Anyone else have a Christmas gift spreadsheet?

[2kidsintow]

Want to know how much I spent on my DDs in 2010?
Or what I bought my Mum in 2009? I can tell you.
I love filling in my spreadsheet. My OH even got carried away and put in some conditional formatting for me that made it turn green if I ticked to box to say the items had arrived at my home.



It's been interesting to see how inflation has affected my costs. And I can look back and remember what my kids were REALLY into that year. And it has prevented me buying duplicates of things.

I love my spreadsheet.

[AlohaMama]

Oh a MNetter after my own heart! Of course I have a Christmas spreadsheet! Also includes tab for menu plan and cross-referenced to shopping list. What could be more festive??!

[runningforme]

OMG, I have one of these too! Though I use it more to enter ideas and budgets for each person, along with links to where I can buy said items. I have a column for estimated cost and one for actual cost. As I buy items and enter in the actual cost, it updates to show how much I have spent so far..... I too also have extra tabs for my menu and associated shopping lists

[Aspiemum2]

I don't have one and don't want one - no paper trail so dh can't see how much I've over spent

[dreamingofanallotment]

Me! I have a spreadsheet with present ideas, what I'm making, how much it cost, whether I've bought it etc, plus a list of people I've sent Christmas cards to. I'm glad it's not just me! My DH thinks I've finally come over to the dark side (he works with spreadsheets all day every day!)

[ettiketti]

No.

But now I realllly want one and am rubbish at Excel!

[VoldemortsNipple]

I don't have a spreadsheet. But I do have an app on my phone :o

It works basically the same way as runningforme's spreadsheet. It has the added benefit of being portable and is password protected. Perfect for those of us who are less computer illiterate :)

No chance of dh knowing how much I really spend or the dcs rumbling the Christmas lists that used to be stuffed under my pillow. Oh, and it stops me going too over budget too.

[Zeeky]

Me me me! It's the only way I can keep track of who I need to buy for, what I've bought, how much I've spent etc. I also have a sheet which is basically an hour by hour calendar for the run up to Christmas so that I can schedule all the stuff that needs doing and spread it out so that it's do-able instead of slumping in front of the tv every evening and then having a major panic/overload for the 2 days before Christmas

Can you tell I used to be an accountant!!??

[kate2boysandabump]

Me!!!!

I did my first one in 2008 and have had one every year since. One tab for gifts purchased with budget and actual cost, one for gifts received for dc and another for christmas sundries, tree etc.

I also have a word document with my food shopping list and an e-mail with links to send to people who ask what to get the ds's for presents.

I don't care what other people think, my spreadsheet makes me happy Glad there are other people around just like me!!!

[skyebluezombie]

I have a cashbook that goes back to 1990! How sad am I?! LOL

I started it because I wanted to know what I gave somebody the year before to make sure that I didnt give them the same thing again....

It also has my Christmas card list in from 1990 too. Its interesting to see how that has changed over the years as my friends have changed.

Im going to put it onto spreadsheet this year, as Im tight on money now that Im a single parent!

[daisie4]

I really want one - anyone care to share some headings so I can create my own? Or any links to one I can doctor??

[babesdontlie]

oh yes, I have a spreadsheet and its colour coded

[AlmostAHipster]

I too have an iPad app [shame cube] :)

[Arithmeticulous]

I have had in the past. I also had a column for RRP and then what I actally paid for it

[BiddyPop]

I roll it over every year in January to allow sales purchases be captured, log crafts made and set the new budget for this year. It covers ideas and firm decisions, basic budget, spent to date, final spend, to make, to buy, already have ("have" column changes from listing individual bits bought to Y once complete, and W gets added once they are wrapped). There are formulae to track how much I have left to spend per person, and in the overall budget (and I added an under/over original budget per person column a couple of years back).

It also has crafting ideas, lists of things I've made but not decided who to give to yet etc. And I keep intending to add a sheet of gifts in my stash but that will be a bit of work.

It's saved me embarssment like the year I was on mat leave and never updated it (I keep it in secure personal drive at work so no fear of snoopers), so I ended up giving my DSis a duplicate of something I;d given her 2 years ago jsut a different colour.

[enjoyingscience]

Me! We love the christmas spreadsheet.

It's colour coded, has seperate colours for ideas, bought and wrapped. We also have categories for the things to go in crackers and DSs stocking. . My mum's birthday is boxng day, so she gets two columns, lucky duck.

Weirdly though, the rest of my life is total chaos.

[plutocrap]

YEAH!! Mine is sorted by people, with cards/ecards and presents opposite, as appropriate!

[1stMrsF]

What else would you do?!

[cherryboomboom]

Yes me!! I keep all my old ones too so I don't duplicate gifts for people.
Love it and it's the only way I feel organised and can keep track of what's going on. I told my friend about it the other day and she was a bit
I thought I had my spreadsheet all sorted and was quite happy with it, but now reading about some of yours I have which is slightly

[RikersBeard]

Oh yes, otherwise how on earth do you remember that you bought aunt Lavinia rose bath salts last year and thus to send lavender this year?

And there is nothing so lovely as watching those boxes go from red to amber to green as the big day approaches!

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Okay, so if you're a dinosaur, what's the best app/ready-made spreadsheet to use? Any recommendations?
< Scrunches up Flylady Christmas Planner >

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

Sorry that came out wrong - didn't mean to imply you were all dinosaurs - that would be me of course .

[Scout19075]

Yup, of course! And a tab for birthday presents, too.

[Finbar]

I love my spreadsheet too..and my separate list of all present items including those for teachers -- to avoid duplication and to marvel at how little money I have hopefully spent!!

Oooh Scout..a tab for birthday presents - now you're talking!

[GoEasyPudding]

I have a spreadsheet for christmas cards. I always like to have the addresses to hand with information on there to do with the style of card I sent last year to avoid duplicating it. I often have card packs that haven't been totally finished.
It's also quite handy to make a little note if folk have stopped sending cards and have maybe started to use email instead or maybe are not in touch anymore. Stamps are so pricey now I can't be sending christmas greetings out into the Ether with no response. The spreadsheet allows me to be ruthless when needed.

I would like to use some of the ideas here and start listing gifts given, gift ideas and links to places to buy the stuff.
You guys are the gods of organisation. I bow down.