Budgeting through Christmas

Planning your holiday shopping? How are you managing your spending this year?

To save our family money this year, I started out with a list (or spreadsheet) with all of the people on the list that I needed to buy for. After I made that list, I went through and wrote in how much for each person I thought was a reasonable amount to spend. At the end I totalled it all up and got the grand total for our holiday shopping.

This is working so great for me because not only do I have a list of people so I am not forgetting people, but I am actually buying MORE for LESS! So many stores have sales this year plus I am being cost-conscious. More conscious than I ever have been but it seems that I am getting people more presents that are higher in value for a cheaper price. Instead of stopping with one gift under budget I can say “Well I spent $20 but they are budgeted for $40 so I still have $20 more to spend on that person!”. It also makes my shopping so much for fun because I am ordering online & shopping in store, getting really cool gifts for less, & can actually come home and SHOW my husband the receipts instead of hiding all of them in a drawer hoping he doesn’t ask until AFTER Christmas!

I want to know, how are you controlling your holiday spending? Take to the EasternShoreMom Facebook page and comment under my post to give our Facebook Friends some help with their holiday spending!