321 | November Budget Basics: Wrapping Up October and Planning for the Holidays
November’s the month to keep your budget on track and prep for the holidays without skipping straight to Christmas. With a little planning now, you’ll save yourself the financial headache later.
November is here—pumpkin spice lattes, cooler weather, and the post-Halloween vibes are settling in. Before diving headlong into holiday spending, let’s talk about something important: your November budget. If you’re like most people, the temptation to leap from Halloween to Christmas is real, but November is the perfect time to focus on financial mindfulness. Today, we’ll walk you through closing out October, setting up a purposeful November budget, and planning for the upcoming holidays without stress. Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
- Finish October Strong: Take the time to review and wrap up your October finances before jumping into November.
- Set Realistic Goals for November: Create a budget that supports your goals, whether that’s saving, paying off debt, or planning for holiday expenses.
- Plan for End-of-Year Expenses: Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and holiday season spending are just around the corner—budget for them now.
- Stay Mindful of Everyday Spending: Include all spending categories in your budget, including personal spending, so there’s no guilt attached.
Wrapping Up October: Setting the Stage for Success
To set yourself up for a successful November, start by closing out October with a clear view of your finances. This means:
- Reviewing All Expenses: Ensure you’ve paid all bills and handled any outstanding balances. Double-check for any unexpected expenses that popped up during the month.
- Comparing Budget vs. Actuals: Look back at what you budgeted versus what you actually spent. Avoid the temptation to “roll over” without seeing how your actual numbers line up with your goals.
- Tracking Debts and Assets: Update debt and asset figures. Seeing progress (like a debt number going down) can be motivating as you enter a new month.
This monthly financial review is essential because it builds awareness and confidence, helping you make intentional decisions in the months ahead.
Building Your November Budget
Now that October is neatly tied up, let’s focus on the foundation for November:
- Income Planning: List your expected income sources, including any base pay, bonuses, or side hustles. Knowing exactly what’s coming in allows you to allocate it with purpose.
- Debt Overview: Tackle your debt by listing each debt type, minimum payments, and due dates. This helps keep debt reduction a priority, so you can see how much you’re committing to it before spending elsewhere.
- Monthly Bills: Include any recurring bills here, such as utilities, subscriptions, and rent or mortgage. Bills are things that are invoiced regularly each month.
- Spending Money: Build in a realistic amount for spending—things like groceries, gas, dining out, and personal spending. Pocket money is essential here so you don’t feel deprived or dip into savings to satisfy personal expenses.
Adding Flexibility for November Events and Holiday Spending
November is packed with special occasions that can easily throw your budget off track if you’re not prepared. Here’s what to keep in mind:
- Thanksgiving Expenses: Plan for extra food, decorations, or any travel costs. If you’re hosting or contributing to a gathering, budget for those costs now.
- Fall Break: If the kids are home, plan for any extra entertainment or childcare costs.
- Sports and Activities: The holiday season often brings extra expenses for extracurricular activities, so list any sports fees or travel costs for tournaments.
- Veterans Day Deals: Some retailers offer discounts, so it may be a chance to purchase needed items at a discount—if it fits within your budget.
Planning for Black Friday and Holiday Shopping
Black Friday has become a holiday tradition in its own right, and many people plan purchases around these seasonal sales. To make the most of the deals without overspending:
- Set a Specific Budget: Many people create a “Black Friday Savings Bucket” where they set aside money throughout the year. If you didn’t start earlier, set aside what you can this month to avoid taking from other parts of your budget.
- List Priorities: Write down the items you actually need, from electronics to seasonal supplies, so your spending stays purposeful.
- Start Your Christmas Shopping: Begin putting money aside for Christmas gifts and holiday activities, from presents to tickets for holiday shows. With more time to plan, you can spread out costs over November and December, making the holiday season less financially overwhelming.
Savings Goals and Debt Reduction: Preparing for a Strong New Year
If you have money left after covering your income, debt, bills, and spending categories, it’s time to look at your savings and debt reduction goals. Here’s how to make that extra money count:
- Savings Buckets: Allocate funds to categories like annual bills, gifts, home projects, travel, and medical expenses. This forward-thinking approach helps you handle big expenses with ease.
- Focus on Debt Reduction: Prioritize paying off high-interest debt to free up money for other goals. Paying down debt faster gives you more financial flexibility, so plan to allocate as much as possible to this goal.
