subject: Christmas Budget Management Ideas [print this page] The holidays should be a time when families come together and celebrate the wonders of the season. Instead, it is often a time when families are stressed out more than usual over money. How can you afford to give your family the "magic" that comes from opening Santa's gifts under a lighted tree? Every parent wants it, but instead of enjoying the holiday, we are overcome by the stress of making the "magic" happen.
The truth is, there is a simple and effective way to ease your holiday money stress. You'll actually enjoy shopping for Christmas too, which should be part of the fun. The key to your holiday finances can be accomplished in three simple steps. First, identify what you need to purchase. Second, make a fixed budget based on those purchases. Third, Get what you want and more for even less than your budget. Think of it as the Christmas money game and you are the star player. However, in this game, you can always win and have your holiday "magic."
It all starts with a piece of paper. Get a lined sheet of paper and a pen. Write down all the things you'd like to see under the Christmas tree for your family and what you would like to give to your extended family, friends, or neighbors. This will probably take some time as this will require you to plan out your Christmas gifts ahead of time. A great time to do this would be Early November, but this can be done at almost anytime during the holiday season. The earlier you start, though, the better positioned you are to play the game. Now, if finances are really tight t his year and your budget is very serious, this is the time when you weed out your list. Look at it carefully and illuminate some items. This may seem hard, but there is always something you can ultimately illuminate without detriment.
Next to each gift on your list, assign a money value. Don't write down how much they usually cost, but write down how much you are willing to pay for each item - that will be its value. For instance, if I wanted to buy my child a certain toy that costs $30, but I wasn't willing to pay full price and knew it would probably go on sale at some point, I would write down its value as $25. For the most important gifts that are hard to find on sale, and that you are not willing to live without, you may want to write down its full retail value. After every gift is assigned a value, total it up and this is your Christmas budget. Looking at the budget in full you may want to go back and tweak your list as needed, but in the end, this total is your fixed budget for Christmas gifts. Now, the game begins.
Your mission, as guardian of the Christmas budget, is to not only make it happen, but to beat the budget and get everything on your final list and maybe even more. First, if there are a couple items on your list that you do not expect to go on sale and may be in high demand then purchase them first and get them out of the way. Next, sit back and watch for sales on the items on your list. Every once in a while check their price on the internet or in stores. When you come across an item that meets or is better than your assigned value of a gift - buy it. Write down on your list the official purchase amount. If you stick to this method and don't get pulled into impulse shopping, than you will eventually see the savings as you add up the differences between your assigned values and the actual purchase price. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find most of your items at even better deals than you originally planned for. With the extra money you can either celebrate that you beat your budget and brag to all your friends or use the extra money that you saved to stretch Christmas even further by purchasing an item or two that you had originally crossed off your list.
This holiday budget is easy, effective, and worth the time if you suspect money matters are going to be a source of stress this coming Christmas. Bring the "magic" back under your tree and replace the stress armed with a list, its assigned values, and the thrill of getting what you want for even less.
