Saving for Christmas

[Debt Vigilante]

My wife and I budgeted $100/month for family birthdays and miscellaneous holidays such as mother's day/father's day. The months that we dont have any birthdays or holidays, we take the money and put it in a Christmas fund. That way when Christmas comes, we can give generously and we really dont feel any financial repercussions.

[nick__45]

I think it is great that your daughter started law school. I heard it is not hard, just expensive and a lot of work. It takes a special kind of person to be a lawyer. I thought about becoming one but I despise most lawyers so I didn't want to be involved with such profession. There are good ones (not just the ones winning cases) out there and serve society well.

My suggestion is to use E-cards, which are free instead of regular cards. Most people throw cards away after a few weeks anyway. I haven't bought a card since I got married.

Christmas isn't about giving. I originally thought about getting myself a watch because I really want one and my current Seiko Kinetic isn't holding charge that well since I stopped wearing it a few times for extended period. I want to get something fancy from Citizen that only need light to stay charged. However, I changed my mind and will get my cousin a same watch instead. He's finishing up college and will do his MBA while working full-time at a very good printing cooperation. His mother is a saint and probably the best mom anyone can ask for so I am rewarding him that. Most kids now don't even wear watch so I have to ask him if he really want a watch. They use cellphone for time and I think it is a silly notion. A man needs to own a good watch and a good shoe and suit. That will run me probably 500 dollars, which blew my Christmas stash.

My family doesn't care for gifts as we buy what we need when we find a deal. The idea of getting gift is quite upsetting for me. I bought my sister a lot of stuffs when she was a baby and my daughter get them now. But it is amazing the amount of stuffs she get throughout the year. I prefer educational gifts as they are actually meaningful instead of low value trinkets. My daughter only want stuffs if they are at the store, she doesn't bother with them once they get home so we don't get her anything. And somehow she has toy that can fill up a typical 800 sq-ft family, which we turned playroom/family.

[nick__45]

I think it's a good way to save money , we can buy the books with the money , which we usual spend it on the gifts . this is more meaningful .

Books are good and I spend a decent amount on books. One is to support the local Borders, which we use more often than library because it has a 300 times better of a selection and I also buy from a good used book place in downtown that employ college students. I don't sell books though because I only buy good books and they can be read more than once.

[vipmerchantaccount]

If I can also add since Christmas is near the timing couldn't be more perfect. What I did last December 2007 is that I opened another checking account outside of my main checking account and every payday (I'm getting my salary every two weeks) I requested a transfer of $15.00 to that account in this way the money cannot be spent and I can have a good overview of my bills. You can expect also around $400.00 before Christmas which you can use. Currently, I converted my checking account to a custodial savings account for my kid. The custodial savings account functions as my christmas fund account and a savings for my kid as well. What's good about this type of savings account is that it doesn't have any maintaining fees or balance.

[moneybags]

You can also get Christmas wrapping paper to use year round. I can always find something that doesn't look "holiday" to use for birthdays throughout the year.

[SimplySaving]

That sounds like a wonderful tradition and one I think I may start myself! I've always tried to remember to get wrapping paper after Christmas but I love the idea of making it a whole days worth of searching for deals. Wouldn't it be wonderful to start your shopping the day after Christmas and finish it up on Black Friday and you'd be done?

[Drac]

You have convinced me to wait until the 26th this year to go shopping. I will just buy the big presents for the kids before (bicycles), so they can have it for Christmas day, but I will save the rest of the money to buy clothes for school and for work the 26th.
Thanks for the advice!

[msi56]

Great idea Drac,

We always save up during the year a little bit each week and use this money to buy the small presents for family and friends before Christmas but always buy any large purchases for ourselves (like a new TV, BluRay, etc) after Christmas at the sales.

[scrava]

You can also get Christmas wrapping paper to use year round. I can always find something that doesn't look "holiday" to use for birthdays throughout the year.

I do this, too! I found some really great stuff for year round use at Target just last week.