How much are you spending on Christmas presents?
I’m happy to say that my Christmas shopping is almost done. I didn’t have a budget this year, but I anticipated spending around $600 (that’s what I budgeted last year) … and I was relatively close, coming in at around $667 for 13 presents. I’m surprised that I ended up spending more than last year, but I’m okay with it. Last year my Christmas present total might have been less, but this year I’ve been able to buy almost all of the presents through side income (apart from both my FT and PT income). That means my Christmas shopping will barely affect December’s budget. How awesome is that!? :D
There are still a few things I need to pick up as well as a chocolate order, which will probably push my final Christmas present total to around $750. But I would guess that the actual amount to affect my December budget will be around $150.
How much are you going to spend on Christmas presents this year? Is it more or less than last year?
25 Responses to “How much are you spending on Christmas presents?”
Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts in the comments
Leave a Reply
As seen in…
Recent Comments
Categories
- annual goals (23)
- banking (26)
- blog (191)
- budget (96)
- car (41)
- contest (26)
- credit card (19)
- credit score (10)
- debt (27)
- design business (37)
- down payment (28)
- education (14)
- EI (16)
- emergency fund (18)
- entertainment (194)
- fitness (165)
- guest post (19)
- health care (56)
- housing (57)
- investing (43)
- job (298)
- making money (55)
- miscellaneous (306)
- monthly challenge (52)
- monthly goals (112)
- motivation (36)
- property (43)
- recipes and food (27)
- relationship (117)
- retirement (30)
- saving money (176)
- scooter (24)
- spending (447)
- sponsored post (8)
- tax refund (22)
- travel (302)
- vlog (2)
- weekly spending recap (80)
I think my Christmas spending total has come in around $600 dollars. I need to go back and check all the receipts! But this is about on par with what I typically spend. I was able to find some really great deals on some stuff so overall I’m happy with how well I made out!
My recent post Thank Goodness for Internet Shopping
I budgeted and saved $1000 and hoping it all comes in on target. I have two kids, their father, my parents, a new great nephew, my secret santa exchange, something for my student teacher, postage and food etc.
My recent post Amazing house
DH and I budgeted about $1000 between us. I think we've stuck pretty close, as each person's budget has been bang on. I'll add up all the “damage” on the weekend with receipts to see exactly how much we spent. I use the money that would have gone to property taxes in Nov and Dec (we pay Jan-Oct) and then take some of our discretionary spending, so it doesn't effect the budget too much. Plus, this year, I budgeted the HST rebate, so it should be peachy.
My budget is about $250 which includes my parents, brother and roommate.
No one really needs anything so we're all pretty much getting smaller items just for the sake of exchanging gifts. In our family almost everyone is grown up so we don't exchange gifts with our cousins, etc. It's pretty low key.
For my friends I threw a dinner party and gave each a jar of my homemade preserves. This sounds like it was cheap, but it really wasn't! I just thought it would be a better gift than a soul-less gift card to some store. Instead I gave the warmth of my heart :) (haha so cliché)
My recent post Dealing with an Alcoholic Guest
I love your jar of homemade preserves idea… it sounds thoughtful and personal. Great idea:)
Christmas is usually low key for me. In our family, we just love the spirit of Christmas and the holiday season. Our family spends no more than $20 on gifts for each other, and “family gifts” or “gifts just for the kids” is common and accepted. My friends and I do a secret Santa every year with a $25 budget. We do spend a lot of quality time together though. We set up a great tree, put out our lights, meet up often for dinners and impromtu parties, and the “kids” (21 is totally being a 'kid'… In our family, 'kids' range from 3 to 28!) get together and watch movies at home, bake etc. I can barely remember the gifts I got, but its all those great times together that have defined the Christmas season for me. Christmas usually costs me $150 tops, and is never a budget breaker.
My recent post S’mores Cookies!
I have 8 important people to buy for as well as something small and nice for about 10 people/couples.
This year I have managed to spend only $300 for all my gifts. Each year, I use my points fro various programs to buy my gifts. This allows me to stay under budget and within my financial means.
Also, I like to make homemade chocolates (about $15 for 4 boxes) to give out to friends/hosts at Christmas parties we attend.
My budget is about $700. I didn't set any money aside for Christmas presents this year :( It'll definitely be my goal for next year!! :) I spent about $350 so far this year on Christmas Presents!
My recent post Office Etiquette 101
my budget is $150. I think it's easier when kids are grown up as they understand the money situation better and they don't need all those gifts from santa,
My recent post Getting current
My budget is about the same as your around $700. This includes present for my family and my wife's family.
My budget originally last year was going to be $500. But I put away a little each month and ended up saving $800. So far I have spent probably $550 on my parents, my two brothers, my cousin, two roommates, and a secret santa gift. I have D to buy for now but if we end up going on a trip I'm going to suggest no Christmas exchange between us, or set a small limit. LOVED having money in December from saving up all year, definitely helped!!
