Summer is Here, and School is Right Around the Corner

With temperatures on the rise, there’s no doubt that summer has arrived and vacation season is in full swing. Whether it’s a quick weekend getaway or an extended trip to an exotic destination, many are ready to dust off their luggage and enjoy summertime travel.

Unfortunately, time flies and summer vacations don’t last forever. Back to school expenses will kick-in before we know it with the holiday shopping season following close behind.

Are your finances ready? It’s never too soon to prepare, and Origin Bank is here to help you save now so you can avoid the headache of unplanned expenses in the coming months.

To get started, take a look at what you spent on back to school and holiday purchases previously. School expenses may have been rather atypical due to the pandemic, so you may find it helpful to reference expenses from the previous year. Use this as a baseline to start building your budgets, then update for this year’s expenses to determine what you expect to spend and how much you’ll need to save.

Keep track of your purchases and compare how much you’ve spent to what you have left to buy. This will help you decide if you need to make adjustments to your budget or if you’re saving enough to cover your remaining expenses.

To make the process easy, register for Origin’s Personal Financial Management Tool. Free for Origin customers, it has everything you need to help you build your budget and create a plan for saving so you can set aside a little at a time to reach your goals.

The tool also helps you track and organize purchases with custom categories you create so you can stay on top of spending. After registering through the desktop version of your Origin online banking portal, using the tool through the mobile app makes saving simple, with transactions that update automatically so you can see your progress in real-time.

Once your back to school and holiday budgets are set, get a jump on next year and start planning now for things like home renovations, new car purchases or even next year’s summer vacation expenses. Time is something everyone could use a little more of. That’s why Origin Bank is here to help with the tools you need to keep things simple and save time and money!