This year I will be working on Christmas all year long as
I've done in the past. I have a lot of
good ideas bouncing around for gifts I want to make, things I want to do and
delicious food I want to prepare. It
will be a very simple and low cost Christmas this year and I'm really happy
with what I have planned.
To keep my Christmas low cost and low stress I have set up a
Christmas savings fund. I have done this
in years past and it has worked really well.
Each month I tuck a set amount away into an envelope to save until
October so I have all the needed cash ready for any purchases I need to
make. This year I am setting aside $10
each month so by October I will have saved $100 to spend on Christmas. While $100 may not seem like a lot of money
to some, it is to me.
This year I will be making most of my gifts. I didn't make gifts last year and I really
did miss that part of preparing for Christmas.
I have loads of supplies and materials in both my home and garage that I
will be putting to good use. I can
hardly wait to get started.
I have already gone through my Christmas card list and
updated it for the new year. I will take
another look at it next fall, but for the most part it is pretty much good to
go. I spent a day crafting and was able
to make my Christmas cards. I used
supplies and envelopes I already had on hand.
Next fall I will print my mailing labels, I have blank labels in my
stock too, and buy a book of Christmas stamps using some of the money in my
fund.
As I work on gifts throughout the coming year I will try to
use up what I have first and if I need to purchase anything I will have the
funds I've saved up so far to use. I
will keep track of my Christmas spending too so I don't go over budget this
year.
For friends, co-workers, teachers, coaches and family
outside of our immediate family we will only be doing food gifts again this
year. Food gifts are always appreciated
and I am able to incorporate the supplies I need to make then into our regular
grocery budget. That frees up a lot of
our Christmas funds.
We enjoy a simple Christmas with baking sessions, music, playing
games, laughing and good conversation, decorating, light displays and small
useful gifts under our tree. That is all
we need and that is what makes our Christmases truly special.
I'm in! Goodness knows I have plenty of supplies. I would imagine you can't share much about what you are working on if your immediate family reads your blog but I would love some new ideas. If you can share anything I would love to see it. I have a few ideas but need many more. I have a ton of quilt ideas but those take lots of time and I need smaller scale projects to work on. I do troll pinterest from time to time but find it overwhelming.
ReplyDeletePinterest blows my mind. Sometimes too many ideas for sure! I will share what I can.
DeleteI love a simple Christmas pretty low key here. As a rule, I dislike giving big ticket items at Christmas, though this year, youngest did get a chair for his bedroom. Our Advent and Christmas really revolve around things like decorating and baking, eggnog and music. I also stamp, and love to make cards, and spend hours on end creating Christmas cards. I'd be lying if I said my kids didn't like the gifts, but they are becoming very thoughtful gift givers. They also, like me, love to wrap gifts. This year, the gifts under our tree were mostly things like favorite shampoos, toothpaste, cologne, slippers and blankets--stuff I pick up all year long.
ReplyDeleteThis year, I didn't bake for friends, instead I made them beeswax candles--not cheap, but I know they appreciated it. It's funny how traditions get started. For instance, this year, DH received a shoebox of fabric from my stash, with a picture of a quilt pattern from me as his major gift. Kids seem to think this will be an annual thing, with the recipient rotating, much like the Christmas theme quilts I make each fall!
For me, $100 is a good deal to spend on Christmas, though I may spend more, as like you, my Christmas cost comes from my regular grocery budget. If I see something that I think will be a good idea/good deal for Christmas, I pick it up, even if I find it in January! I don't really "Christmas shop."
I love what you do. Very similar to us. I rarely shop at Christmas time. I prefer to work on gifts all year long and reserve Christmas for baking and fun with loved ones. No need to be a part of Black Friday or any other holiday shopping frenzy.
DeleteI love it! We had a small Christmas as usual this year. Made several kinds of soup and goodies to eat on Christmas day. Salad too for those who wanted it and hoagie sandwiches. We had my mother in law and grown son here and invited our 80 year old friend from Church. We gave and got useful gifts. My son gave us a 20.00 gift card to the Maverik gas station. Perfect! We got gas a few days later. I am going through my office now trying to see what I have for gifts and what I can make this year starting now. I have used many gifts from my gift tote over the last year of birthdays and other things. I just keep my eyes open and usually know who I am thinking a gift will work for when buying. Even on sale. Hit the after, after Christmas sales at Big lots and while everyone else was buying Christmas decor I was looking in the food dept.! Holiday foods were 90% off. I got Nestles semi sweet chips with mint chips mixed in for .25 a bag. Too bad there were only two. Red and green nacho chips (a good brand) for .30 a bag and got 6. Russell Stover bags of mini chocolate and peppermint santas (260 in ea. bag - very mini!) for .30 a bag. All the chocolate can be frozen and used in cookies and things throughout the year. I took a bag to Bunco and a bag of the chips. It cost me .60 to supply some of the snacks. lol. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you approach the holiday. Useful gifts are always appreciated. Great buys at Big Lots. Good for you!
DeleteIt sounds like you have it under control so you don't get rushed at the last minute and can keep it frugal. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I wasn't as prepared last year and I didn't like it at all.
DeleteYou're already planning, oh my goodness! I plan to only give gifts of consumables. I really like the fact that you mail Christmas cards. After years of printing out a completely filled sheet of labels, I only send them to the people that send us one now. I did an "experiment" a few years ago to see how many cards we would get from people if I stopped initiating it. It turns out it's only about 6 cards. I don't know if it's because postage stamps have become expensive and so people rely more on texts/emails instead (we get several of those), but I really miss the card-in-the-mail tradition.
ReplyDeleteD.
Christmas cards are a big part of my holiday. I don't send out a lot of them, but I wouldn't want to cut this out of my holiday lineup. It makes me feel good.
DeleteOh my- I'm impressed. I did start a new tradition this year; every 25th of the month I'm going to watch a Christmas movie. January it was Polar Express- I had seen bits of it but never watched it from start to finish. I like baking goodies for folks but honestly, most of my friends seem to be on diets or no sugar/flour! It's frustrating LOL. I just give family (3 kids, 2 spouses and long time fiancee and 4 grands) a hundred dollar bill and no one has ever complained. It adds up but I do the 52 week challenge and have the cash. We play a dice game Christmas eve with our local relatives too for gifts I do pick up all year- mainly household items, consumables, and gift cards.
ReplyDeleteI'd never thought to do a movie each month. That is a great idea! Sounds like you've got Christmas mastered. I like cash gifts and wouldn't have a problem with it either! :0)
DeleteI know you are a to the budget planner like I am (aw the joys of being an accountant). Do you mind me asking where you carve out your $10 a month for Christmas? We seem to have very similar lives, jobs, interests, etc and in order for me to do this I would have to reconfigure my budget. I am thinking this is a good idea for me too but I have to lower something else to do it. Lower savings is out of the question for me.
ReplyDeleteI've been working overtime so I was able to earn the extra for that deposit. I hope to continue to do that regularly.
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