I know that some folks may already have all of their Christmas shopping done but I’ve only just started. I picked up a few items that were on sale and then realized that I needed to fine-tune our Christmas budget. Sure, my husband and I had briefly discussed our holiday spending but hadn’t really set anything in stone. So today I’m working on the Christmas budget.
In year’s past we’ve just spent willy nilly on Christmas gifts. If something looked cool, we bought it. The bulk of our spending was geared towards our children but we also buy for our nephews and then my parents. Years ago my sister and I decided that there was no reason to buy for the adults, besides our parents, and instead focused on the kids.
This year we’re still just buying for the kids and then doing something from the kids for the grandparents, but we are absolutely scaling back our spending. Last year we ended up around $2,000 spent for Christmas – and we don’t even travel! This year our budget is $600. Yup, $600.
We’ve already told the kids that they aren’t going to be gobbled up by presents and wrapping paper and much to our surprise, they were totally OK with it. Sure they enjoy opening presents but they enjoy spending time with family more. So this year on Christmas morning while I watch the kids open their gifts I’ll know that we carefully planned out our expenditures, paid for it with cash and won’t be making payments on it by the time Christmas 2011 comes around.
I’d love to hear your plans for the holidays. Do you already have a holiday shopping budget set?
Photo: BZMomma/Flickr
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We just got married almost exactly a year ago and don’t have kids yet, but both of my sisters have 2 kids. Last year, for the first time, we all talked and decided not to buy for the adults (other than our parents). This makes perfect sense for my sisters’ families, because they both buy 2 gifts and receive 2 gifts, but it’s a bit awkward because my husband and I buy 4 presents and theoretically would receive 0. Last year, both sisters sent my husband and I items left over from our wedding registry- which was awesome. This year, I don’t want them to feel obligated to buy us presents— we don’t need anything and we’re trying to declutter. I see them for Thanksgiving, so we’ll have to discuss.
Thanks for the comment Lisa! We’re also trying to declutter, something we do before the holidays every year. Good luck with your Thanksgiving talk.
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