Final Thoughts: November is About Intentional Budgeting
As we approach the holiday season, remember that your November budget is about creating a peaceful, financially confident start to the holidays. By managing debt, setting aside savings, and accounting for holiday expenses now, you’re setting yourself up for a smoother, more joyful December.
If you want some extra help staying on track, check out our budgeting system. It simplifies the entire budgeting process, from monthly planning to debt tracking, so you can focus on living well without financial stress.
Remember: being financially savvy doesn’t mean you have to skip out on the fun—it just means planning for it.
Call to Action
Ready to set your budget on autopilot? Try setting up your automated system today! If you need a little extra help, we offer live calls where we walk you through each step and tailor the process to your unique financial situation. Visit budgetbesties.com/livecall to schedule a session with us.
Don’t keep this life-changing strategy to yourself—share this post with a friend who could use some budget automation in their life. And once you’ve implemented the system, let us know how it goes by emailing us at hello@budgetbesties.com. We’d love to hear your success story!
Remember: the best time to start automating your finances is now. Take action and watch your stress melt away as you achieve financial freedom—one automated transfer at a time!
Full Transcript
It’s time to make your November. Pumpkin spice lattes are Al many. The weather has changed. It is nice. It’s cooler. Like.
Halloween decorations away
Do you know, in my neighborhood, there are so many people who do different skeleton scenes every day.
There’s so many, they changed them out on purpose. Everyday, like I liked.
I would love
the elf on the shelf, but for a Halloween skeletons, which you’re probably tired. If you’re doing that, it’s probably, you’re probably ready. Okay. I will say though, don’t skip November guys. So like, listen, people just go straight from Halloween to Christmas. Let’s just have a month of pumpkins. Let’s just hug some pumpkins. Get some pumpkin’s and anyway, we’re going to make November’s budget.
Let’s do it.
Okay. So what do we do when we start out with a budget,
Shane? The first thing we do before we actually created.
No, that’s what some people do, but you’re not that person because you’re here, you’re talking to us, you’re doing with it. So the first thing we’re going to do is wrap up October. Just make sure put a nice little tidy boot though on it. Bow. So on it, wrap it up with a bow, make it burlap. Bro. Preferably.
Yeah. Emily’s yes. With extra right now, you guys cause they’re so excited about November’s budget, but anyway, we’re going to go through October. We’re going to make sure all the bills got paid. We’re going to make sure everything finalized the way that we had planned it. We’re going to make sure we’ve checked if you’ve got our simplified budget system, we’re going to make sure we check a check check and then those things all are great. Great. Everything’s going pretty good. It’s
all good. But listen, don’t forget about closing out the month. You have to go in and go, okay, this is what I budgeted, but what are the actuals?
So don’t put your head in the sand and go. I budgeted, but I don’t. I find what happens. I’m just going to move on to the next month. Like, no, you got to face the music. Go back, look at it, close it out, figure out this is what I said I was going to have in my account by the end of the month. What do I actually have?
Right. Hoping that it’s close. If you’ve set up your separate systems, then that means you’re not spending out of your bills account. So that money should be there theoretically, right? Yeah.
Yeah. And yeah. So we do like to update all the debts and assets once a month, like go, go update those numbers and make sure everything is looking the way it’s supposed to. You know, make sure the deaths. Hopefully went down, not up. No people are targeted in this message. None of my clients and my meeting. I love them so much. They never go up.
It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. Anyway, that’s the three new. Okay. And then we’re going to pop over to the November tab. You need to do this. If you need to go get our budget system it’s at budget besties.com forward slash budget, and you’re going to go hide October. You’re allowed to hide that. And then hide it and then you can go to November and start dreaming about what’s going to happen in November. So we’re going to show you exactly how to do it with our budget, but you can get it and it can be fun because you have our budget and it does everything automatically.
Remember
that when you fill in this budget, it does all the numbers and the math for you, which is really.
So here is what November is gonna look like. What, what do we always start with Vanessa with income is the best number. It is really such the best number. So we’re going to go ahead and fill in our income. And remember with income, we’re always going to update, you know, you might have your base paychecks, but maybe you have bonuses or maybe you’re working overtime, or maybe you have rent. For, for a property or something, anything like that, that you’re going to come, go, go ahead and put it, plug it into the income.
Cause we’re not just having money out there. Willy nilly. We’re on purpose, putting it into the budget. Yeah. So
you’re listing out where it came from, the amount and the date. Okay. And it’s going to tell it up for you at the top and to tell you exactly how much income you have coming in for this, by the
way, if you make tips, which many of our clients do?
