Originally posted on Facebook - Financial Planning Tip - 2017-12-005-01 Planning for Two months at a time

Today we received our first calendar for 2018 ( Ramco - gas distributor) and I started updating my "Planning Book" with:

A summary of the days in the months of the year

The dates of Public Holidays in Trinidad and Tobago,

The dates of Full Moon (good for planting persons, limers and such)

Months with the 5 Mondays in them.

Now Jan 2018 and Dec 2018 are months when there are 5 Mondays.

For those who work with a fixed income, in a month with 5 Mondays, they receive a little less take home pay as they pay an additional amount for National Insurance and Health Surcharge for that extra Monday which occurs in the month.

When persons forget that there is that extra deduction, coming right after Christmas, it can make a period when you are full of good resolutions extremely challenging...

So how about if you decide on at least 3 areas where you can plan for 2 months from now.. Some easy areas or stretchers are:

Food - Buy enough staples for an extra half of the month and put some of the Dec funds earmarked for that purpose into a UTC account specially designed for that purpose;

Switch to a "cheaper vegetable" or plant some greens from which you can use the leaves as the plant grows... It is not too late as you have about six weeks to mid Jan 2018 when the crunch really hits.

Buy some extra peas and beans and see how soups based on beans can fit into your life.

Transport - Buy some Bus Tickets in small denominations and see if you can use the bus a little more... The savings in gas can be placed in another UTC account.. That way, you can keep an extra backup...

Gift giving - At this time, if you have a list of gifts to give then consider delaying your gift giving into Jan 2018...

Again put the money into another UTC account where there are no charges and you can take out as little or as much as you need...

Now I know that there are many persons who are extremely disciplined with their cash, credit cards and ability to commit...

However for those who may wish to say no nicely, consider a safety deposit box with a bank where you can place most of your easy access stuff for a period of time. That way, you do not have to worry about where you placed them.