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We set a pretty strict budget this Christmas... FI and I usually go overboard, but with the wedding almost 6 months away... can't buy like we usually do! FI did something just like your boss mentioned this year, so we have a "Christmas fund" so to speak, for gifts, decorations, etc. Makes it easier!
I'm with your boss. My bank has this thing called a Christmas Club where you set up a separate account for Christmas money. You can put as much or as little as you want in it, so I usually direct deposit about $20 a month into it. I'll throw some extra in it too if I have it to spare.
We're really limiting our gifts this year. Crafting or baking what I can. My mom declared that we're going to have a Grab Bag this year too - all the grownups go in a hat & you just buy for the person you picked but everyone still buys for the little kids.
My sister is getting married Dec. 5th and it stinks for me (and maybe some guests) b/c I have to spend so much money on dress/makeup/hair/hotel, etc. right before Xmas! Luckily I just got a new job and can afford it, but it's still a lot of money to shell out in one month.
We're getting married 12 Dec and will be returning from our honeymoon on Xmas Eve, so I can't say Xmas is really on my radar right now! I am anticipating buying gifts for people on the honeymoon since there'll be no time beforehand. FH and I have agreed our honeymoon will be our Xmas gift to each other - we'll have some nice meals out, maybe buy some nice things to bring home, etc. It will probably all go on the credit card though :)
My FI and I are buying gifts for our kids this year...that's it. We will be back from our DW on Christmas Eve...and plan on just spending time with our family...that's it...no exchanging of gifts. He didn't finance my rings, I didn't finance his, and we are definitely not financing our wedding...we will be free and clear to start our lives together and if that means we can't exchange gifts...so be it.
This Christmas is KILLER for us!
1)We have our wedding to save for (thank goodness my parents are paying for the bulk of it but we have little costs, crafting costs, gifts for my parnets and his, etc)
2)We have Christmas gifts to give...for most family/work friends I will just make baked goods/simple gifts but I know I will spend a lot on: our parents, him, my MOH, and our brothers (we each only have 1, thank goodness!!)
3)We are saving for our first house :) :) :)
.....
I am trying to just do the Christmas gifts and wedding stuff a little each week after we get paid :) For savings I always put money away bi-weekly so that has not changed
Hmmmm glad I don't have that to think about this year lmao!!! we are definitely going to be paying outright for our wedding and will set up a christmas club for our kids starting in january. i bank at a credit union, so i'm sure that will not be a problem there... and it pays interest... usually we are fairly conservative gift wise, about 150-200 per kid (times three) and perhaps 50 at most for each other... that only is around 350 per person, which is a lot but not a huge amount.. everyone else gets baked goods... or things from the dollar aisles that are really cute and nice...
Our family just does one gift per person. That saves bundles. I also have to reign myself in with the FI but for the most part, I think I budgeted pretty well this year :)
I am SUPER stressed about Christmas, to be honest. I usually get a Christmas bonus and raise around December 15th, which I was planning on using for a trip to Cancun for me and the Boy for our anniversary in March, but since the Boy was laid-off last week that money will likely have to be used to supplment part of the holidays. :(
Generally, I budget a set amount for each kid (anywhere between $100 - $300 each kid). I also buy gifts for all the local kids in my family (5 of them) and my close friends' kids, and my play little sister... and my parents... and my grandparents. *sigh*
This year I will still do a set amount for my kids, help the Boy get stuff for his kids and do the kids in my family. I plan on making a bath salts and sugar scrubs for all the adults, and maybe getting something small for my parents.
I know I want to get the Boy something (and can afford to) but he likely won't be able to afford to get me anything and it would kill him if I got him something and he couldn't do the same for me. I dunno... I'm still waiting on that magic money tree to grow, but so far no luck!
We are being pretty strict on Christmas this year too. Mostly because the wedding is 6 days after Christmas, and we will be seeing everyone then too. I think our plan is to buy giftcards for the important people (parents, siblings, grandparents) and everyone else gets just a card.
