Making A List and Checking It Twice

Through out the years, it seems I've had to learn through experience how to stretch a dollar even further at Christmas.  My husband being in direct sales, often has lean checks from November to March.  Unfortunately, we haven't progressed to the point where we put money away for Christmas so here are a few things I've learned in order to stretch my Christmas dollar.


1)  Save your drug store freebies.  I always put new toothbrushes in my kid's stockings every year.  Since toothbrushes are something I often get for free from Walgreens and CVS, I save a few extras for stocking stuffers.  (I usually put a brand new razor in everyone's stocking as well.)  For my daughter, I put cosmetic items I've gotten for free.

2)Decide on a budget.  Before I do any Christmas shopping, I sit down with my husband and figure out what our budget for the holidays will be.  I try to include any presents, extra food, special financial contributions, and supplies for any parties we will either be attending or hosting.

Speaking of financial contributions, I am endeavoring to raise $200.00 for the Salvation Army with my own virtual Christmas kettle!  Please consider donating to this worthy cause.  They truly do so much good around the world.

3)Determine how much of your Christmas budget is for gifts.  The next thing that should be done is to determine how much of your budget will be set aside for presents.

4)Make a list of people who you'd like to purchase gifts for.  Don't forget to include teachers, pastors, bosses and co-workers.  I also keep a few inexpensive gifts aside in case I've forgotten someone.

5)Go back a prioritize your list.  I usually have four different categories of people.  a) immediate family b) extended family c)close friends  d) neighbors, acquaintances, co-workers, etc.

Let's say that I have a budget of $400 this Christmas.  The first thing I'd do is set aside $40 for an extra charitable contribution.  Next, I'd set aside another $60 for parties and miscellaneous.  This would leave me with $300.00.  I try to spend 2/3 of my budget on my family.  In this case, I would spend about $200.00. Since I have three children, my husband and my recently widowed mother to purchase for, I would divide this amount by 5.  This would allow me to spend about $40 on each person.  The remaining $100 would be for the last two categories.  At this point, I'd definitely do some baking.  The difference between the people in category c and d is that I'd probably include something small along with the baked item for the people in category c (ie. a bookmark for the people in my book club).  If I have a little more money than this, I'd buy my close friends gifts as well as a baked item.

Coming soon:  Christmas log