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Christmas Budgets

post #1 of 14
9/27/10 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
When you go shopping for Christmas, do you keep a budget? Do you already know how much you are going to spend before you go out? Or do you just kinda wing it?

If you are shopping for more than 1 child, how do you budget for them? Do you buy the same $$ amount for each child, or do you try to make sure they have the same $ of gifts reguardless of price??
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post #2 of 14
9/28/10 at 6:43am
yes i have a budget for christmas shopping and i stick to it.

i have 13 people on my list ( and two dogs and 3 cats).

last year my budget was $375 for all and i was $60 under!

this year my budget is $350 and i am almost done( i have to get 2 presents for ds and i am done).

both my kids get two presents each( plus a stocking( it holds four things each)). i am very strict on what they get as it cannot go over $100 each( stocking included). dd came in under that( $96.17) and i have priced out what ds is getting and his will be just under $100.

the money i had leftover last year( the $60) went into a savings can for this christmas. and anything leftover( which there will be...not as much as last year) will go into a savings can for next christmas.
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post #3 of 14
9/28/10 at 6:48am
I am always on the hunt year round for xmas and birthday presents.

That way I can hit the good sales, buy good presents, at a affordable price.

And if an birthday comes up that I forgot about, I go to my gift closet and pick one out.
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post #4 of 14
9/28/10 at 6:51am
We do use a budget, for all Christmas-related expenses. We haven't set one yet this year though.
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post #5 of 14
9/28/10 at 7:04am
Yes, we have a christmas club at our bank. That amount usually is spent on kids and a little left over. After that we try to use cash. I would like to lump the amt. together in cash to understand better what I have to work w/.
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post #6 of 14
9/28/10 at 7:43am
I shop year round, so I can always come in under budget. This year, I am going to spend a little more on nieces/nephews since they are getting older, going to do $10 instead of $5 each, but the way , that $10 is usually $40 retail, I want to make sure they always get nice gifts from us. Also, I am spending a little more this year on parents/inlaws, and grandparents, they are at the age they can't spend much on themselves anymore, and I lost one grandparent last month, and my remaining two are both quite ill, so want to spoil them a little bit while I have the chance.

Total, we buy for around 40 people, sometimes I do a family gift for the far, far away people we never see.
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post #7 of 14
9/28/10 at 10:29am
I have to admit I've never used a budget for Christmas shopping, but then I don't really budget period. We have a general dollar amount in mind to spend, like around X$ for nieces/nephews, and around Y$ for siblings, and XXXXXX$ on kids, etc. But we don't have a total amount in mind and the amount on kids varies somewhat depending on if they're asking for something really big or just a bunch of little stuff. We spend a lot on Christmas.....probably way too much so I never want to know the amount. Would probably freak me out too much. I like to live in my oblivious happy place
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post #8 of 14
9/28/10 at 5:01pm
I don't have a strict budget but always pay off the bills at the end of the month so we don't end up owing after the fact.
We spend TOO MUCH on the kids. I know they get more than a lot of kids do but I can't seem to stop.
I guess I compensate for this by giving lots to charities at Christmas to ease my guilt!
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post #9 of 14
9/28/10 at 8:30pm
I keep an index card in my purse with my Christmas budget for everyone (20 people + teachers) on it. When I buy something, I mark them off the list. With DS and DD, we set a certain amount to spend on Christmas gifts. It is impossible for the gifts to be exactly equal, so I take the budgeted amount, subtract what I spent and deposit the difference in their savings accounts. That way I did spend the same amount of money on each of them.
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post #10 of 14
10/3/10 at 5:32pm
Our budget this year will be cut majorly from years before. Trying to do lots of homemade items such as jewelry, photos, and wall art. Hubbies business is struggling and we have another baby on the way, so we have to tighten the belts around here this year!! i love to shop around for sales, so still trying to give nice gifts. My biggest obstacle is not feeling cheap that I got such a great deal on something that I go out and spend up to my budgeted amount anyway-even if the original price at the budget!
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