Skip to main content

Need a Budget Friendly Christmas?

Need a Budget Friendly Chirstmas:

Never know what to buy for presents? End up spending more than you should on gifts? Don't understand where your money goes around the holidays?

 Well, here is my advise and tips on how to have a budget friendly and yet still memorable holiday experience!!!

Each year, I spent an entire paycheck in December on gifts alone. That didn't include wrapping, cards, food, and travel for the parties. I finally realized I could still have the same great Christmas, but save money doing it. We (My boyfriend and I) decided to be smart about how much we  spent at Christmas in 2013. We are sticking to a budget and there is no reason Christmas can't be reasonable too. I know it's tacky to discuss actual numbers when it comes to money. But I'm not embarrased to share. I want everyone to think about how much they spend. It really adds up. Showing the acutual numbers is the easiest way. Here's the Breakdown on the difference in what I spent the last couple years:

   Check Out What I Spent in 2012:
  • $15 on 10 good friends.......= $150
  • $25 on 3 family members... =$105
  • $5 on 5 other people...........= $25
  • $50 on Christmas Cards.....= $50
Grand Total: $330 on 18 people + cards

I know this amount will only increase every year, adding more friends, family, and co-workers to the equation. Which I don't mind, I love it. But, I make minimum wage and only work part time and go to school. I have bills every month like everyone else, even in December....haha. So after 2012 I needed to re-budget in order to make sure everyone could get a Christmas Gift and I wouldn't have to go broke for the holidays.  I decided to get organized and what a difference it made!

Here is what 2013 looked like:
  • $20 on Christmas Cards......................................... = $20
  • $15.50 on 8 family members. (mine + Andrews).. =$124
  • $5 on 6 close friends ...............................................=$30
  • 0.75  on 10 friends..................................................=$7.50
Grand Total : $181.50 on 24 people + cards

How did I cut down so much? Here are some quick tips. I plan ahead! Sounds so simple. But I never did it before. In 2013 I decided to follow the advise and I figured out what main gift Idea was. I decided that most of my friends get the same gift (well, similar gifts). I know, sounds impersonal. But its not, they are cute gifts, mostly homemade and take time to create. Most of my friends appreciate them. I mean if  you got a cute,homemade gift, would it bother you to know others received it too? I don't think it would bother me, its smart and still personal.  Here are my Budget Friendly Christmas Tips!

  • Buy wrapping, bows, boxes when its 50% off or more after Christmas for next year.
  • Or Make your own Wrapping, gift tags, etc
  • Buy Cards on sale after Christmas for the next year
  • Save the extra cards to reuse a few years down the road, or make cute gift tags out of them!
  • Make a cute homemade gifts (ornaments, bath products, food, etc)
  • Buy products in Bulk (at Sam's Club, etc)
  • Make homeade Gift Sets (ex: nail polish, homemade bath scrub, loofa, Candle)
For example: Here are some ways I saved money in 2013. I used cards I had left over from a couple years ago. I bought my cards for next year on sale. I gave personal gifts to my 3 family members and Andrew's Parents. However, the gifts we gave to Andrew's two young nieces (ages 3-4) were homemade. I made them each a Tutu. I also had my mom crochet one of them a crown and litle purse, while mom crocheted the other one a scarf and hat. I gave frosted wine glasses and ornaments mostly for gifts. I used boxes and wrapping I had bought for super cheap after Christmas the year before.

Here are pictures of some of the homemade (cheap) gifts I gave in 2013! In the next blog I will share how I made some of the gifts and where I got all my products that helped give me a BUDGET FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS!


















Mini Flashlight Idea, $1 Target Aisle, and some nail polish: Thanks to http://therapink.wordpress.com/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Close to a Cure?!?!?! and Thank You!!!!!!!!

Help Us Find A Cure & Thank you! Lots of new meds and treatments are being researched thanks to the CF Foundation and the people who support it! Thank you soooo much everyone for supporting me and the CF GreatStrides Walks! I hope you enjoy hearing about the cool new ways steps are being taken towards finding a cure for CF and how everyone has helped me and us (the cf community)! New Treatments And Break Throughs: As you may know, from reading my last couple blogs. Some exciting news was released!  VX-809 + Kayldeco Phase 3 (6 month clinical trials) has started! Which means if all goes well, this could be on the market in the next year or two. This drug helps target the actual faulty gene. It will help improve our lung function (hopefully gain some back, the part that isn't damaged) and will help us to slow the decline of our lungs health tremendously! This is the treatment for my mutations!To read more about this new treatment click Here! Also, there are other medic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Craft Show and Work.

Craft Show This Saturday is the Craft Show! Mom and I will be selling our stuff there! It's at Liberty Village in Princeton from 11am-2pm! Please come and see all the booths! There will be 20 booths, kid's bouncy houses, games, prizes, raffles, etc. Proceeds from raffles, etc help give the residents of Liberty Village Christmas gifts and a Chirstmas Celebration! I'm excited to do this craft show, I remember going to them when I was younger! I loved it! Mom would take me along and I really enjoyed spending the day with her and looking at all the crafts! Mom is selling lots of hats, some purses, pouches, a couple blankets, teddy bears, etc. I will be doing my usual picture frames, notecards, etc. I will also be selling Michelle's My Bubble Products! To see some products: A Few of Mom's products -> Click Here!     Michelle's My Bubble products -> Click Here!      My mom said she is going to set aside a portion of her profits to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tech-savvy Thursday- new look!

New Look: Getting Tech-Savvy: Since, I'm getting more involved in blogging, I decided it was time to give my blog a makeover! eMake-overs are always fun, whether you getting a new hair style, or outfit at the mall. However, I've been researching a lot about blogs and social networking. And I thought it may be time to update my blog's look.      I think I like my new one (at the top) a lot better than the old one (pictured on right). What do you think? I wanted my blog to feel more personal and I wanted to make it more tech-savy. I kept the black/purple color scheme. But made the purple the main color instead (and made it a softer purple). I then started looking up how to make my own buttons, widgets, etc. It isn't too hard to find tutorials for anything these days, between google, pinterest, and forums, you can pretty much find instructions for anything. I used a simple code and photobucket to make my own buttons: I think my new Tw...
2 comments
Read more