s simple and easy.

You: Mmmmk, keep talking…

Simple and Easy Christmas Budget

Me: Whew! I’m in! [Wink to audience.] Okay, so here’s the sitch: According to multiple sources, Americans are in BIG credit card debt, and many of them, perhaps you, will be paying for Christmas well into the summer months.

You: Well, yeah. I want to Go All Out for the Holidays. How else can I do that?

Me: By starting now, or preferably last month, in January. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, and by deciding how much you are going to spend and start saving for it now. Tada! That’s the plan.

You: But how do I know how much I’m going to spend?

Me: That’s a tricky one. A good amount to plan for is one percent of your total income. $500 is 1% of $50,000. Can you spend more than 1%? I don’t know, can you? Here’s an example of my Christmas budget:

Immediate family gifts at approximately $30 each = $180
Extended family gifts, make or buy $10 each = $160
Gifts for 11 little cousins, make or buy $5 each = $55
Special and delicious holiday food: $200
Extra Gas for travel: $200

This brings me to: $795 / 12 = $67 a month to save. This is way over the one percent guideline for our household, but spread out over 12 months it’s doable. In past years when we were on an extreme budgeting plan we spent a total of $300 for Christmas. That covered, gifts, food, and most of it went to travel costs to see family.

Gifts for everyone?

You: 16 extended family members and 11 little cousins to buy for? Really?

Me: Buying or making presents is a choice. I like to do it, it’s fun to make something or find a little something special for each person.

You: How can you find anything of value for $10? Giving junk Christmas gifts is never appreciated.

Me: True, so glad you asked! Part of the joy of planning Christmas right now, is that I have a list of everyone I need to buy for in my planner, and when I’m out and about during the year, I will pick up something wonderful and special and unique for the right person at the right price. We love Christmas shopping at summer yard sales. I have found beautiful china tea cups for $1 and quality Melissa and Doug toys for cheap. Thrift stores, antique shops, yard/garage sales… all places to go Christmas shopping throughout the year. When you wait until December to buy your presents, it’s almost too late, my friend.

One year we made the little cousins a huge batch of homemade playdough with sparkles and Christmas smelling oil: $5 for 11 kids. That’s 45¢ a kid! For something they really liked! They played together with it for hours throughout the weekend.

This is how we do snack time with 8 little kids in the house for the holiday.

BUT… I have a secret. Because I am so wise, I also cheat the budget for Christmas. If you want to go all out, like Laura, and you wrap up socks to put under the tree, don’t take that out of your Christmas budget!

Ways to cheat the budget when it comes to Christmas

Me: Your monthly budget should have an item line for Clothing and Shoes, or maybe even another for Athletic Gear. If I buy socks to put under the tree, that will come out of the Clothing Budget. If I buy a tennis racket to put under the tree, that may come out of the Athletic Gear or School Budget, if I buy a lovely book of poetry and a globe, that will come out of the School Budget.

So that covers the Christmas money issue. Please don’t go into debt for the holidays. You’ll thank me next June. Decide how much you’re going to spend and save up for it throughout the year. That’s the only way that makes sense to me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an extra $500 (or more or less) sitting around in the bank during the month of December.

As a result of awesome budgeting, my Christmas contains a complete lack of stress and guilt. I don’t feel guilty for spending money I shouldn’t have spent. I’m not stressed about having enough in the bank to pay the high winter utilities. There’s enough to do for Christmas, like play games and eat food, I don’t want to waste my limited energy worrying about money.

You: I think your script is terrible. It’ll never see the stage. But thanks for the budget tips.

Me: Well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Exit.

Standing ovation. Amiright? No, of course not, you’d spill the Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink you’re sipping. I get it. It’s one of my favorites too.

Hey, while I have you here. I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Laura went and started her own club. Have you joined? I LOOOVE the recipe organization and all the included Homeschool resources. Meal planning is a breeze. A BREEZE. Not like a Nebraska winter wind that makes you cry because you live in a place where the air hurts your face. No. Not like that. Just click, browse, click, browse, click, print. Done. That’s how I do it anyway.

#WhatsForDinner

P.S. In case you’re wondering, I’m having a version this pot pie for dinner, except I’m using shredded pork because it’s what I had on hand, and a bag frozen mixed veggies instead of all that pesky chopping. It’s ironic because Laura also tried writing a script in that recipe post? I think mine is better, yea? What’s your vote? And do you have a Christmas Budget?

You are going to be so inspired to read about how Tasha paid off $49,000 in two years!

Hi guys! It’s me, Tasha.

My Kentucky roots are urging me to say, “Hey y’all,” but I’m not sure if my northern friends could handle it. I’ve been budging in on Laura’s blog for a couple months now. I’m the one who feeds her kids a dry crust, likes to set goals, had an Amazon addiction, paid off all the debt and wants you to know that God really really loves you.

I can’t wait to share with you the wonderful things I’ve learned on this crazy Get-Out-Of-Debt journey! I’m going to start digging into how we paid off (for us) big debt with not-so-big income.

I’ve deleted nearly 10,000 words trying to get this out; you’re welcome. The problem is I keep getting distracted by all the things I want to tell you! I want to write the right story. I want you to hear what I’ve done here and see over the sea of words as I explain the sun to my son and teach him the joy of homophones. Sorry, what was I saying?

