How did we do on our Christmas budget?
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In a previous post, I mentioned that we hoped to spend $250 total on Christmas this year. We had $95 dollars left and quite a bit to still get. So in the end, how did things turn out?
- We actually ended up with $105 to spend, since my mom wanted to contribute to the gift certificate for my stepfather (we had budgeted $20, but only spent $10).
- We spent $15 on my brother – we redeemed $20 in gift cards from Amazon, and split the cost of a Wii game with my grandmother.
- We didn’t get my sister-in-law anything. Things have been tough for her this year, and she didn’t want to exchange gifts.
- We spent $48 on the tree, which was $13 more than we expected.
- We spent $20 on a gift card for my sister-in-law’s boyfriend, and $20 on a simple train to put under the tree for the kid. I also spend $5 for some alphabet foam stickers (the kids only request to Santa).
Overall, that put us at $3 over budget for Christmas. I can live with that!
I would highly recommend a Christmas budget for everyone. It really forced us to pick and choose what was most important to us, and as an added bonus, we don’t have a ton of useless crap after Christmas!
Did you follow a budget this year? If so, how did it go?
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No shopping in stores for us this weekend!
photo credit: bettyx1138
I have to admit, it is nice to have all of our Christmas shopping done! The only thing left that I might look for is alphabet stickers (when I asked the kid what he was going to ask for from Santa, this was his response. Who knew?)
We did pick up some good deals this week. I ended up getting gift cards from Walmart using their $20 off $80 promotion. I got $80 in gift cards for $60. We combined this promotion with the American Express wish list gift certificate on my husband’s card, and we were able to get $100 in gift cards for $55. Good stuff! We’ll be saving these cards until we need them, but we did give one away – one of my husband’s coworkers is part of the Big Brother program, so we gave him a gift card to buy stuff for his “little brother”.
Other than a trip to the craft store for some yarn (we just found out our friends are having a baby boy – time to put my new knitting skills to use!), it’s going to be a cozy weekend at home.
How about you? Will you be braving the malls this weekend? If so, please follow a budget!
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Spending quality holiday time with family – fun and frugal ideas
Christmas is going to be so much fun this year. Our little one is almost 3 years old, and he’s going nuts with all the Christmas lights around town. He’s been asking about a “Kees-mas tee” all week long, and today is the big day!
Since all of our Christmas shopping is done, it’s going to be a very relaxing holiday season. Here are some of the things we plan on doing as a family this year. Some do cost money, but we feel they are well worth it!
1. Cut your own Christmas tree – Yes, we are buying a real tree again this year. However, we planned ahead and included this cost in our holiday budget. There is a wonderful tree farm near our house – we take the dog and make it into a big event. There is a petting zoo, and you can print coupons for free hot chocolate online. As an added benefit, we always get some of our best holiday pictures on this day!
After the holidays, we cut off a small piece of the trunk and woodburn the year on it. After placing a small hook in it, we have a great holiday ornament!
2. Go see the lights! – Consider both going by foot and by car. I would also recommend seeing if there are any local light displays. For example, we travel to Baltimore each year to see Hampden’s Miracle on 34th Street, where every house is decorated. While many homes here could be considered just “over-the-top” with lights, there is also local art on display, including our favorite Hubcap Tree by Jim Pollock. Luckily, we have friends on 33rd Street, so we get parking earlier in the day and have made a tradition of visiting our friends and taking cider on our walk.
3. Bake some of your holiday gifts – It does cost money for ingredients, but I pick one or two recipes and scale them up to keep things simple. The kid always gets a special job, and after all the cooking is done, we have presents in a pinch. Besides, it’s nice to turn on some Christmas music and smell cookies in the oven!
4. Make holiday crafts together – It doesn’t have to be complicated! This year, for example, we are making construction paper rings for our tree garland. The fun is in the creative process itself – the end product is just an added benefit!
What are some of the fun and frugal things you like to do over the holidays?
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Awesome underwear sale at figleaves.com
photo credit: jorgemejia
I know, I know – it’s undies! But this holiday sale from Figleaves.com is almost too good to pass up. Figleaves has some of their bras, undies, and sleepwear available at their holiday sale, and the prices are up to 90% off. And it’s not just the craptastic stuff that is 90% off – there are common sizes at deep discount. I just scooped up 2 bras that had excellent ratings on Amazon for $7.60 total.
For extra discounts, enter WEL5 at checkout for free standard shipping (I’m not sure how long this code will last). In addition, you can score 6% cashback from Ebates. If you haven’t signed up for Ebates yet, please kindly consider using my affiliate link – I would greatly appreciate it!
And guys, they have lingerie available as well – this would make a great Christmas gift for your significant other (and you too!). You don’t have to tell her that it was a really frugal gift…
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I just finished the fun Christmas shopping
As you may know from some previous posts, we have a $250 self-imposed budget for Christmas this year. We had a budget left of $227, and I have definitely made a dent in it. Here’s the breakdown:
$41 – the Christmas shopping for all of our little friends. We have three little ones that are like family to us, and I combined this with two birthday gifts for kids (the total order was $69) to get free shipping. All of the gifts are made from sustainable wood and are earth-friendly. I had budgeted $15/kid for Christmas, so I came under budget by a few bucks. But now I am sad since all the fun gifts have been purchased!
$2 – stocking stuffer for our kid. This was an impulse purchase at the craft store – I got him 2 sticker books with stickers.
$20 – gift certificate for the stepfather. We get him the same thing every year. Whatever.
$46 – Crap from Bath and Body Works. They kept giving me coupons for $13 in free stuff when I spent $10. I am not a big fan of this store, but my sister loves it. With the coupons, I took care of my sister, her boyfriend, my sister-in-law, and our niece. Each of them is getting basically $20 – $22 worth of stuff for $10-$12. I am glad that I found this deal because all of the people mentioned above are hard to shop for.
$23 – a clearance truck for the kid from Little Tikes. The box is damaged, and the batteries may need to be replaced (I can handle that!). This is one of those really big trucks that he can push around and play with in the yard. We like the fact that Little Tikes toys are made in the USA, and this truck got great reviews for being durable.
This leaves us with $95. We expect to spend $25 on my brother (we’re going in on a video game with my grandmother), $25 on my sister-in-law (gift card), and $20 for my sister-in-law’s boyfriend. That will leave us with $35 for the tree, and nothing else for the kid. I’m not sure that this is going to work, as we would like to get a couple more things for the kid; I want to at least spend a little money on yarn so that I can make him some more stuff.
I’ll have to show the numbers to the husband so that we can make a decision. I am thinking that another $50 might be reasonable, but I don’t want to go overboard. Any thoughts?
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Woodburning skills lead to frugal Christmas gift!
My husband has been a casual woodburner crafter ever since we met. He’s not a master artisan, but he has made some really great plaques and gifts for friends and family over the years.
I’ve mentioned in a previous post how craft stores can be great resources for gifts. I was in our local craft store today with my 50% coupon and was looking for something for the in-laws for Christmas. I found a cute picture frame that lends itself to woodburning (there is a picture of it here), and it came to $3 with my coupon.
I’ll try to post a picture of the frame when it is done. Right now, we are just planning on keeping it simple and adding some “I love my grandpa and grandma” text or something of this sort. However, we have carbon paper for tracing, and are open to suggestions!
Just to keep track of the Christmas budget, we are now officially left with a $227 balance!
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