First of all, earlier in the comment that ended with this question, Nat shared, "I have a Christmas account that I put money in each paycheck. It is an ING Direct online account, and whatever balance is in that account is what I spend on christmas. I have the same thing for a vacation fund as well. I've started shopping a little, but I'm a Black Friday shopper, so I'll probably get about 75% of my shopping done that day (and mostly online lately)..."
I LOVE that. Saving a little money all year long is the best way to save for Christmas; it's not nearly as shocking to the system.
Because Mike and I are so stringent with our pennies, our budget has line-items for gifts that we buy each person for the entire year. We also have vague categories, like "Baby Showers," "Friends," and "Generic Gifts." I tend to stash good finds that I buy on sale, and these random gifts are slotted into those categories. Otherwise, our parents, kids and even grandparents have a line item in the budget.
This helps me to be able to shop all year, lessening the burden of cash flow (a big deal to Mike) and shopping (time constraint for me) at the end of the year.
Traditionally, we've had pretty lean Christmases. Back when we were DINKs (dual income, no kids), I think we spent a lot more on each immediate family member. We also purchased gifts for my aunts and cousins and many of our friends back then. Once I stopped working, we chopped our Christmas list down to the bare bones.
Whatever is left in the gift budget for our parents and Mike's brother (after birthdays and Mother's/Father's Day), that's what we spend on them for Christmas. Our annual budget for them isn't very high, since we're all at a point in our lives when we're trying to accumulate less "stuff."
To come up with a Christmas budget, I recommend writing down everyone that will receive a gift from your family (think of absolutely everyone: each family member, close friends, neighbors, teachers and co-workers) then write a dollar amount next to each individual. $20 for Grandma, $100 for your parents, $100 for your in laws, $30 for each sibling, you get the idea. Also think about each child: $50 from you and $100 from Santa...or vice versa. Add up the total and if it's too high, scale everyone back. Your dad won't miss the extra neck tie and your sister will appreciate a $20 gift just as much as a $30 gift. Consider baking for neighbors and friends instead of buying them gifts from the mall.
For our family, I do a lot of photo-related gifts (ornaments, calendars, photo books and frames) and homemade gifts from the kids. (I'll post about all of those ideas another time.)
For the kids, around this time each year, I ask Mike what my budget is for each child. The year he got laid off, he gave me a $25 budget for Ryan and Kaylin. Do you know HOW HARD it was to buy gifts for two children from us AND from Santa for $50 total? That year, I got creative and replenished jeans, socks and underwear, then took it out of the clothing budget, letting Santa give all of the fun gifts, which were mostly $5 Black Friday board games, craft supplies and learning toys. Thank goodness they were 4 and 2 years old and barely noticed the lack of extravagance!
I once heard a great line from a mom of four who was in a very low income bracket: "Jesus only got three gifts, so each of my kids only get three gifts." We've tried to stick with that, without necessarily explaining that to the kids.
This year, I have a dilemma because I went post-Halloween shopping with Kaylin in tow and she saw me sifting through the 75% off costumes. I loaded UP. My kids are so into dress up, that I couldn't pass up $3.75 cowgirl and police outfits. I planned on wrapping them up for Christmas, but I bought each child three and now can't give them as Santa gifts because Kaylin will recognize them as soon as they're opened. (she was looking at toys most of the time, but I know she saw at least one of Ryan's costume gifts)
SO...I might have to bend the "three gifts" rule this year. I need to talk to Mike about it...we'll see.
Typically, though, we do THREE gifts from us and the rest of the budget from Santa and their stocking stuffers. I try to make it as even as possible as far as number of gifts to open, but it doesn't always work out that way.
Hopefully that answered your question, Nat! If anyone else has Christmas budgeting suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment!
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2 comments:
I like your post and you explained it well. Some of the people I know do the 3 gifts for their kids too. One person I know puts from Santa on all the gifts and the stockings are from her, couple of friends always do the same thing every year, each kid get a book, a game, a craft, a clothing item and that's it. Thank you for the tips and I will be applying them this year especially trying to do just homemade gifts for extended families.
Great explaination.
In the past, we have only done one 'big' item from santa. This year, my son doesn't really have a big item on his list, so i think i might use the 3 gifts idea. My son gets so many things from aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc - that I could easily just get him one or two things that he really wants and he would have PLENTY for christmas...however, it seems that I get so excited getting gifts for him that i have to LIMIT myself.
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