ALMetro360 Magazine

58 AL/ Metro 360 www.almetro360.com MONEY MATTERS .............................................................................................................. Tips for Managing Your Holiday Spending L IKE ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE THESE DAYS , THE HOLIDAYS HAVE BECOME A BARRAGE OF OPTIONS AND CHOICES , WITH NEARLY LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES TO OVERSPEND . H ERE ARE SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU MAKE SURE YOUR FAMILY ' S SPENDING REMAINS IN CHECK THIS HOLIDAY SEASON . EVELOP A SPENDING STRATEGY First and foremost, develop a budget . Involving family members will help you establish and maintain realistic expectations at the outset. Remember to include not just gifts, but also holiday meals and parties, travel, greeting cards and stamps, gift wrap, decorations, and any other category you deem necessary. This is also a good time to commit to using cash or charging no more than you can pay off in one month. Next, devise a method of tracking all your purchases , re- ceipts, gift recipients, and the locations of hidden gifts that you might otherwise forget about. This will make life easier as the chaos ramps up. Review your credit cards to see if you have any perks. Could you use earned points for travel, or cash-back and gift card rewards to help defray costs? Track down old gift cards and put them to use now. If you think you'll never use them, trade them in for cash on a discounted gift card website. There, you can sell your old cards and even buy new e-gift cards at a discounted rate, which you can then give as gifts or use for your own purchases. Put technology to work for you. You can find apps that offer cash back if you shop online; alert you to online coupons available at nearby stores; round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and put the difference into a savings account; and track your online purchases, scan other stores for better prices, and then au- tomatically email the original stores on your behalf to take advan- tage of the price-match guarantees. There are myriad options avail- D