Have you ever watched your family open up Christmas gifts while mentally calculating how much each gift cost and comparing that against the amount you have in your checking? Have you dreaded opening the bills in January because you know the credit card statement from holiday shopping will be coming soon and you do not have the money to pay the balance in full?
When my husband and I were newly married and dirt poor, we carefully planned our Christmas purchases to fit within our meager budget. We didn’t buy many gifts, but the ones we bought were well thought out. When we went to visit my mom over the holidays, she kept telling us about all of the presents she had bought for us. There were so many under the tree! Because we are the only people to buy gifts for my mom because my dad has passed, we started feeling guilty about the few presents we bought her. Noticing that her bathroom towels were worn, we went out Christmas Eve night and bought her an entire set of 6 new bath towels including hand towels and washcloths with money we did not have. Then we bought her some jewelry. We charged everything knowing we didn’t have the money to pay.
On Christmas morning, she delighted in her presents. When we opened ours, we were in for a surprise. She too had bought a few well thought out gifts for us. But all those extra gifts we found under the tree? They were leftover t-shirts from a conference some of the professors had hosted at the university where she works. She bought them for a $1 each. Each time I or my husband opened another one of those presents that contained a t-shirt, I felt sick. We had put ourselves in debt to try to make sure our presents were equal to hers, but she had stuck to her financial budget by giving us “filler” presents. There had been no need to buy those extra gifts on Christmas Eve. . .
We worked like crazy selling off things in our apartment such as textbooks we no longer used so that we could pay off those credit cards used to buy the extra gifts. On our meager salary, it took us until March. Thankfully, we have learned our lesson.
If you don’t want to spend the months after Christmas worrying how you will pay off the new debt you just acquired, consider having a no spend month now. We still have nearly three months until Christmas. Pick a month such as October or November to drastically reduce your spending.
If you normally spend $1000 a month on groceries, gas, entertainment, eating out, toiletries, etc., decide how much you want to cut that amount. Maybe you will decide that in October you will only spend $500 a month. To make up the difference, perhaps you won’t eat out or you will eat from the pantry to use up those groceries that have been on the shelf for awhile. Maybe you will do something for free as a family rather than catching the latest movie.
By reducing your spending for just 4 weeks, you will be able to come up with a good amount for your holiday gift giving. If you normally spend $1000, but only spend $500 of that in October, you now have $500 saved for holiday gift buying. Yes, you sacrifice now, but it will be well worth it when you know that every present under the tree has been paid for. Best of all, there is no reason to dread the bills in January. Isn’t that a great way to start the new year?
photo credit: kevin dooley
Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.
That’s a great plan. I need to do something like this. I just can’t bring myself to shop for Christmas gifts before November, so any little money saving tip helps!
One of the best things my husband and I did last January, was write down who all we bought Christmas presents for and who we’ll buy presents for next year (this year) and figure out how much we wanted to spend. Add that with how much we wanted to spend on each other. Divide that number by 12, and that’s the amount we save each month. Come December, the only worry is what to buy–not what are we going to use to buy. And I have to say, taking the money out all year spreads out the “hurt”.
Several years ago, we set limits on what we could spend on each other. $25 per individual/couple, and $25 on each of the kids. The grandparents usually break the rule on the kids, but otherwise, it keeps the expenses of the season down, and we can enjoy each others company without having to worry about whether we all overspent. It may not work for everyone, but it works well for us.
I figured out a happy medium of what range we wanted to spend and how much we could afford to set aside each month. I am able to make Christmas purchases throughout the year and I know I do my shopping black Friday weekend. I have earned and saved enough Amazon giftcards to buy my girls a kitchen set and spent $11 on an ecomom voucher to add a few more things. After a couple more gifts I will have barely touched my little Christmas fund. I am so thrilled!
I’ve heard of No Spend Days but Months is another story! It would take some serious planning (which I’m incapable of) but if you’re able that’s awesome.
We do exactly the same thing Lindsey does. It’s worked great for us for years and we never have to worry about how much we spent on Christmas because we put the money in cash envelopes so we have it ready when we want to buy gifts and we never overspend.
I like the idea of a no spend month but we’re weird enough to plan ahead so we’d have to use the saved money for something else besides Christmas. Vacation maybe?