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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Budgeting - how!

84 replies

HarkTheHeraldAngels · 23/07/2024 16:33

Friendly replies only please! I really don't want arguing or boasting over how much everyone spends on Christmas presents or Christmas in general but...

How do you budget for Christmas? Do you look at what you take home after bills etc and work it out from there or do you pick a number you feel is realistic and save/look for bargains under that.

I usually budget for gifts but never sit down and work out what I can spend on everything else but this year it is becoming a necessity that this is done. I'm talking the food, decorations, days out etc.

Thank you!

OP posts:
trainwreckwendy · 23/07/2024 16:51

I'm awful at budgeting. Beginning to try and be better. A good friend has is into 18months of very effective budgeting, so I shall tell you what she said when I asked her re Xmas. She downloaded all her bank statements from the previous year (mainly credit card statements - food shop was on current account) and made a note of everything she had spent and tried to assign it (e.g entertaining/family gift/friends gift etc etc). She then decided to cut 10% off her overall spend. This was around Valentine's Day (she and her OH had decided they were too broke to go out, so did a review of spending instead!). She then divided the total by the rest of the year's months (9) and said she'd save that much each month. And she did it.

I want her to be in charge of me.

Kneenightmare · 23/07/2024 17:10

I did similar a few years back - I worked out what I spent on all the presents, food shop and Xmas outings and then put 1/12th a month away in a high interest regular savings account. I track all the presents I buy on an excel spreadsheet to stop myself going too mad and try to stick to a budget for each person.

Bjorkdidit · 23/07/2024 17:29

Well assuming you do have some spare money but not so much that you can spend on anything you want with no thought or compromise, you have to prioritise because the more you spend on Christmas, the less you have to spend on other non essentials.

Ideally, you'd review all your budget to maximise your income, account for your essential costs and check these are all at the best price.

Then you need to account or annual and irregular essential costs like insurance, car repairs, servicing etc, school shoes/uniforms etc and so you have some money available should the washing machine etc break.

Note that we haven't thought about Christmas yet because all the above is more important.

You'd also want to think about making sure your pensions are on track and that you have emergency money should you lose an income.

Once you've dealt with all the above, you'll know what you have for non essentials, which needs to cover Christmas, but also days out, grooming beyond basic haircuts, coffees/meals out etc, holidays, hobbies, sports etc.

So you need to split the money available for all these sorts of things according to what's important to your family.

If you want to spend a lot on Christmas, you'll have to spend less on other things. But in any case, you need to save money each month to pay for it. But as for what you buy, think carefully about what's necessary. Many people buy far far too much and most of it isn't wanted by the recipients.

Martin Lewis has been trying to persuade people to not overspend or get into debt for Christmas and judging by all the crap in the shops, pictures of giant piles of gifts on social media and threads on here stressing about buying for people who've said they don't want anything he's not really succeeding. But lots of budgeting advice here:

https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2018/12/martin-lewis--how-to-go-christmas-cold-turkey/ In short, save what you can afford and use that money to have the best Christmas you can without overspending.

We don't have DC and don't spend very much, so don't budget as such. But things like decorations and wrapping paper are always bought in the sale the previous year. I don't think I've ever paid full price for these things and most of our Christmas decorations are the original set I bought nearly 30 years ago, with just a few added on over the years when I've seen nice ones reduced.

Whothefuckdoesthat · 23/07/2024 17:39

We’re obsessed with Christmas in our house. And we tend to do a bit of both, but we do start early.

DH is very organised, takes what’s left of his salary after bills have been paid and puts some in his golf fund, some in the Christmas savings etc, I’m far more unorganised but I’m very good at finding bargains. So I’m always hunting about for sales etc. and we both do this from the start of the year. And then, towards the end of the year. we see what we’ve got left to buy and how much we’ve got to spend. If we can’t afford it, it doesn’t get bought. If we’ve saved more than we need to spend, then great, we’ve made a head start on next year’s savings. We won’t go into debt for it.

Decorations - We have a fake tree and we use the same baubles every year. I like to buy a couple of new baubles each year, but only if the money is free and there’s nothing more pressing to spend it on.

Food - We collect Nectar Points all year from shopping and fuel and spend them at Christmas. We start buying non fresh stuff as soon as Use By dates allow to spread the cost. We also have a pee pot that any coins go into throughout the year.

Days Out - We know what we like doing and it gets booked around summer time, so we put away a few quid each month from January. A tenner here and there quickly adds up.

JuniperAndRose · 23/07/2024 18:54

I’m not good at bargain hunting, I’m better at saving, so I put away a set amount per month into a pot. Then I aim to spread the cost as much as possible. I’ll buy
non-perishable food in October, and try
to finish all present buying by the end of November. Anything left in the pot in December is for fresh Christmas
food and for the extra social
plans that crop up. I do love Christmas decorations though so I keep an eye out for those all year round 😀

DinosaurPotato · 23/07/2024 19:00

We save 166 a month for gifts and 35 for food. Treat it like a bill!

curlycurlymoo · 23/07/2024 19:02

I save £100 a month. Then use that to pay for everything. I can afford that.

Isthiscorrect · 23/07/2024 19:06

Some excellent budgeting advice here. Slowly and steadily is how it works.
However you also need to consider who you buy for. Do you end up buying tat for other adults. Can you make an agreement that you can afford to buy? Try not to go down the no more than £5 route. Because then some people go all out others just a pile of tat that you don't want.
And kids. Honestly they will be happy with whatever you can afford.
Well done for getting ahead of the game.

christmaspudding43 · 23/07/2024 19:17

We put money away each month and as I buy stuff I take it back out of the Christmas pot. It covers most Christmas stuff although some socialising just comes out of the December disposable income.

