I’m sure that when you hear the word Christmas, the first thing that comes into your mind is… presents! It’s true that gifts nowadays are expensive and some good finds are hard to come by. You don’t want to stress yourself financially when shopping for presents, do you?
Christmas is just around the corner and it is fast approaching. We’ve highlighted some tips on going in or under your budget to avoid dealing with financial stress you encounter every Christmas season. Learn how to track your holiday gift spending by following these simple tips:
Plan ahead. Before doing anything else, you should need a plan. This may help you avoid surplus shopping and going over your budget on gifts. Also, being an early bird shopper can get you discounts and good finds.
First, list down all the people – friends, families, relatives, colleagues, etc. – you want to shop for. Think of what they would want to receive for Christmas, where they would shop, their interests, and what they do for fun. Compile all of your ideas and put it into a worksheet for a more organized practice.
Determine your budget. Take a closer look at your finances. Decide on how much you can afford to spend on your funds and set the figure you’ve derived as your overall holiday gift shopping budget.
Next, you divide your budget among the people in your gifts list and decide how much you would like to allocate on each person on the list. Sum it all up and make sure the total does not exceed your overall budget.
Tip: it’s good to have some extra left on your budget. Having so can help you adjust and revise the budget without sacrificing some of those on the list. Also, it’s good to have a little extra to keep on your pocket, save it for the rainy days.
Track your overall spending from time to time. As you are buying presents for Christmas, note their costs and monitor your budget to avoid excessive spending. Calculate how much you are under or over your budget from time to time.
Go for no presents. If you can avoid buying presents, do so. You can make DIY’s for the people on your gifts list if you’re tight on your budget. There are a lot of ideas on Pinterest that can help you with DIY’s Christmas gift ideas.
More importantly, consider spending time with your families, friends, relatives – and the list goes on – instead of gift giving. You only see them once in a while, especially only during the holidays. Quality time is better compared to presents.
Enjoy the holidays! Presents and extravagant gifts are not what Christmas is all about. It’s the quality time you spend surrounded by all of your loved ones. Make the most of the Yuletide season and have yourself a Merry Christmas!
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