This also goes over here. We’re still, it’s
not like.
Girl math money. Yes.
No, it’s not like disappearing money that you
just
stashed in
your pocket. Like we need to account for, especially because you’re so good at your life. You’re making a lot of them. And that could really go somewhere. If you start planning it.
Not, not that you don’t get to spend it, but that could be your trip to Paris. Hello? We just watched Emily in Paris. Okay. Now she’s going. Spoiler alert. Don’t. I’m not going to tell him. I’m not, I didn’t say anything, but my point is, if you put all those tips or whatever, that money you could be going to Paris, that’s all I’m saying.
Okay. So after you get the income done, then we’re going over to debts.
Okay. So with the deaths, you’re going to list out again the name of the debt, the type of debt. And you’re going to list out what.
What happened? Nothing. I
just, I’m just having
a good time. I’m so
sorry. Okay. So with dad, so you’re going to list out the name of it, and however you recognize it, like how it, however it makes sense to you.
The minimum payment only, you’re not. Any extra payments here. And if you are making automatic payments that are not the minimum payment, please go change that. In that system. And then you’re going to type or put in the due date.
Yeah. And so why do we put debts first? Well, we’ll tell you, because we want you to understand, first of all, like get a picture of it, face the music, right?
Let’s see. What’s actually going on and see especially if you look at ours, you can see how much you’re putting towards sediment. Then you could be like, Hmm. If I actually got serious, what could I do? I can pay this off and I could have $810 so that I could do something else with. And it’s over here first because we want to be, to be front and center. But that way, because we know we can focus on it and it can go away.
Right? So as you go about your debt free journey, you’ll be able to delete them. And then the goal will be for all of these to be gone. And we want that front and center because especially with our budget, the way that we like to budget is we have now taken the income and we used to attracted the debts.
And now we’re going to, we know how much we have left, right? Because the, our budget does the math for you. And, and so then the next thing we’re going to do is bills. Right. And that’s going to do the same thing. You’re going to list out all your bills, but then once we have the bills gone, then I can see, okay, I have this pot of money that I can split up between spending on stuff I want and saving for stuff I want.
Right, right.
So when you list out your bills, guys, remember that it is something that you are being charged for on a monthly basis. Reoccurring. It is not a one-off thing here and there that goes to spending. So these are all your subscriptions, your utilities, everything that, again, that it’s coming at, you. Monthly and your budget.
You’re going to put in here in the bills.
Yeah. And so once you do that that’s when you know, so if you’re doing this manually, add all of that up and say, okay, income minus debts and bills. What do I have left to play with? This one will do it for you right now. We’ve got, we’ve got it all filled out, filled out.
So it’s not showing you that, but even if we deleted some of the stuff, it would say you still have that much to pay play with. Right. So the next thing you’re going to budget, we’ve got the bills and debts take care of. Now we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to spend and spending is, is also like, like your bill.
So a lot of times other budgets will divide stuff into needs and wants. Well, that doesn’t make sense with what you actually go to do when you, when you spend money or you pay bills or whatever. So we want it to, we want the, we have the budget mirroring your actions and the way your habits and the way you do things with your money.
So spending is going to have a mix of stuff that you need, you have to eat and stuff that you want. Maybe you want to go to the restaurants, right? So that’s what we’re going to start to list. Out your, all of your different things that you’re going to go spend cash or swipe your debit card for.
We had a lady in our monthly coaching calls that said this is the first budget that I’ve purchased. That actually makes sense. It’s tells me exactly what to do. I she’s like I have spent so much money on hundreds of budget. At an apps and the digital and paper, she said none of them worked.
Like Shana said, because the reason for that is because this one tells you exactly what to do with your hands and how to spend your money and the spending section. It has your groceries, your gas, your restaurants, your pocket, money, the money that you spend on your kids, the money that you’re going to spend on the babysitter, the money that you’re going to spend on hair, hair cuts. The money that you’re going to spend on that fall festival or whatever you have going on.
Right. And there is a lot happening in the month. This is the section that you listed, and this is the only column that you have to worry about.
Yeah. And you’re going to make sure, one thing that we always say is make sure you get pocket money in there. This is non-negotiable, especially if you’re coming to us feeling like you are more of an impulsive spender or you like, you feel like you never have any money.
