Christmas is in FORTY THREE days. And do you know how much money I have in my PayPal account?
$4.04.
OMFGWTFAHHHH! How are we going to buy Christmas presents? Why does this happen EVERY YEAR? I even have a savings account at the credit union that is called a “Christmas Club” account. The idea is to put money in throughout the year so that you don’t have to come up with a big chunk all at once. DUH. It’s not hard. If I saved even $10 out of each of Chris’ paychecks, that would be $240 we wouldn’t have to worry about, and I know we wouldn’t miss $10. So why can’t I do it?
I checked my account at PayPerPost, and I have $193.66 in approved opps coming between now and December 10th. I also have another $147.37 in posts that haven’t been approved yet, but hopefully they will be. So that should take care of gifts for the kids and Chris, but I also need gifts for my Dad and Stepmother, stepsister and stepbrother, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and my sister in law and family. Not to mention Grandparents-crap! I always wish I could also buy gifts for my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their kids, but I only have so much money to spend, so they will get a nice card instead.
I want to make photo cards this year, right. So much to do! So little time. Must take more PPP opps, must make more money!
Gifts can be tough to find for certain people. Gift baskets are a great way to personalize a gift for someone. From fruit gift baskets to special christmas gift baskets, finding that perfect gift basket for someone makes getting gifts easier.
I had set aside money for Christmas when we got our income tax refund. Instead, most of it was spent on summer vacation and I have been scrambling ever since to re-acquire the funds.
Something that was not “popular” at first in our family (us, my sister’s family, my brother, my mother and my in-laws), was to set a $10 limit for both children and adults. This year it is $10 for nieces and nephews, $5 per person for all other family members. This has encouraged us to be very creative. Not everyone abides by this rule, there is always someone who spends more, but overall it has worked for us. As for my own 2 children, we usually set a budget around $150 each. If there are funds left, then me and my husband will buy for each other.
Sheila-OMG, I never mailed you the Hannah Montana DVD! I am SO SORRY. My husband has been gone for a week on business and I’ve been so wrapped up in solo parenting, that I totally forgot about the DVD. I will mail it THIS WEEK, I promise.
I like your gift limit idea, and $10 each seems pretty doable. The idea isn’t how much the gift cost, it’s the thought, right?
By the way, would you be interested in a Christmas Card Exchange? I did one last year with some of my bloggy buddies and it was so great to get all those special cards. Let me know if you are and I will start a list!
Oy! don’t remind me!
We don’t “do” presents really for my brother and sister — just for the kids — and what my sister and I do is we each buy something (or take something from our own stash) for our own kids and put the other’s name on it as a “from” — so I’ll take a DVD that I was already planning on giving the boys and stick my neices’ names on it. That way we’re not spending “extra” money and the kids are getting something they want.
My parents and Rich’s parents don’t want gifts either. We usually do something cheap like make a DVD from the photos we’ve taken over the year and give them that. Maybe print up some nicer snap shots too.
Cutting out “extended family” really helps!
Hubby and I haven’t given each other monetary presents in a while, instead we each have to come up with a few homemade presents that uses mainly items we already have in the house. Last year hubby turned pieces of an old wooden swing set into a funky table for our sun room for me. I made him a quilt out of old shirts and such. Even some of the presents for our daughters are along those lines. These handmade gifts are always much appreciated and seem more personal than the latest $200 gadget.
Yeah, I know how hard to budget nowadays esp. Christmas is fast approaching. Well, this year I plan to give presents to children only and for young adults and grown ups might be a Christmas card only. Anyway, the spirit of Christmas is still there whether there are gifts or not.
We always need more money don’t we?
I usually buy gifts starting in August or September. I’ve found that spreading my buying out helps.
Here in our place Christmas doesnt need to cost that much. You can prepare gifts like a bottle of wine for your mother and father and you must need to buy things one by one for awhile that you have no penny yet in your paypal. Anyway there are other good gifts that doesn’t require much money right?.
Christmas is indeed enjoyable because of some presents we could get from people that care about us. Although gifts should not cost that much as long as the thoughts were there besides we can be creative or buy some cheaper stuff and re decorate it or put some creative ideas in it.
Thanks for the risqu‚, iam unbiased doing my xmas warm-heartedly-founded now, got any ideas for this year?