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How much for christmas?
Comments
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Well, my budget is £550, this breaks down as
£200 food & drink
I have been saving Tesco saving stamps through the year plus tesco vouchers & nectar points. This will cover Xmas lunch for 5, Xmas tea & drinks for 10 (:eek:), boxing day lunch & tea for 5, a takeaway for hubby & I on Xmas eve & our share of a takeaway with neighbours on new years eve.
£300 Presents
This is for 20 people, the bulk goes on immediate family & we try not to buy tat but meaningful things (big or small but I cannot abide wasted money on "joke" gifts" which end up in the charity shop by Jan 1st:mad:). Quite a lot of people will be getting home knitted gifts, home made sweets etc. The bulk of the budget has been made up using loyalty points, free offers, cash back etc. Spuds' Xmas stocking is being stuffed full almost entirely of freebies I have saved through out the year. Hostess gifts to friends we visit over Xmas will be home made sloe gin, the cost of the gin also comes out of this budget but the sloes are free & the sugar minimal, this just takes a bit of palnning ahead as the gin has to mature for at least 3 months. In the past I have also given home made sweets, gingerbread men etc.
£50 Other things
This includes a real Xmas tree & a day trip to Harrods to see Father Christmas for free but we will have to pay train fares, lunch etc (unless I can get a mystery shopping lunch in Knightsbridge;)). This is also our "anything we have forgotton to budget for" safety net:p
You are brilliant at budgeting Sar & the bottom line is that you will only spend what you can afford;) I would suggest deciding on a budget per person & seeking out the best value gifts accordingley but don't buy soemthign for the sake of giving a gift, I would rather give someone (and receive!) a £5 voucher to a relevent shop than a £10 gift just for the sake of giving a certain value pressie or a £10 gift reduced to £1.50 becuase it was a bargain.
Good luck:DPost Natal Depression is the worst part of giving birth:p
In England we have Mothering Sunday & Father Christmas, Mothers day & Santa Clause are American merchandising tricks:mad: Demonstrate pride in your heirtage by getting it right please people!0 -
wow, I spend much less than everyone else in cash at least.
We put aside £10 per person, then this year I have been collecting freebies in a bag ready to throw in extra bits and pieces. One of the freebies is a book that got got through the freebies forum.
I have also purchased things using vouchers and points that I have got through surveys/advantage points, I spent most of it on discounted items. The local Boots know me very well now!
For food we're normally at either my parents or the inlaws, so we provide one part of the meal and some drink.
I think this is going to be my most MSE Xmas ever! The only extra that we'll do will be boxes for my brother and sister in law who are serving in Afghanistan, postage is free so I can put extra things in.
Ev
We spend more on birthdays0 -
My family thankfully do secret santa. Up until I was about 18, we did presents for everyone, and I can imagine with a family of my size (four children, four grandchildren, three other halves), it must have been pretty expensive for my parents.
Now we all just draw a name out of a bowl and get one gift with a limit of 20 pounds for that person. It works really well, although I have got the same person three years in a row!
On top of that I get something for my girlfriend and for my young nieces and nephews, so overall I would say I put aside 60-100 pounds for Christmas.Original Debt 08/10/07: £3200
Current debts 28/07/08:
Natwest Platinum CC: £875; Student BarclayCard: £450; Overdraft: £1450
Total: £27750 -
Here's my budget so far copied from my excel xmas spreadsheet :rotfl: the xxx's are friends but I don't want any of them finding this and knowing how much we're spending LOL.
Ste £100.00
Sar £100.00
Ash £100.00
K £30.00
xxxx £20.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £5.00
xxxx £5.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £10.00
xxxx £5.00
xxxx £5.00
Wrapping, etc £10.00
Food/Drink £60.00
boxing day party£50.00
And how we're paying for it all..
Xmas savings
CB 4th £120.80
tc 5th £22.00
tc 12th £22.00
tc19th £22.00
Ste Wages £180.18
Sar wages £220.80
TCB £20.00
Quidco £0
Total £607.78
Left £17.78
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I hate xmas LOL. Got Ste and another mates birthday in nov too!Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
Que sera, sera.
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Looks good. And remember just because you have budgeted for it, doesn't mean you have to spend that amount! You might find something cheaper that would be good.Current debt - £16,300
Debt at worst 17/03/2011 - £18,067.62:eek::eek::ANot going anywhere else, ever again :A0 -
What an interesting thread! Thanks for posting it IA
I've been thinking about christmas presents today as I can't believe its November and I've not even started. 
so its given me some good ideas x Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Personal Finance Blogger + YouTuber / In pursuit of FIRE
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I know youre going to say "pass me the bucket" But I really love christmas, me getting presents isnt important to me at all. I like getting people presents and i like all the hype of it all. Decorating the house with really tacky crap etc.
I randomly thought i would share that with everyone March 2006 £15,200+ in debt April £843.64 in debt - Debt Free date Sept 2009
Egg Credit Card - £843.64 5.7%0 -
For those who are finding it hard to stick to a budget. Remember that two months today, it'll be the start of a new year and Christmas will all be over with!
I'm not being negative as I love Christmas as much as the next person but what I don't like is seeing friends and family going mad and spending like Christmas is never going to end only to find on Jan 1st they have over spent and reality kicks in..
I mean it takes 12 months to get here but it's then over in just 24 hour for most.
Lets all enjoy Christmas but not spend the next 12 months paying for it and letting the banks win yet again.
Good luck to all.Regards,
Dave
If only I had a pound for every time I used the thanks button
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Good idea honey.
I'm going to work mine out person by person, like yours and then work out where the money's coming from. :eek: too.
I put £50 away each month into the Christmas and Birthday Fund but I also dip into it at least 10 months of the year so there's not much in it at any given moment.
I used to save £100 a month and then it did have a chance to mount up a bit - but £1200 a year on pressies when we're in this much debt is scary mary huh? :eek:
Christmas meh.
Love Jacks xxx Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Einstein0 -
When my children were small they had an enormous, rediculous amount of presents at christmas, when they started earning their own money i changed things and now only buy one present each. for the ones that are married i spend £50 per couple and put £25.00 in to grand childrens bank accounts for when they are 18. They have rediculous amounts of presents from everybody else.0
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