Christmas Budget

kayester

Ok so I try not to go too wild but going to try put a cap on what I spend, and keep editing with what I spend, already spend £79.99 on daughter, which was a dolls house in the sale, meant to be £100.00

Son: £0/250
Daughter: £79.99/250
Mum: £0/50
Dad: £0/50
Friends (3): £0/150 (50 each)
Cards/decorations: £0.99/50
Food: £0/150
Alcohol: £0/50

TOTAL: £80.98/1000 if I come under budget then GREAT

:santa2:

[Deleted User]

I'm hopefully going to spend much less this Christmas.

So far I've bought a few bits and pieces for the children and family, and hopefully can come in way under budget. In fact, with the children, I'm pretty much done:

• Daughter - £87/150 Will probably need to spend another 50 on her main gift, but then that's it.

• Son - £75/150 Just about done, hope to get this under £100.

• Son - £54/100 Yes, £50 less, but I'm not being mean, he's a lot younger than the other 2 and not going to notice, plus I've already got him some good stuff in the sales.

• OH - £0/75 Not sure what to get him yet.

• Family - £37/100 This is for singles/couples, about 9 of them. Bought for 5 already.

• Cards/Decorations - £0/0 Got spare cards from last year, and am not sending loads anyway plus artificial tree etc.

• Food and Drink - £0/£150 Will be budget shopping, bargain buying and stocking up with good, cheap stuff and trying not to ruin Christmas with lots of debt and wasting food.

So in total, £725 maximum. But just writing that down will make me think even harder about trying to cut costs in all the areas. I think if I can make my budget come in around £550 or less this Christmas, all in, then I will be very happy.

moments_of_sanity

We have agreed this year to only buy presents for our DD's and each other so no parents, aunts, uncles or cousins and having spoken to all the family, they feel the same :j

I will spend £150 on each oft he girls and DH and I will spend £50 on each other. We have some Waitrose vouchers for £40 which we will use for 'luxury' Christmas food. Hoping to spend no more than £500 on presents and food this year

clare1510

My budget is about £200 for everyone this year. Might be a bit of a struggle but hopefully planning ahead will help.Got some of the bfs family to get for this year but Im making a lot of stuff this year and making hampers with wee bits and pieces so it can be done hopefully.Browsing on here is great for ideas

applecrumble24

We're planning to do a secret santa for the adults this year so hoping to get everyone's for £250.
My kids are young enough to get away with 2nd hand toys from ebay etc and i've already started picking up bargains in home bargains and b&m for the other kids

kayester

Picked up a bargain today.
40 cards from B and M for 99p (for my sons school friends) i very nearly spent £4 on bigger ones, but they just get thrown away anyway and they are only 5 years old!!

Rummer

I have no budget for Christmas this year as every spare penny we have is going into my maternity leave fund so I am racking my brains to figure out what to give people for Christmas.

quidsy

Mines starts at around 1000 but I then work on finding bargains, money off, cash back, pay with points, anything to reduce the cost. I also start early, picking things up in Jan sales and start in ernest around July.

I have estimated approx total spend of 650 this year, as have bought most everything already, so well under budget thsi year. I buy for my son, 4 other kids and 9 adults. The sales through the year are my main goto for top quality for low cost, especially the debenhams home sale.

fawnsinthegarden

I'm going to work on a £800 budget, hopefully it's less though!

•DD1 £200 - includes presents/stocking/Christmas Eve hamper Spent £82.99 so far, I suspect I will be under budget by £40/50.

•DD2 £100 - she's too young for the concept but Santa has to leave something due to older DD Spent £22.50 so far and will just be getting a nice outfit, bibs for stocking etc. Should be under budget by about £70.

•OH £150 - wants a games console, he has a December birthday too so £150 should cover half the cost plus games.

•Family £100 - homemade gifts/hampers buying for 11 people/couples but doable as it's homemade, except the young kids who will have toys or similar.

•Food and Drink £150 - already have a few bits sorted. Will be ordering a butchers goose which adds significantly to the cost. Hoping that nectar and Tesco will have a food double up again on points this year.

•Decorations £100 - need a new tree, present sacks, Santa plate, tablecloth etc. etc., no idea if this is enough to cover it all, will be making some decorations to save costs.


So hopefully around £700, but using Boots/Tesco/Nectar points, and money made from surveys etc. hopefully much less actual cash

Tiglath

I'm really frugal because I absolutely hate Christmas. Family presents £100; office presents £30. Maybe an extra £50 on Christmas food and picky bits, no alcohol. I refuse to write a single Christmas card outside the family (and I only do those because it's expected) and any I receive got straight into the recycling. Never put decorations up. Don't do Secret Santa in the office. So less than £200 all-in for me.

mummybearx

Rummer wrote: »

I have no budget for Christmas this year as every spare penny we have is going into my maternity leave fund so I am racking my brains to figure out what to give people for Christmas.

How about a token gift, bottle of wine, box of chocs for people? Explain that you simply don't have the funds this year, and try not to feel bad about it.

Christmas really is just one day, your maternity leave will last a lot longer!