Starting to think about Christmas

[feh]

We don't budget for Xmas. Our income is high enough, and we don't spend a lot on gifts, so it's not necessary.

Over the last few years, we find ourselves spending less and less. My wife and I used to spend a couple hundred dollars on each other, but now we either don't give each other anything, or something small and sentimental. We have everything we need...we had been buying each other gifts "just because it's Xmas", and we decided that wasn't a good reason.

Our total expenditure for gifts is probably around $500, which is much less than the average family spends.

[disneysteve]

My wife and I used to spend a couple hundred dollars on each other, but now we either don't give each other anything, or something small and sentimental. We have everything we need...we had been buying each other gifts "just because it's Xmas", and we decided that wasn't a good reason.

Same here. We've been married 17 years and stopped exchanging presents a long time ago. If we really want something, regardless of when in the year it happens to be, we buy it. No birthday or anniversary or Chanukah presents.

[wincrasher]

Well I've enjoyed the Christmas season alot more since the discovery of Amazon and Costco.

I just don't have the time to do all the shopping and fighting the crowds. I can spend some evenings with the laptop purusing the website.

The hardest thing, like I've said before, is gift ideas appropriate for the people on my list. Once I get a clue, the shopping part is easy. Also knowing that you are getting good value for money gives alot of peace of mind.

My mom is the type that buys little gifts all year long and socks them away. She doesn't have much regard for if people will like it, or have already bought it themselves. I've got a big box in the attic full of her gift ideas.
It is kinda fun at Christmas - you'll get maybe 20 little boxes of crazy things you'll never use. Nothing expensive, but useless for the most part.
It's the thought that counts - but I'd rather she just send me a card or cook me something and save her money.

[mommyof4]

I budget for a small group of people (husband, mother, 4 kids) and I put away money every month throughout the year. I spend about $50 on each person. It's a nice Christmas for everyone without overdoing it.

[gertymac]

My family is huge and huge on Christmas, and I enjoy buying gifts, but I do worry about the money I spend.

I buy for about 25 people (this is family and close friends only), but I may have to expand to some work folks as well. I try to do homemade, re-used, or recycled goods for almost everyone. This is more of an environmentalist, anti-capitalist thing than a money saving technique but it can serve that purpose as well.


I start seriously budgeting and shopping around August/September. Haven't done any shopping yet, nor ear marked specific funds for this year. I'm expecting a bonus at work in mid to late November that will probably end up being about half my Christmas budget.

[Daylily]

I set aside $40 a month into the gift fund. Depending on the year, sometimes we spend more, sometimes we spend less. We don't have that many people on our gift exchange. As an example one year we chipped in and bought airline tickets for parents. That year we spent more than we had alloted. It wasn't a financial hardship but at the same time I don't want to set aside a higher amount each month, e.g. $70, because I don't want to possibly spend more than I otherwise would just because I happen to have it set aside.

[rob62521]

We open a Christmas Club and fund it throughout the year. I also buy things on sale as I see them throughout the year so it doesn't all hit me hard.