It is October, why am I worried about Christmas? It is expensive, and you may be spending
more money than you even realize.
A quick Google search
and I found that for 2016 the average American spent $935.58 on Christmas
including food and decorations. I
couldn’t find a Canadian stat, but I am guessing it is close to this
number. Calculate what you spend, and divide it by 12 to sock money away for the Christmas budget all year long. Create an envelope solely for this purpose.
Christmas is December 25th every year, and I
suggest you always have a spot in your budget for it. Not planning for this large amount can really
damage your hard budgeting work and lead to you starting the new year doing
damage control. You still have 2 months to prepare for the big day, and 4 pay
days. Start preparing for Christmas
now.
I always try to scale back my Christmas to be smaller than
the one before. Not only does the price
of things drive me bonkers, but I can’t handle all the clutter from the toys
and ‘stuff’ around my house.
Make a list of EVERYONE you need to buy for. Family, and friends may come to mind easily,
add in 2 gifts to wrap and stick under the tree in case someone shows up with a
gift and you don’t have something for them.
If you exchange gifts with all of your family and friends, you may want
to have a chat about cutting out this tradition. I know some families put
everyone’s name in hat at Christmas dinner, and draw one name to buy a gift for
the following year. This can save you
money and headache looking for gifts. We
don’t buy gifts for adults in my family. We buy gifts for the kids. Two of the little kids live in BC and
shipping gifts can be expensive. Two
years ago I had coupons for a free Hasbro toy worth $20 and sent them to the
parents to pick them up a gift. Last
year I sent out a gift card to their parents, this year I am going to have
Amazon ship the gift to their door to save money. Be creative.
I use our home made wine for gifts our friends since it
costs under $2 to make including the gift bag.
Don’t forget your child’s bus driver, teacher and activities
leaders. I don’t go over the top for this,
I spend $5 or less on these gifts. A
coffee card means a lot. I have also shown up to my child’s activity with hot
chocolate in a travel mug for the leader to drink too, and collect the mug at
pick up. That is free and means the world to them.
When I think about Christmas I think about all the yummy
food and snacks that are eaten. There are
also more parties to prepare food to bring.
Make a list of the extra food you prepare during the holidays and add
that into your December food budget. I
ball park that I will attend 3 parties each holiday season. I have a few go to recipes I use, and allot
$15 per holiday party, so that adds $45 to my food budget. I host Christmas
dinner at our house every year, and I plan $50 for that in my December grocery
budget.
I shop all year long for Christmas gifts. Each child has
their own large tote. I put items that I
buy after holiday sales and even new in package finds from yard sales. On the weekend I sorted out the gifts, and
I managed to spend $70 for two stockings, and
on gifts $192. I’m happy with those
numbers for two children. I have a gift
for my parents to pick up $20 each, and 2 cousins $20 each, and then I am done.
That will bring my Christmas budget including the extra food to $437 spent on
Christmas. If this was spent in one shot it would shock me, but a little bit each month makes it more manageable. Based on my budget, I should be putting $37 a month in my Christmas envelope.