My recent post Christmas Shopping is NEARLY DONE!!! Potential Vacation
I am JUST buying for the kiddos this year, so we will spend between $150 and $200 each on the three of them. Unfortunately, they are getting older, and want expensive things like video games, so our old $100 limit doesn't work out anymore. I always like to get them a few things they NEED, like clothes or toiletries so those things will be included.
My recent post Monday Menus
$0 – traveling is great that way. well I might by something for BF in Thailand. we will see
This year i am spending around $75 on each of my three Grandchildren. $50 on a Secret Santa gift for work, and then postage for cards and Groceries. A really cheap and cheerful Christmas this year
My recent post Working and Babysitting
i spent about the same amount as you… $680 to be exact! it was so stressful buying over 20 gifts and planning it all… i am so glad it's over! christmas can be super stressful at times!!!
I have 4 kids, draw names (2 people) and have a few other family members to buy for and we spent over $2K this year… all in cash, but still. Ouch!
You see, budgeting for the amount I spend over Christmas would be the smart thing. Unfortunately for me, I'm not smart.
That said, I typically do have amounts specific to the different people I buy gifts for and tend to stay pretty close to them. In theory, I guess I am budgeting the amount I wish to spend, just not properly accounting for it through savings.
My recent post I Heart my Tassimo
I spent about $450 this year for about 14 people. BF wanted to spend $250+ on each other, but with the new house and everything, I capped it off at $100. I bought a lot of gifts ahead of time in the States when I went to hawaii (at the premium outlets) and then bought dollar store cards. It's a budget xmas this year youngandthrifty style! lol :) I felt kinda bad when I gave my friend her present the other day (a Michael Kors sweater I got for $20) and she got me a Kiehl's gift card for $40 AND a beautiful lavender candle.
I spent $173.40 on 9 people (7 of them kids) and I donated $50 ($25 x 2) for my grandma and aunt. This is definitely the cheapest Christmas I've ever had!
My recent post This Year- Christmas is for Kids
I spent $438.96 (exactly)! Bought gifts for Mom, Dad, both sisters, my brother in law, and my boyfriend. I tracked down what I spent in Google Docs so I could keep track of my spending. It helped to set up what I was going to get everyone with the expected price, then entering the actual cost afterward.
My problem is that I wanted to spend similar amounts on my immediate family (parents and sisters). Not really for budget reasons, I just wanted to make sure everyone got good things and I didn't cheap out on anyone. So some people got 2 gifts, while others got 4. Still, I spent around the same for everyone.
Didn't set a spending limit with my boyfriend, but I definitely spent more on him than on my family…whoops!
I spent about $500, although about $60 was spent on postage because I no longer live in Canada. Another $45 of that was spent on Christmas cards and stamps, so I really only spent $400 on gifts. And from those gifts were presents for partner, two sisters, mom, dad, boss and two colleagues. For my father, I cheated because I work for a few luxury car brands and they give me free stuff throughout the year which I save up and then give the things to my father, who likes those gifts anyway. My only final gift to give is a tip to my housecleaner next week… Any ideas on how much to tip? I've heard one week's wages, but should it be more?
I've spent $450 on gifts for 13 friends and family this season. It's prime birthday season with many of my friends, so a few of the more expensive gifts were to cover both occasions (birthday and Christmas)–which was well-received. In the end, it worked out to about $25 per occasion (birthday or Christmas) per person. Some of my friends really appreciate hand-made gifts, so I raided my craft pile to make about a half dozen gifts (which is not included in the calculated total). Even though some of the gifts this year weren't expensive, they suit the person perfectly, so I can't complain!
With all the debt I have to pay off, I'm planning to spend less this Christmas. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, but my budget is around $300 to $400. My parents are frugal individuals so we grew up getting inexpensive but useful gifts, things that we really need. It's the thought that counts anyway. :) This is what I want to impart to my kids as well, so as young as they are now, they'd know the value of money.
My recent post Should I Get A Credit Card Overseas
I believe I topped out right around the $725 mark, including mailing costs. That's less than last year because this year I asked my family to agree to a budget before we started shopping (They agreed thankfully!). It's WAY less than I spent the year before. I had just gotten out of university and went HOG WILD buying people gifts that year!
I also donated ~$60 to the food bank this year. It's more than I usually do, though it's going to likely become a regular part of my Christmas budget. A friend and I agreed that rather than buy each other gifts this year we would pool our funds and buy as much food as we could for the local food bank. It felt good :)
My recent post Needs vs Wants
Wow, barely making a dent in your December budget that's impressive! :) I plan on spending around $150 this year, but it's also because my immediate family is pretty small and we (fortunately!) don't have any tradition for giving presents to cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. My brother also doesn't have any kids yet, and on top of that, his girlfriend won't be spending Christmas with us this year since she's visiting her family back home (in Canada, actually :) for the holidays. So $150 should do it this year. Hopefully even less. :)
My recent post So my boyfriend and me broke up this weekend