I have never been great about saving ahead for Christmas. Surprising. It comes at the same time every year. I save for other yearly expenses on a monthly basis, but not Christmas or Birthdays.
I might change. I might not. I usually just spend what I have on hand. Can't go wrong there. I also start shopping for some things early.
Right now I actually have a little stash that I have accumulated for Christmas:
Target Gift Cards $80
Cash $160
Paypal $19.61
Cash Rewards $75
Amazon Gift Card $5
Total = $339.61
I'm guessing I need another $400, which can easily come out of cash on hand as I buy. I plan to keep earning rewards and holding on to the paypal balance. It will all help take the sting out of the Christmas spending. Oh and I do intend to scale back a bit on gifts. I'm thinking some homemade items are in order!
Christmas Saving Thoughts
October 5th, 2010 at 04:02 pm
October 5th, 2010 at 04:50 pm 1286293858
I'm close to redeeming points for another two - $10 Target gift cards (I'm presently at $30 and am waiting for the $100 deposit to the checking account from setting up the new accounts at PNC). My oldest daughter would like an I-Pod Touch for Christmas and they are about $190 at Target. It will be nice if I can fund that with passive income!
One of my son's is totally done (he's the easy pleaser out of the bunch). I also picked up some clearance "Grandchildren" frames at Kohl's in the summer for $3.50 a piece. My plans are coming together slowly, and I'd like to keep it cheap this year!
Nice stash you've accumulated!
October 5th, 2010 at 05:49 pm 1286297362
October 6th, 2010 at 11:10 am 1286359857
I DO budget for those annual gifts (bdays, anniversaries....) but usually am blindsided by the unexpected (weddings of 2nd cousins, ....).
In 2007 I told my adult kids since both would have kids by the next Christmas only they (grands) would be getting gifts. For the past few years I have been able to buy most of these gifts on clearance somewhere, either right after the holiday or during annual shelf resets.
I give other holiday gifts to the grands. I bought the items for Halloween for the 18 month old twins on last Halloween's clearance and for the 5 y/o just yesterday w/a $5 off on any Halloween except candy at CVS. The 21/2 y/o will not be with us this year for Halloween.