If you are in charge of hosting this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, the most important thing you can do is organize your budget. Putting together a workable budget is what will make hosting a Thanksgiving dinner a lot easier and more enjoyable for you.

But if this is your first time hosting dinner, you might not know how to properly organize a budget to work for you. To help you out, we have a few tips that can help you get started on your budget, from pre-planning and setting spending limits, finding ways to cut expenses, to title pawns. Here are the five tips to help you get organized!

How To Organize Your Budget To Prepare For Hosting On Thanksgiving

1. Prepare Beforehand

The first tip if you want to create a budget is to prepare beforehand. The average host can spend over $300 on food and drinks and another $100 on décor and entertainment.

Not everyone has that much money lying around waiting to be spent on a Thanksgiving dinner. So, to make sure that a Thanksgiving dinner does not mess up your budget for the remaining part of the year, you have got to get prepared.

For example, if you manage to set aside at least $50 for about 6 months before you are to host the next Thanksgiving, your dinner will already be covered by the time you go on the hunt for the perfect turkey. When it comes to planning the actual evening, ideally you should come up with a menu at least a week ahead of time and start shopping about 5-7 days beforehand – this means you might have to order the turkey even earlier, by the way.

2. Find Ways To Cut Your Expenses

If you weren’t able to set aside enough cash for hosting and you’d prefer not to spend a big chunk of your paycheck on a single dinner, you might want to consider cutting your Thanksgiving expenses to stay on track. If you really think about it, there is no reason for your Thanksgiving dinner to blow up your budget entirely.

You can still have a fun and plentiful Thanksgiving without spending too much money. Thankfully, there are a few effective ways to save at least a few hundred bucks:

• Throw a potluck – though you’d still be responsible for the main, the guests can be asked to bring a side dish, appetizer, or dessert, which is already quite a lot. Such a request will not only help you save on groceries but will also make sure that your utility bills do not skyrocket as you won’t be running the stove for extra hours.
• Don’t overdecorate – though it might be tempting to turn your house into a festive fall wonderland, you don’t necessarily need to do that. Simply reuse the decorations from the previous years and use pumpkins as fall décor, in case you’re making a pumpkin dish.
• Pay a visit to the dollar store – such stores have a wide range of decorations, canned goods, and plenty of other things that you can use on Thanksgiving. Just don’t forget to control yourself as the $1 items can easily add up.

3. Set A Spending Limit

Another thing you could do to organize your budget is to set a spending limit. Before you even head out to the store to buy your groceries or decorations, you need to look at your finances and decide how much you are comfortable spending.

The good thing about a spending limit is that you can still use the money to buy whatever you need. Setting a limit will just force you to shop for the essentials only – as opposed to just throwing things into your shopping cart that you really don’t need.

4. Make A List Of Essential Items

Much like setting a spending limit will help you organize your budget, you also need to make a list of what you need before you head to the store. Making a list of essential items beforehand will allow you to have a full plan of how you need to spend your money.

If you don’t do this before you shop, you risk spending your designated spending money on things you really didn’t need. Take it a step further by looking for coupons or sales on the essential items on your list.

5. Take Out A Title Pawn For Emergencies

Life happens and disaster can strike at any time. Has an emergency threatened to ruin your hosting plans for Thanksgiving? With us at Alabama Title Loans, Inc., you can get a title pawn to help you out.

If you have a lien-free car title to use as collateral, you can get this pawn to get the emergency out of the way and get back to your Thanksgiving plans. Just go to our website and fill out the online form so one of our representatives can help you get through the process!

Start Working On Your Thanksgiving Budget Right Now!

This year, if you are in charge of hosting the Thanksgiving dinner, you must get your budget ready so you aren’t caught unprepared and stressed out. You can use these tips to start your organizing efforts if you need some help getting started. If you are hit with an emergency and really need fast money, you can get a title pawn from Alabama Title Loans, Inc. right now. To get started on the simple and quick process, go to our website and fill out the online form so we can help you out!

 

Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.