Decorations wise, we love to buy one from any holiday we have. I'm not personally a fan of colour themes and particularly not of changing them each year so we don't consider them in the budget as a couple of souvenirs just gers wrapped up in holiday money.

Food, combination of points and cash.

To echo what someone said above, be wary of setting budgets that just end up with tat. Consider options such as secret santa, a book exchange (as in choosing and giving books to everyone/a certain group), having a day out together rather than exchanging presents, particularly a day you would already have done.

Meadowfinch · 23/07/2024 19:20

I have a JLP credit card and earn gift vouchers through the year that I save for Christmas. Plus points on Waterstones and Boots cards are saved for Christmas.

I have organised my bills - car insurance, car service, house insurance etc which I usually put on my credit card - so none of them come up in November, December or January. That frees my credit card regular payment to spend on Christmas.

It means I have about £800 to spend on Christmas.

JollyHostess101 · 23/07/2024 19:24

Not much help for this year but I save with Park from January to October then get vouchers (this year sainsburys and Asda) for the food shop and a prepaid Mastercard for gifts!

Think this year it’s been £35 a month and I’m getting £400 worth of vouchers and I honestly don’t miss that money going out so when the vouchers it feels great to do the food shop and not have to worry as it’s all paid for!!

HarkTheHeraldAngels · 23/07/2024 19:50

Really good advice everyone! Going go get my notebook and read over again 😊

OP posts:
SanMarzano · 23/07/2024 20:47

Do you have an idea of how much you’ve spent in previous years and whether that felt like too much? Or have any idea at this stage of the type of thing you are likely to buy? Eg MIL usually wants slippers which are about £20, DS usually wants a LEGO set for about £100, DD needs a new bike this year etc?

Starlight40 · 23/07/2024 21:24

I work out what I spend on us as a family, other family members, stockings and advents calendars and divide the amount by 12 and put the money away every month. I keep Clubcard points towards the Christmas shop and I also start buying food items for Christmas from September, just 1 or 2 items a week.x

caringcarer · 23/07/2024 21:39

I decide how much I am going to spend on each person and then stick to that. For adult DC they get a set amount to choose a larger gift they pick themselves hopefully sending me a link then I'll get a few items I know they will like/use/eat for their stockings. I do spend more on nice food and drinks but again I decide how much I'll spend then stick to it.

caringcarer · 23/07/2024 21:42

Also I used Topcashback through the year and save up cashback and use at Xmas.

easterbuns1 · 23/07/2024 21:47

I use plum, it automatically rounds up and saves into a separate account account for me. I do that all year and use the money for Christmas and holiday spends.

pinksheetss · 23/07/2024 22:07

I have a little Christmas pot savings in my bank account and had budgeted my salary to account for Christmas savings. First time being able to do this.

Will put £200 a month away from now til Christmas

I also have Asda rewards app and have got about £90 in my Christmas pot, all just from
Regular spending and scanning the app. It will help towards food shop for Xmas.

Partner will budget some as well to add to pot.

hattie43 · 23/07/2024 23:49

I have a separate pot on my banking app for birthdays and Christmas and put a set amount in every payday . I decided on an amount I considered sensible . I have a tendency to get carried away so it's a way of monitoring my spending as I try not to go over what's in there .

RobinEllacotStrike · 24/07/2024 00:21

I budget over the year - one category for each child and a bigger "Christmas" one to cover other gifts/tips, a show and days out.

I usually cover the food in the general grocery budget plus a bit.

I don't buy gifts for many people. I reuse decorations & also use holly etc. From garden.

I try not to go mad at Christmas

TinselTarTars · 24/07/2024 05:46

We love Christmas here too! My children are 6 and 3, so not at the big ticket presents yet. I save 100 per month, but will shop throughout the year, I get their big present in Nov. In my family, we only buy for the children and everyone brings a dish for family gatherings.
It works, food shop is always a little eye watering but I'm creative in stretching out the left overs.
One of the most played with gifts from last year was road tape from flying tiger £2!

bergamotorange · 24/07/2024 05:56

What's your aim - to make Christmas cheaper or to spread the cost or just to know what you spend?

Review what you spent last year and see if that feels acceptable to you. Almost everyone can cut back whilst still having a great Christmas if that's your aim

Caspianberg · 24/07/2024 06:12

We stopped buying for everyone. That really helps.
i now only buy for Ds and dh. ( plus a small stocking for anyone else who happens to spend Xmas with us).

And for nieces and nephews - 5 of them. The budget for them remains the same but now there’s more, siblings get less ie used to spend around £40 each when just 2 of them, now those with 2 per family I still spend £40 but between both children.

Anyone else we might see over the Christmas period gets homemade biscuits or chutney

Youmustbejoking01 · 24/07/2024 06:33

We put aside £100 pm in a savings account.

To be fair we dont go overboard...I dont feel that you need to spend a lot to feel Christmassy so we might not spend all of the savings. We have two children and might host between 2 and 4 extra people over Christmas.

pontipinemum · 24/07/2024 08:33

I have a revolut vault where I save for a few things over the year. I find it handy to have it visually in front of me what is where. I have one for Christmas/ birthday/ holidays/ oil

As a family, I worked out approx our food shop/ DS's Santa toys divide it by 12 and save that each month. I will up that this January as we will have a 2nd child.

Then come Oct, for myself I will start to put aside a little extra for myself to spend over Christmas with going out/ dinners/ coffees etc.

I get paid monthly like a lot of people get paid before Christmas, then have an incredibly long January. I do also work out how much I need for Jan the usual things like mortgage/ bills but enough that it isn't completely miserable. I put that aside (out of current account) and it is not touched.

I also do not add to my savings in December.

I am good at budgeting and I do then start to keep an eye out for things I think people would like as present. But I buy for very few people. Which of course mean I receive very little but that is absolutely fine by me

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