We used to discuss our finances at the beginning of every year. We would discuss big expenses such as travel, weddings, home improvement projects, and Christmas.
Then we'd make a goal to set aside and save so much money each month so that we'd have enough money to pay for the things above.
We would also have to adjust the budget for some of these items if things were looking tight.
I have a Holiday Savings Account where every month a certain amount is automatically sent to it. It "matures" the first business day in November. I use all cash for my Christmas gifts. Once it is gone, it is gone. I also shop for people after Christmas too. Call me cheap but that is when I get the best deals to give gifts for the following year. ;D
We start buying gifts around June. DD's birthday is in March, so we divvy everything up in December into a Christmas pile and a birthday pile. It's NBD to afford Christmas when you're only spending $10 or $20 a month on something
Our December budget includes a Christmas line item, and our regular savings is somewhat reduced by that amount (though usually we receive bonuses that make up for it).
H and I buy gifts for each other out of our own personal fun money accounts, so money technically goes in there all year.
If I see a good deal I get it and put it up until Christmas. When I was a single mom I worked cleaning a office twice a month and saved that for Christmas. I now get a bonus 12/1 and put part of it back for the next years Christmas in savings.
I pick up things year round when I see a deal and put them in the attic. But dh and generally just don't save as much in Nov/Dec.
We aren't budgeters though because his income can vary wildly from month to month. We just pay our bills and the rest goes to savings. Our fun money is each of our individual credit cards that we pay off each month.
When I was single and not as financially stable, I just put everything on my credit card and hoped for the best. Not a great strategy, but everyone got great gifts! lol
Nowadays...we fund it primarily out of regular cash flow in the months of December and January (when the bills come in). We pay for everything on the credit card and this year we actually used points to buy quite a bit. Win/win.
Post by statlerwaldorf on Dec 4, 2012 15:20:38 GMT -5
We've cut back with the adults in the family. It was getting more stressful for everyone than it was worth, so we decided to stop buying gifts for the adults.
I start buying throughout the year. I have stuff that I bought on clearance last January.
In past years DH and I would be all shocked that Christmas fell on Dec 25th again, and we'd have to go into the regular budget for gifts (and take a little from savings ).
We used to do this too. Once we started cleaning up our act we put aside a little each month so we had enough in December, and we also cashed in bank and/or credit card points for Amazon cards, etc. Now, due to a combination of spending less and earning more, it just comes out of the amount we would save each month.
We spend less in December. I try to divide it up over 3 paychecks (2nd in Nov, 1st in Dec, 2nd in Dec) and nothing goes into savings. We may go over and have to pull a few hundred from savings, but I can live with that. I wish I thought to plan ahead but I don't have kids, my family does a grab bag, and DH and I don't exchange (although we do something nice for each other or the house), so it's not a huge burden.
We have a $100/month gift budget that whatever isn't used during the year on other occasions rolls in our savings acct to Christmas. And I budget a little extra in nov /dec.
In years past we saved a few bucks here and there until we hit our target number (usually $500ish). This year I looked at our checking account in October and realized I had an extra $500 I could set aside so I earmarked that. Well spend more this year, but well just bank roll it. I'm excited to have one splurgy Christmas while we're dinks.
We just don't save as much, but my family doesn't do gifts except to the little ones and this year H's family finally decided not to do gifts either.
When we use to be on a budget, we would put aside any cash gifts that was given to us from H's family throughout the year. It would add up to around $800 by Christmas and we'd blow it all back on his family.
Currently I'm selling some old stuff on Ebay and Craigslist though. It's stuff I would sell at some point anyway, so it' not just for the sake of Xmas spending, but the extra money does help me feel like I am keeping the shopping expeditures in line, and that I have less "out of pocket" spending
We just don't save as much, but my family doesn't do gifts except to the little ones and this year H's family finally decided not to do gifts either.
When we use to be on a budget, we would put aside any cash gifts that was given to us from H's family throughout the year. It would add up to around $800 by Christmas and we'd blow it all back on his family.
Weren't you getting people Roombas and LED TVs and stuff?
We just really don't buy many gifts anymore. I refuse to buy gifts for adults and have asked our families to do the same. DH's family used to do gift exchanges among the adults and I felt like it was really gift grabby the way it was done, and it really takes away from the holiday itself. My sister has also asked that no one buy my nieces and nephews toys or anything like that. We still get gifts from our parents, and we still buy gifts for them. Other than that we probably won't be spending much on Christmas until we have kids.
My credit union has a special 'holiday fund' savings account that you can opt into. When my paycheck arrives, they automatically transfer the amount I set into the holiday fund and I can't touch it until Oct. This year is a bit trickier with DH's earlier unemployment where we suspended the account for a few weeks, and we're also hosting DHs family dinner so the cost is a bit higher. But we've been putting aside our personal spending bit by bit and putting any extra from our grocery and Target shoping if we didn't hit the budget limit to cover the extra.