How Tasha Paid off $49,000 in Two Years on a Low Income!

No really. How did we live on half our income and give away $49,000 in two years? ($29,000 the first and $20,000 the second.)

BY NOT GETTING DISTRACTED
SETTING A GOAL AND STICKING TO IT

We decided what we wanted to do, we made a plan, we wrote it down, and we stuck to it. It was the theme of the year. For two years.

Deuteronomy 6:7-8 says, “Impress [the old covenant laws] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

We were this intentional with our goal for financial freedom.

Ben and I lived and breathed financial freedom. “Ramsey says…” was perhaps the most used conversation starter at our dinner table. I was going to use the term, Laser Focus. But no, our focus was broad–it encompassed every facet of our lives for two years. We had floodlight intensity.

Our “drastic” first step was to cancel our internet service. Yes, Ben was taking online courses for his MA degree at the time.

As it turns out, the library has internet! For Free! Here’s the basic line-up of what we did:

Eating out? Nope. If we did it came out of the grocery budget. Yikes!

Groceries and Household? $200 a month, with $50 extra for buying All The Butter if it went on sale. Oatmeal was a staple. I could stretch a pound of beef for three meals, but mostly chicken was on the menu. Neighbors are always trying to offload extra garden zucchini and tomatoes. I didn’t buy blueberries. Cream cheese was a treat. I made use of Amazon Subscribe and Save to get 15% off many household items. Sometimes this may have actually cost $1 more than an off-brand at a store, but the time and gas it saved me was worth it. I read recently the average shopper spends $18 to $37 extra on impulse buys every time they go grocery shopping!

These three tagalongs did not eat much at the time.

Dates? One pre-planned show for a highly anticipated film. Many pre-planned home “dates” and free entertainment excursions.

Christmas? Saved $25 a month leading up to December to cover the special food and travel. Our two babies (4 yr and 2 yr) at the time enjoyed homemade gifts and were just as grateful.

Cell Phone? Just one.

Birthdays? Averaged $10. So many fun experiences!

Tithe to local church? YES. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Coffee Shop? $2 once a month when I met with friends.

Vehicles? Paid for. Budgeted $50 a month covered yearly taxes and insurance for both. We drive the cheapest we can find that are still reliable. 1990 Buick is the way to go.

Vacation? Saved $150 a month, camped with the kids multiple times and took an adult only $1000 trip to Denver. Spent six nights in an Airbnb, hiked, relaxed, breakfasted at one delicious French Crepe restaurant, dinner at one 5-star restaurant, other meals from the grocery store.

Beautiful hike just the two of us! I thought I was suffering from severe altitude sickness for five days before taking a pregnancy test! Hello, Baby #4!

Other Gifts? This one was hard. When your kid gets invited to a birthday and begins to notice that other kid getting a bunch of presents when he had a perfectly happy birthday without the presents and now questions why he didn’t get a bunch of presents…. Our standard was to give a lovely hand-made card to the child offering a ONE DAY OF FUN for a playdate at our house. We would arrange afterward with the parents, we would pick up the kid, have special activities planned like a sprinkler or a trip to the park. Everyone had fun without feeling jilted.

Side Hustle? Yes! I took in sewing jobs and alterations for prom dresses, etc. Ben worked early mornings at another job.

Heart Change? Yes. God said, “I am Enough.”

You could take this action plan: Pay off $$ by a certain date. Don’t buy stuff. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t do anything. Work more.

{Haha, I’m dying with laughter over here. I’m of the generation that doesn’t know how to have a written conversation without emojis so this is a struggle for me. I’m laughing-with-all-the-tears.} That plan sounds terrible! That’s what we did, but it was way more fun than it sounds.

We didn’t buy a bunch of stuff because God helped us see that He was enough and to find contentment in Him. We didn’t go places without intention. We did lots of things that were free and affordable. We did have a zoo membership and a pool pass and packed lunches on days we went. We did spend hours at the park and invited friends over to play and grilled hotdogs and danced in sprinklers and listened to music really really loud. We did work more, quite a bit more with multiple side hustles, but God’s peace permeated our financial goals those two years.

Is this the face of a boy who wishes his parents spent more money on him? I see pure joy and childhood bliss.

Don’t be Discouraged!

If reading through our story has brought you more discouragement than hope, chin up! If getting out of debt is something you yearn for please please please take this up with God. Ask him to show you how, ask him for his peace and discipline. Perhaps you really can live on $20,000 for two years and bust it out! But perhaps you are in a place where that is not possible. I really do believe that if you listen to God telling you that He is Enough and lean into him, you will find peace and perhaps a few extra thousand dollars. I have a friend that pays the minimum on all the loans and then an extra $50. That’s a great start!

What about you?

How can I encourage you in your journey? What questions do you have that I can address? What would you like me to cover? Would you like to know actual numbers for our current budget?

I want to hear from you!

P.S. No really. I want to hear from you. Comment below and tell me what’s the craziest thing you ever bought on accident. Mine is face cream for $145 from a mall kiosk during year two. After reading thousands of words of my financial journey, can you believe I spent $145 on a tiny jar of lotion? I don’t know what came over me. Your turn!