How Much Do You Put Aside For Christmas?

kirstle99

(If this is in the wrong place please move)


With Christmas only 3 months away, I am thinking about starting to put aside money for it. I know some people save all year, others wait until christmas eve before deciding anything. My main question is this;

How much do you set aside for Christmas? Including your Christmas Dinner & presents for all family & friends? Any sneaky ways to get round unessesary spending? Usually we have a pretty simple day in with family & just enjoy each other's company.
(Last year I managed to do it all for £200, with a 3 month old baby in the family.)

jess1974

I start by buying a few bits each week from around now onwards, i buy gifts when i see them and a few extra groceries each week, so i don't notice it on my shopping bill.

Xmas paper, cards and tags i bought in January sales for next to nothing, everything else i just spread between now and christmas, that way it does'nt seem such a huge expense...

TeresaO

Hi,
We've been setting aside £60 per month since January to cover both birthdays and christmas, this hopefully will cover all the gifts. wrt food - I only buy as much as I know I will need for the days the shops are closed, tend not to go overboard as we will eat it if its there...if its not there we can't eat it - much better for the figure! lol!
T

carolpinkdreamer

TeresaO wrote: »

Hi,
We've been setting aside £60 per month since January to cover both birthdays and christmas, this hopefully will cover all the gifts. wrt food - I only buy as much as I know I will need for the days the shops are closed, tend not to go overboard as we will eat it if its there...if its not there we can't eat it - much better for the figure! lol!
T

Snap! We do exactly the same on both counts.

stef240377

Throughout the year i look for sale items and special offers for what i know my children would ask for. With family gifts i look for the special offers and sale items in places like Boots and Body shop. I have told my kids how our money situation is and they accept that we are not as well of as any of their school friends so respect being told the maximum they will get each is £150. This means we can get them the DS they want and portable dvd players without worrying at the extra cost of it all. As for birthdays they get £15 each for a gift and a treat such as a meal out with a selected friend or my daughter last year we took ice skating and had a birthday tea party at home to keep costs down.

galvanizersbaby

I don't set aside actual cash each month - I just start buying the presents from September (my 2 are little so they know would like to ask Santa for from quite early on!)
I also buy things like the big tins of Roses, Quality street etc... when they are buy one get one free (i.e. Tesco's this month)
Hopefully by December I will have the pressies covered and for the expense of the actual event i.e.the food etc I will use any points I have at Tesco's Sainsburys towards it.

hannahsmummy1

I have been putting 20 a week away (into my dds account so i cant touch it!) Since beginning of august. I have also just started to buy a few extra groceries (tins & packets etc) so i dont miss the money that much. I also have a few pressies sorted & am making a lot of them this year too- trying to keep the cost down. I have also given everybody notice that they wont all be getting this year (ie older relatives) as in the past we have gone overboard & what with the way things are at the moment- we just cant afford to do that anymore.

Red_Fraggle_3

From Jan (infact Dec wage I put £25 away with my mum each month) and £1 a week with my nan :-) If I see something during the year I will pick it up and if I can afford it on that months credit card (cash back paid off in full lol ) will just have itr as part of monthly budget.

Usually manage to go to peopels houses at Christams so dont buy too much always try to get healthy in Jan so dont want too many temptations around.

DD still likes to buy presennts for ex's family which have to arrange for her (he won't do it) so thats why I try ofr so much money in fund and i love a bargain.

Katyag

I pay £7 a week to my mum and she puts that onto Asda cards so we have that to spend in December, our two are, well eldest will be 7 at xmas and youngest is just 13 months so Asda is like heaven to them! We can get them pretty much anything in there.

I also buy gifts thru the year as and when i see them at good prices so its not a big spend out in December. As for xmas lunch we usually go to my aunts with the rest of my family so we take along the starter or a couple of puds as our contribution.

We dont really drink so we save there and we dont really eat sweets so we save there too.

I have to be extra organised as DS1's birthday is 6 days before xmas!

sarymclary

I receive a small pension (£130) from my DH's previous employer payable to me & the children, and I try not to touch that most months. This year I had to dip into it most months after last Xmas, but I've been avoiding touching it since June when I last used it to go towards the car insurance. I got my most recent payment paid in today, and it's up to just over £600, which will cover all my Xmas costs for 4 children, partner and other relatives as well as food/entertaining. This money also has to cover all the children's birthdays throughout the year, so with one more birthday still to go in November, it all helps. My boys don't get many presents from other relatives, so whatever I get them has to make them feel special, so I like to buy their most wanted item (within a set budget) and then wrap up lots of little things like sweeties, toiletries, stationery items, socks, etc. They're all things they would need anyway, but it's still another pressie on the pile as far as they are concerned.

I find it gets more difficult to buy far ahead now my boys are getting older. When they were little I'd have Xmas gifts all bought by September so that we didn't feel the pinch later in the year, but now they take longer to decide what they really want, so that's why I just put the cash aside instead. I do buy my gift wrap and cards in the January sales, and if I spot stocking filler items during the year on offer, I put them away (just have to make sure I remember where)!

Red_Fraggle_3

oh yeah another very sad thing so i don't forget whos got presnets during the year i have a spreadsheet with all the names on gift estimated and actual costs even totals at the bottom - i know very sad