Preparing for the holidays.....
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Preparing for the holidays.....
| Mon, 07-28-2008 - 3:36pm |
In my new budget conscious mode I am trying to gather a list and prepare for the holidays. I know I am going to a wedding for a dear friend in Boston (I am a bridesmaid!) in April so

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Good job!
Thanks Peg I just emailed you! I hope you got it. Let me know if you don't.
You might want to consider a new tree AFTER the holiday. A lot of times they are half off or more after the xmas season. Just a thought.
I get made fun of all the time by my family because of planning xmas so early but I always say (and it still rings true) "I don't know who can pay for all their gifts AND their other living expenses in just the month of December." Maybe people can - if they go into debt or save up. But I can't. I need to space it out and plan for gifts. Or at least write a list of people to buy for and some ideas of what they'd like so if I see something in SEptember I have an idea for them.
I just emailed you the link for the group.
Good job! I have tucked some money away through the year but not enough. The last couple of years my snowflake has been my holiday spending. Not great but better than going back into credit card debt. This is a slippery time of year for me. I can totally get sucked into the spirit of things and throw caution to the wind. That's also a good reason to start early.
One of my other tricks is that I am a member of mypoints.com and I click through on all their emails all year. That usually pays for one or 2 gift cards I can use to give them or purchase gifts with them. I have 6 months to go and I have at least $50 in gift cards coming already. Hopefully I can gather up $25 more or so. I do some online shopping for the holidays there every year (there's usually a good deal at B&N and I usually give quite a few books) so if I do that in October, I can usually get the cards in time for the holiday.
This year I'm going to make sure I try to get gift cards at Safeway to take shopping if I can because then I get credit toward 10 cents per gallon on gas.
Peg
Peg:
I'd participate in a weekly check-in if you're up to it.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Most of the people in my extended family anticipate a gift, but they don't need any more stuff so that's always difficult.
I've been cleaning out closets and getting rid of tons of stuff. I think I have an idea for co-workers from some things I bought at Pier One on clearance a couple years ago. I may make biscotti for family. And I'm thinking of something to do with giftwrapping and tags. We have boxes of vintage postcards from our old family business. I may put fake snow on them or a Santa hat on a guy rowing a boat. Maybe have him rowing with a candy cane? I'll get the kids in on this one; they'll love it.
I also think my kiddos, now teenagers, will want something substantial, like a laptop or good digital camera, which means few gifts but still big bucks.
Dee
I have planned on taking out at least $10 a week and putting it aside for the holidays. I already made a list of gift ideas for people and have told my husband that our kids are going to get very tame holiday gifts. I LOVE my DH but he is a huge gift giver. (read huge as expensive!) and he likes to give extravagent gifts. That's fine IF we could afford that but this year we need to tone it down a bit. My kids are 5 and 1 - they don't KNOW or expect huge gifts. We need to be smart about this.
I do get a xmas bonus at work that's usually about $500 but I'd rather not wait to use that money since it doesn't come until the week before xmas. I'd rather be done shopping by then.
Boy do you ladies seem to have it together, lol. I'm jealous. Here is where I stand:
- I have a gift/b-day present/ Christmas fund. I've been putting in $10 every two weeks (not much I know, but I needed to start somewhere, lol).
Bex -
Sure Dee, it's my pleasure.
Count me in, too, Peg.
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