Are you even prepared for Christmas? Have you started planning the day and where you're going to be, what presents to buy, who is hosting Christmas and how much food you're going to consume in the one day and the days to follow on from that from all the left overs!
I have recently found myself thinking about presents. Thinking about what presents to buy my family and friends as well as budgeting for these presents. For me around this time of year, all my bills such as insurances are due at the same time so having the "spare" money for presents is a slight squeeze for me. I find myself having to budget more tightly so that I have enough money to get everyone a little something something as well as living day to day with such necessities as food.
The hardest people to buy for at this present moment are my three beautiful and hilarious nieces. They are girls who have just reached the double digits in age (Oh, where has the time gone?) and I still find myself finding gifts that are a little too young for them or things I just don't know if they'll really like. I was thinking of getting them watches, but I know dad had recently bought them watches when he was overseas and they were just "meh". Even dad has been forced to given them money for their birthdays so that they can get something that they want or save it towards something bigger.
Any suggestions that you have would be greatly appreciated. If you're a parent, aunty or uncle who are buying gifts for kids, let me know what you're planning on getting. Share your ideas with me and everyone else who may be struggling. At this stage I'm leaning towards Smiggle. Not only are they great for kids of all ages (even me as I secretly love stationery!) but they are a great back-up for gifts and every kid loves them.
Hmmmm back to working out how to fund all these presents. A lesson I've long taught myself with regards to budgeting and ensuring that I can still live day-to-day and week-to-week is:
- making a list of all the people you have to purchase a gift for (combining couples gift also helps)
- setting aside a maximum amount you'll spend on each gift
- roughly penciling in the type of gift you'll get them, as this will save you walking around the shops forever trying to find something.
- I don't believe that you have to spend a lot of money on gifts for Christmas as you're buying for more people at the same time and I believe that Christmas is about spending quality time with family and friends
- If there are gifts that you need to send overseas or interstate, plan to purchase those gifts first so that you can send them in time for them to receive the gifts just before Christmas
- If sending gifts via the post, remember to also budget for postage cost
- Keep your receipts just in case a gift you buy such as clothing can be exchanged if the size is incorrect.
Share your Christmas story with me as I've love to hear about it and any tips that you may have so that I can learn something new myself.
Happy Christmas shopping!
Jo xo
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