We want you to get in the habit of having money. And that this is the way that you do that is you have money going into your personal pocket money account, or however you do it. Every paycheck or every so often, depending on how you budget and that helps you to know I do have money, right? I am allowed to spend money.
I, and I don’t, and I don’t have to fight like my mortgage payment so that I can go get my nails done. Like I know I have the money and that’s why this is so important to set it up this way. And you
work really hard for your money. You should always have a little bit of pocket money set aside based on what your budget allows for you to spend on whatever you want.
And it’s judgment free.
It is judgment free. We just did a podcast about being bougie on a budget and it. W we’re all for it. Just put it in the budget. That’s all we’re saying. 📍
Okay. So once you’ve done that, then you get to see how much money. So if in the example that we’re working off of, if you have a video, we, this budget between their income, they’ve taken away their debts to bills and they plan out their spending, which is very generous.
It’s not super restricted. They have 1997 left, right? That’s how much left they have to figure out what am I going to do with that? Am I going to save money? Am I going to pay off that? What do I want to do? And in this particular budget, they are, have a lot of savings buckets, and that’s what you’re going to plan for next, depending on your goals, if you’re a super hard. I need to get out of debt.
That’s my biggest priority. You’re going to have very minimal savings buckets, but if you’re not, maybe you’re out of that. Or maybe you just have a couple and you’re just like, not that big, not that much of a priority for that. Then you’re going to go ahead and, and get boozy with your savings, right.
But either way, you’re going to list them out. So some examples, annual bills, gifts, glam up kids, home vehicle, medical travel, those are different savings buckets. Our clients use so that they can plan for those quote unquote unexpected expenses.
And the idea here is be planning ahead for these things.
You know, you have. That prime membership that’s due every November. You know, you have that Sam’s club membership that’s due every September, you know, All these things that, you know, you have coming up, put it, make an annual bill savings bucket, start chunking away money in there every single month.
So that way, when those bills come due, it’s not a burden for you to take the money out of that. Month’s budget gifts, same thing, birthdays. You. Yeah. All of that stuff, you know that that’s coming. That’s not a surprise Christmas. Y’all it’s December 25th every year. Hello. Like it is coming. We want to make sure that we are setting aside a certain amount of money every year.
The good thing about this guys is it’s towards the end of the year right now. Think about you starting to budget for Christmas in January two months. I know it’s kind of weird, but in two months I would, if I were you go ahead and open up that savings bucket now and put $5 in it and be ready and waiting for January to come.
So you can start putting money in there. So the way this is the last year that you may feel burdened by Christmas.
Yeah. And so we’re building this budget and we, we have lots of clients that have Christmas in their budget and in their savings bucket column, they feel so good. Knowing that they have money set aside for the first time really that they’ve been able to do that.
And it’s just stacking up and it’s ready for these black Friday sales, which we’re going about to get to. So, and they’re able to shop in like June, like if they see a good sale for something that they can shop early. Right. So speaking of black Friday sales what are some things that you’re going to want?
So we’ve done that. This is your basic budget, right? And in this. In the instance that we’re looking at on the screen, they have $1,100 leftover. So they’re probably going to choose maybe to put that on debt, but maybe you have a specific saving thing that you need to say for, or maybe you need to buy a shed.
I don’t know what you need to do. It’s just my personal life. Okay. And so then you’re going to decide what to do with that money, but some other things that might come up for the month of November that you don’t want to forget in our veterans day. That might be a thing it’s actually a money. For me, it’s somebody saver somebody saver. I can get my free annual haircut.
And then some places you can get free food if you’re a veteran. So sometimes we we’ve realized now that my parents live close and everybody’s a veteran that we can all go out to dinner or lunch for free. If we go, if we plan ahead,
that’s been a tradition that you guys have done for a while now.
Right. And I love it. Yeah. So in the spending section of your budget, after you filled everything out, let’s go back and go, okay, what are some things that are happening this month, or maybe even next month? And I need to preplan for that. I can list out here and make sure that I am budgeting for on purpose.
Okay. So like Shana said, veteran’s day, we have Thanksgiving and fall break coming up for school. Right. We have a couple of things. In for Thanksgiving, you may have extra food. You may have decorations travel. You may be going somewhere, or you may have family coming into visit you, which both of them are costing you money. Right.
So. It makes sure you’re planning for that. What else? Sports. We have some.