Thinking about Christmas gifts stresses me out! We're getting married 2 weeks after Christmas and the budget for that is separate from the rest of our money but there is still some bleedover sometimes into our life budget. Whats hard now is recovering from being in the wedding party for some weddings this fall and attending 7 weddings since August-- showers, bachelorette parties and wedding gifts included. That would have been my christmas gift budget and money is tight as it is. I feel like I'll be a terrible person if I don't give gifts... we are having all our showers and stuff in the next month, which is hard on bridesmaids and family-- I feel bad if I can't give them a gift too! :-( I have zero extra cash and my fiance is close to broke right now too. Cards sounds like the most i can do for now. :-(
Thankfully, my fiance's family decided to do a Secret Santa this year, so instead of buying ten people $50 gifts, we each have to buy one person a $100 gift (with some leniency.. he's still getting his mom something else, and his cousins, who are in high school, will get smaller gifts outside of it as well). So that saved us about $300.
We're moving in early January, and on top of saving for the wedding.. it has been tough. We're just dipping into savings a little bit.
Argh... christmas is coming up, my wedding is coming up, im a part time worker and full time student. i feel llike i never have enough money for christmas but since my family started our own version of secret santa we focus on one big item for our secret santa and anything extra doesnt have to be big... I definately put christmas on the CC and pay it off by the beginning of NEXT christmas.. the circle of gift giving is stressful
otb i never give cards, and i think i just may try that this year!
I have an envelope that every time I have a $10 dollar bill on me I place it in the envelope. And that is my xmas budget. And on the envelope I write every person I want to buy for, what I want for them, and the estimated cost. And I check them off as I get everyone things. I also put on the actual price of the item(s) and I keep all the receipts in that envelope as well.
This works for me because I ALWAYS have cash on me and I am diciplined not to spend it when it is in that envelope.
We have a rule for this Christmas (as we did for last Christmas): No more than $50 spent. It turns into this big ol' contest to see who can find the most thoughtful and awesome gifts. And then we make stuff for each other too. It's a fun game. :p
Yup, it's hard. We just got married, which = broke. I had to take unpaid days when I had the flu, because I was out of vacation/sick days after taking time off for the wedding/honeymoon (And because they're jerks and wouldn't let me work it off or borrow from next year's rollover, which starts in a month..), and hubs doesn't get his bonus until April. We're doing $50 limits, I think.
@layla- it's really fun to do it. one thing we did that didn't count toward the money total, as i already had all the paint and stuff, was go to michael's (even though it makes me shudder) to buy those paper mache hatboxes. we each painted one for the other, and also painted one for each family. we put our love letters to each other in those boxes. :) it's so fun/sweet. (and totally dorktastic but full of win).
@50 - Aw, that is cute!! I don't think hubs would do it, but I would love it. I know I'll go over the $50 limit. I'll have to. Men are 'spensive.
my fiance and i are getting married 6 days before Christmas, so we're trying to budget wisely! I've done all of the shopping (he'll be picking up a few extra wedding expenses to cover what i've spent on his behalf) and have done well at being reasonable. for each other we're going to buy stockings together and our goal is to fill the stockings but spend only about $20 each. it'll be fun to find little things for each other.
Random, but he wants a paper shredder and i found one for about $8 so I might put that in his stocking....odd, but useful.
Oh we budget. Just b/c it's Christmas doesn't mean I can afford to blow money! We set $200 caps on each other (which sounds like a lot now that I see people are doing $50! Oops). And i start shopping early, to spread out the spendage. No "spend a paycheck in one day". I already have DH done and we're doing photos in frames for family.....should be about $20 apiece. My mom, his mom, him, and my dad are all bought for. We just have to order like, 10 prints and buy 10 frames. And we just need to buy a cute outfit and some playdoh for our nieces and nephews and a gift for his sister and her hubs. I plan early to avoid stress! And i buy online or in bulk whenever i can to avoid trips to the mall, where I will inevitably just pop into a store and end up spending MORE money
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I was just remembering this time for me last year when I was trying to save pennies for wedding items, and Christmas came up. [yikes!]
I always start Christmas shopping with good intentions to stay within a budget, but somehow I find something that goes over, and then I'm on a roll.
My boss told me something that I think will become a habit when we have kids and are spending even more on Christmas every year. She created a separate savings account purely for gifts. She set up direct deposit to transfer a little bit of her paycheck into that account so she was able to spread the impact of Christmas over the whole year. Brilliant idea!
Anyone nervous about Christmas spending this year? Do you budget for Christmas, put it on credit, or does some of your wedding money temporarily get relocated to the Christmas fund?
I'd love to hear!