This year I
did not set a Christmas budget. Yes, you
read that correctly. I did not set a budget for Christmas. First time in forever, I assure you, but this
year I just didn't want to. So I
didn't. Instead I decided to buy each
month what I could easily afford and although I have no idea what I truly
spent, I do know it wasn't outlandish.
I didn't go
into debt or overspend and I wasn't stressed or worried either. It worked out really well because the
strategy I employed this year was to spend as little as possible on each
gift. Not that I was a tightwad and
bought cheap gifts. Quite the
contrary. The gifts were really nice. I just wanted to make sure I paid the lowest
price possible for each purchase I made.
As usual I
made a lot of the gifts I gave. I used a
lot of things I already had on hand and bought other supplies as needed. Using coupons and taking advantage of sales
at JoAnn's Fabrics helped me a ton. I
managed to get all of my sewing and crafting supplies very inexpensively.
I made a set
of reversible placemats with coordinating napkins. I'll be writing a post to show you how I did
that and getting it up next month.
I made my
girls flannel pajama shorts using a pattern I already had. I added T-shirts bought on sale at JoAnn's. They like to sleep in oversized T-shirts.
I made
pillow forms for the girls from muslin and polyfil I had leftover from previous
projects. I bought pillow covers on sale
at Amazon for $2.68 each! With free
shipping, of course. Made for a perfect
extra gift to tuck under the tree.
I bought my
oldest a slow cooker for $9.99 at an after Christmas sale in January. It was my very first gift purchase.
I found
stocking stuffers and smaller gifts on clearance in January too. I picked up gloves and socks to put in their
stockings for mere pennies.
My oldest
wanted a new cell phone in the worst way and was saving up to buy one after
Christmas. I found the one she wanted on
sale at ShopKo for $29.99. Since she has
a tendency to drop her phone I added on a two year warranty for $5.
My youngest
wanted a Kindle, but never imagined she would get one because she knows they
are expensive. I bought hers from
Amazon's Black Friday sale for $33.33!
Again with free shipping.
On my
birthday ShopKo gave me a $10 OFF a $10 purchase coupon. I used it to buy two little ceramic baking
dishes with lids for the girls. They
were $4.99 each on sale and with the coupon they were FREE!
Aren't these cute? I bought the red and blue ones for the girls. |
For some of
my friends and co-workers I raided the gift shelf in my closet and pretty much
cleared it out. I made hanging dish
towels and paired them with leftover hand soap I had bought on sale at Bath
& Body Works a couple years ago. The
fabric I used was from my scrap bag and the towels were leftover from a bunch
of dish towels I had made for my Etsy shop.
This year we
didn't buy any new Christmas décor, not even lights. We managed to fix a string of tree lights so
we didn't need to replace any. I made a
couple votives and some quilted table and candle mattes using things I already
had. We did buy two new sets of cookie
cutters on sale at Winco for $1.58 each.
I used a
bunch of Christmas cards my oldest had given me that she had leftover from last
Christmas. I had plenty of cards to send
to our friends and family. I printed our
annual Christmas letter out on stationery a friend gave us when she cleaned out
her home office. I ran a few stamps
short so I did buy a new book of postage stamps. Now I have plenty of stamps left for next
Christmas.
Using items
we already had in our pantry and freezer we baked cookies and desserts,
entertained guests, prepared our holiday meals and enjoyed our lovely annual
tradition - Horse Doover Nite. No mad
dashes to the store for missing ingredients.
We managed to make do with what we had and it all worked out perfectly.
Our
Christmas was the best one to date. They
seem to get better and better each year too.
I sure do hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family.
Wow, can't believe the great prices for the cell phone and kindle! Looks like a wonderful Christmas!
ReplyDeleteTania
It was really nice. We don't really go over the top for gifts so a cell phone and a kindle are kind of a big deal around here and the girls were thrilled. All in all a pretty stress free holiday. Hope your day was wonderful too.
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