Oh boy. More sports. Always put that in the budget. I actually, this there’ll be the one month that I don’t have a gymnastics meet. So. You’re skipping November. Yeah. I don’t know why, but. Maybe we aren’t, I don’t know.
I could be totally wrong. . Anyway, but so if you’re like Vanessa and I, your children are multitalented okay. Or at least you have more than one child and they all have their own talents. And so you have to think about this.
So we’re going to have volleyball club tryouts, which we’ve already paid for, but, but whatever’s coming next. They’re probably going to want some money. Right. And then, you know, gymnastics and we get volleyball and just all the things. So maybe you have some different sports things coming on. And and again, like we said the travel plans that you might have given that it’s getting it’s, you have time off holiday season.
You. Time off, maybe you want to do something special with the kids. They’re off, you’re off the kid. School’s out. And then of course, You make one, the big one. Black Friday and.
Yeah. I don’t like think that I’m not going to go shopping. Yeah. Don’t think that
it’s not true. You’re going to find some, somebody is going to email you or put something on to talk or whatever it is that you scroll.
And you’ll be like, I obviously need. 100%. I need to buy that right now. I’ll ask two, $2 off. Yeah, $2, whatever. I’m never going to get this deal that they’re not going to do in a couple of weeks anyway, but
so just don’t forget guys, like we’re listing some stuff out here. We’re hoping to jog your memory. I’m hoping to put it front and center going.
These are the things that we know that are coming up during this month. Go ahead and put them in the budget, make a line item for it. Cause you know, you’re probably going to spend money on them some way
shape or
form.
Yeah. And here’s the deal about black Friday?
Real quick. We were talking about being bougie in a budget. If the, you know, Vanessa does a lot of shopping on black Friday on purpose because she’s planned for it. She has a client that has a savings bucket just for black Friday. Because maybe you do need a new lawnmower, right. Or maybe you do need something.
That’s a big purchase, but you’re like, listen, I can use a deal. And so the point isn’t that you’re not doing it or the point is that it’s just not, not just frivolous, you can plan for it and make it purposeful. And this is another way it can be bougie on a budget. Yeah. Like your, your black Friday on purpose, right? That’s
so I know that I buy all my essential oils, usually on black Friday, all of my collagen that I need. My vitamins, there’s a lot of things. I know that they’re going to do a good deal. So I go ahead and, and plan for that. And I spend a ton of money on it, but I know it lasts me a long time supply.
Yeah. And that’s why you have a savings bucket. You’re saving up for it. But the other thing, when it comes to Christmas and holiday events, because you’re starting to get into that season in November, even if you’re not necessarily doing it, you’re going to be paying for it.
Right. Maybe you have to buy the Christmas pageant tickets or whatever. Right. So just start to get that on your radar and guess what’s on our radar. It’s shop small. So is it the day the. The day after black Friday. Friday and Saturday. Yep. Yep. So shop small is so fun, but if you’ve been saving for Christmas, then you’ll have, you’ll have money.
But just, but if you haven’t, maybe you want to set aside money for that Saturday. Cause that’s, that’s more, we have so much fun.
Oh yeah, we do. And maybe you’re going to go see the Nutcracker or some type of event that’s going on in the community. Go ahead and plan for that. And if you can start planning for that now in November, that’ll give you two months important.
Yeah. It’ll just give you two months to kind of spread that money out versus having to. Pay for it. Try to figure out how to pay for that and Christmas altogether in December.
Listen, I’m not trying to stress you out guys. But. It’s only October, but I need you to know that December is going to happen. Coming.
And I need you to know that you could be like me and have two December babies and all three of them are going to have so many December Christmas thing, teacher. Yep. Well, I’m at events. So I’ve got birthdays and then I’ve got, we’ve got events, multiple per child. So I’m not stressing you out.
I’m stressing myself out. Okay. Remember that? My son’s
birthday is in December and I also coupled that with their class party. So I’m just adding that to.
She’s going to have to do that. Okay. So that is how you’re going to build your November budget. Listen, if you want some help, like Vanessa said the amazingly that we were talking to earlier, and when we finally have a budget system, that makes sense that you can figure out and that actually works with your life and helps you do the things that you say you’re going to do budget essence.com. Forward slash budget and you can grab
ours.
You’re going to love it. Guys. Read all about it. If you have any questions about what it does or how it works, feel free to email us@helloatbudgetbesties.com. We’ll be happy to answer any of your questions, but this budget system, we like to say, you don’t need a budget. You need a budget system. This is what that is for you. Yep.