If the budget is £50 and you get a bargain for £30

[tralaaa]

Do you buy another gift or save the saving. Ive managed to get some good offers and brought more gifts. So spent the budget not in effect saved any money.

[DubaiismyBlackpool]

Ooo that would be a win win situation for me.
I’d be buying more as the budget was £50. My DH is a bit funny with budgets, so if I’d only spent £30 this year, he’d expect the same for next year.

[upperlimit]

I'd just get the planned gift. I wouldn't feel compelled to top up to meet budget requirements.

[Kursk]

I would save the savings, I would feel good about getting a good deal and still have money to show for it.

[Blodplod]

Oh, that’s easy. I would buy something extra so I had spent the £50. That way the recipient gets the benefit of a bargain too! Couldn’t imagine pocketing the difference if I found it cheaper. Seems very miserly to do that and I would be mortified if the recipient knew I had bought it on special offer as of course prices/sales etc are so transparent online these days.

[MrsJayy]

I would be thrillled I got a bargain and not worry about topping up the present is worth £50 so it is win/win you shouldn't be tallying up the change imo

[upperlimit]

I'm not miserly. I just but people gifts, not budgets.

It would be different if there were an arrangement that two people would spend a certain amount of money on one another. But that's not how we roll.

[Fairylea]

I would spend it elsewhere - maybe get nicer food bits etc.

[CJCreggsGoldfish]

This depends, if it's for my children then I'd bank the saving as I don't have budget and buy what they want or need (up to a point). If it were for friends, where we do have a set budget, then I'd top it up to that amount.

[rachrach2]

Depends. I used double up nectar points to buy my in laws a gift but I could have bought us something to consider that their main present regardless. I do a secret santa where budget is £40, I always spend full amount on that and pass savings on to the recipient!

[Notso]

It depends, we do a family secret Santa with a £50 budget and this year got one of the recipients an Alexa Dot thing which is just under £50 rrp. However on Black Friday it was £35 so we got a smart plug to go with it.
If one of the kids asks for something which is usually £50 but I get it for £30 then I think myself lucky and use the rest of the money on someone else.

[MrsHathaway]

Depends whose budget it is.

If you've set yourself a budget of £50 and you're giving a gift worth £50 then that's great.

If it's a more organised thing where you're effectively funding your own present by putting a present of equal value into the pot ... well that's a bit different.

I think it's daft to spend up to a budget limit without looking at how sensible the present is in its own right. I've heard of people including vouchers/gift cards of very precise amounts to make sure that things are absolutely on the budget (eg a necklace and a jumper and a gift card for £6.34) whereas I think it's more important that the general scale is equal or fair, eg one child gets a tablet when the other gets a bike, or both your fathers get a hardback book, even if there is a disparity in price.

[MrsHathaway]

I would be mortified if the recipient knew I had bought it on special offer as of course prices/sales etc are so transparent online these days.

Does the reverse apply, though?

Say you bought the thing a few weeks ago full price at £50 and it's now gone in the sale at £35 - do you rush out to spend another £15 just in case the recipient thinks you might have got it in the sale and stiffed her?

[RB68]

For me its about the gift not the amount spent and budgets are meant to be guides not absolutes. I would put it in my pressie pot as usually I get bugger all

[2gorgeousboys]

For me it varies, if I was intending to spend c £25 on my SIL and found something she'd love reduced to £10 in the sale, I wouldn't spend the extra. However if I saw something she'd love worth £50 reduced to £25 then I'd buy it.

I like to shop around for bargains and sometimes people get a 'better' present because of it and sometimes I save money.

[ASqueakingInTheShrubbery]

Depends who it is. If it's an individual, like DD or DH, I'd probably spend the saving to get them something else. If it's a niece or nephew, where the budget is £10 but I get the perfect present reduced to £5, I'd leave it. Better that all siblings in a family get one present of equal-looking value/equal suitability than I spend all the budget and one out of three gets more than the others.

[WhirlwindHugs]

Yeah, I agree it depends on the set up. DH and I have a budget for each other, so I would probably top it up.

Anyone else I would just save the difference and be grateful.

[Auspiciouspanda]

If you are receiving a gift in return that the person has spent £50 yes you should top it up.

If it's just a budget you made up in your head then really it depends on how much you need the money really.

[SingaporeSlinky]

I would try and save the difference. The person still gets a £50 present but you pay less.
With children's toys in particular for nieces and nephews I try and split the difference, so for example if the budget is £20 I get something on sale from £30 reduced to £15. So they're still getting something worth more, but I also save £5.

[HollyJollyDillydolly]

I always spend the budget so if something was £20 less I'd buy something extra, dh would save the £20.

[Masonbee]

Depends on the set up. Sometimes budgets are set so that no-one feels pressured /embarrassed at the disparity in spending money (e.g. if one sibling earns more than another) so if it was for that reason I probably wouldn't top up

[goose1964]

Before I met DH I would buy what I wanted and if I had any money left I'd buy a santa gift such as posh chocolate or a bottle of something nice. DH on the other hand has to match the budget to the penny, we've even given one of our kids 5p in cash so they would be on target. I am an expert on very cheap presents

[StealingYourWiFi]

I managed to get a designer purse on an online outlet for £50 reduced from £120. I then got a 20% discount code so got it for £40. I'm all for a bargain and means I can spend that extra tenner on something else for them

[MrsHathaway]

Reminds me that a couple of years ago SIL got me a very expensive looking handbag - just my kind of thing but wildly outside our usual unspoken budget. As I opened it she was at pains to tell me she'd got it in Hong Kong and it was probably a fake Still suited me but safely within budget so didn't make me feel awkward.

I think there can be a problem when a present appears to be too expensive or too cheap for the expected budget. If the budget is flexible then typical 10-25% savings are fine, but if you get a £50 gift for £10 it's sort of indiscreet to give it to your work Secret Santa (budget £10) because even though you're literally within budget you don't appear to be.

[FucksakeCuntingFuckingTwats]

I said this to my husband last night. When adding up the cost of the kids piles (I like to make sure I spend an equal amount) should I go by the pre-sale value or the sale price.

He said sale price but then one child could have presents with a much higher value than the others but if I go by sale price I might end up spending more on one than the other argh. Also if I go by sale price I might get lots of good deals this year but not next and then they'd expect the same value of stuff.

With nieces and nephews if I get something that's normally 30 half price then I feel guilty for spending only 15 if their siblings present cost 30 and then I buy something else then feel bad they have two gifts and the full price preset person has one hahaha I think I overthink this!

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

Definitely depends. Secret santa set up then it should be topped up. A budget you've set for yourself then, no.