Saving Money for Pesach by Building Margin into the Budget from Purim

There are as many ways to budget for yomtov as there are people celebrating.

What works for my family may not work for yours – and vice versa. That’s why I like sharing many different strategies – to inspire you to find the best way for your family.

Earlier this month, I talked about two strategies for saving for yomtov:

• Cash-flowing the expenses into a specific month’s budget (eg. increasing your March food budget to accommodate your Pesach meal plans)

• Setting aside a set amount of money each month in order to accommodate your holiday expenses

After writing that post, reader Anne from Brooklyn emailed me with her way of saving money for yom tov by building margin into her food budget starting before Purim.

I work savings into a cyclical savings plan, not just saving by the usual period of one’s budget.  My way of dealing with this is to start cutting back drastically on staples expenses shortly before Purim or even as early as the beginning of Shvat.

I try to use nonperishables purchased on sale all year long as a way to make cleaning easier. That way, when I put the fish bill or the wine bill together, I can see that it has been offset by my judicious use of staples purchased throughout the year on sale.

Do you have a strategy for making Passover budgeting work for your family? I’d love to hear about it!