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Question of the Day – Budgeting
By JLP | October 23, 2006
It is hard to believe but Christmas is two months from Wednesday. In light of that, here’s today’s Question(s) of the Day:
Topics: Question of the Day | 11 Comments »
October 23rd, 2006 at 10:37 am
This year our budget is about $1000. That’s roughly what we came in at last year too. We do save money during the year but not the whole $1k. We will end up one or two hundred short but will hopefully just be able to cover that with out checking account and not credit cards.
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:16 am
I think I’m going to spend about $600 this year. I’ve already got my husband’s big gift out of the way ($100 of the total), and I’ll be socking money away out of October’s second paycheck and November’s paychecks to pay for the other gifts. If I had a much bigger budget for Christmas I would probably start saving earlier in the year but we try to keep it low-key. Now that I think about it, though, if you’re taking into account airfare than that doubles the budget. I bought my plane ticket in August, though, so that’s all done, too.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm
We budget about $1500 – that includes all gifts. We save money every month into an ING account for Christmas. Otherwise we have found that the VISA bill can be brutal!!
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 pm
I try to keep my total gift spending in the $250-$350 range, which is mainly for family members. We’ve started a name swap on my mother’s side, which is much larger than my father’s, and that helped a lot. I’ve already bought some gifts, and my gift fund should have over $120 in it by next month. For the remainder, I tend to buy on my card in December and pay it off in full in January, because that’s my 3-pay-period month.
I may or may not be buying a plane ticket this year (I usually travel, but my brother and dad might be coming here). If I do, it’s going to be pretty steep. Eek.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Although I should, I’ve never considered the cost of the entire holiday season as an aggregate total. If I did, it might knock me off my feet! LOL
And no, I don’t save up for the holidays throughout the year, but I do “plan” to spend around $300 for my daughter’s gifts and $200 for everyone else (dog, family, friends, colleagues, and secret santa games).
The rest (travel, dog boarding, food, drinks, eating out, going to parties, holiday attire/accessories, last minute oops I forgot you gifts, misc., etc) is kind of “pay as you go” because this is the one time of year I enjoy life without regard to a strict budget. As of mid-Nov, I turn in my PF membership card until January 2nd.
Excluding gifts, a biggie for me is decorations. I buy a real tree every year, but this year, I will buy lots of new decorations to memorialize my first Christmas in my FIRST HOUSE.
I usually travel for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years (lots of in/around too once I get to my destination), so if I included all occassions and EVERY expense, I probably spend around $2,000. I may celebrate in my own house for at least one holiday this year, but I’m sure I’ll spend about the same…if not more. All CC usage, but PIF when the statement closes.
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I don’t do holidays anymore. I’m single, dont’ have a ton of family, and a lot of family birthdays fall in November. A few years ago I started a ‘birthday gifts only’ deal. I don’t cook the holiday meals, just contribute something to wherever I happen to go that year. And I generally work the holiday days themselves so travel isn’t that big of a deal either.
Things might change if I ever get married and have a family. But they might not either. We’ll see.
When things start balancing out a bit more I’ll probably do something like start saving during the year for the holiday season.
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:09 pm
People budget for this? Christmas always has a way of sneaking up on me…
(-;
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:23 pm
I generally spend about a thousand at Christmas. It comes from discretionary income, or sometimes on the credit card. I budget an amount for each person, like $100 for each child, and $10 for the milk man, etc.
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:33 pm
Oh snap! I forgot donations, extra tips for personal services and the children we adopt from the Salvation Army angel tree. Add that in and my holiday spending is more like $2,500. Oh yea, and my birthday celebration(s). Oooh and…hmm, maybe I should make a list and try to add it all up. Maaaan, November and December are just heavy on the wallet. Regardless, I absolutely LOVE this time of year.
October 23rd, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Our budget is about $2400. We setup a special savings account that automatically withdraws from our check account $200 each month. It really helps when the bills start coming in.
November 10th, 2006 at 11:17 am
I just got a handle on my own finances, I didn’t even think to budget for Christmas! I need to start number crunching because I do not want to blow my budget for the holidays.