Five Excuses that Increase our Pesach Expenses

Pesach is one of the most festive events on the calendar, yet also one of the most expensive: Cooking, eating, hosting, travel, shopping, shopping, and more shopping.

If you’re feeling the pressure and need to cut back on expenses, here are a few ideas that may help you start saving now.

Buying a present for yourself- should you really?

The holiday season is not an easy one. We work hard at home, some of us are entertaining and for others it’s just as hard to be a guest somewhere else. This season can also evoke feelings of loneliness, often tension around questions such as, ”who will be making the holiday?” Many of us resort to compensating ourselves , buying gifts and luxuries we think may help lift our spirits before the holiday. Stores also encourage such purchases by offering discounts and sales. Instead of increasing unnecessary purchases during this expensive time, we should think of other ways to give ourselves a break, such as taking time to enjoy the fresh spring air following winter and a long perioud of lock down.

Eating out the week before Pesach

The week before Pesach is extremely challenging for many. Kids have broken up from school and we are busy preparing the house for Pesach. It seems like the perfect time to relieve ourselves of cooking duties by sending the kids to grab a pizza . Though perhaps a great idea, we have to remember that eating out can quickly become expensive, especially when becomes a week-long habit.   

We don’t need, but we buy

On Pesach we buy lots of gifts. We buy gifts for people we don’t wish to thank, gifts to our hosts and guests, gifts to our neighbors and to our kids. When we go out to buy these gifts, we become even more tempted by the discount signs and offers, but not because we need the items. Despite the good deals, keep in mind that excess purchases during the month may lead to overdraft in the next month. The offers become far less attractive when we stop to think about the high interest rates we will pay for the overdraft in the bank.

Home renovations

As we do our annual Pesach cleaning and clear out all of the nooks and crannies of our homes, we tend to notice things that we hadn’t paid attention to before. Dirt on the walls, chips in the furniture. As we clean and rearrange, we want to take advantage of this opportunity to repair things around the house and we think that this is a great time to do so. However, we should avoid making all of the repairs now and at once. Make a list first, prioritize the fixes according to importance and urgency, and after the holiday passes calculate your budget to see when we be a good time to make changes- certainly not in the same month that your expenses can double just on food!

In conclusion…

Prepare a list of expenses for the holiday and be sure to account for all of the various categories: food, home goods, even chol hamoed. Organize the list according to priorities: what needs to be purchased now, what can wait, and what can be waived. Exercise control and allocate money accordingly. You may even find yourself crossing off items you deem unnecessary once you start your shopping!

In preparation for the holiday, Paamonim helps even more families emerge from crisis and achieve financial independence- providing them with the means to celebrate Pesach and future holidays .