Christmas On A Budget

Planning for a Christmas on a budget

Come Christmas and it brings about panic attacks for most families, especially for those who are living on a shoe string budget, but do not worry you can still have a very good Christmas on a budget.

First set aside the amount of money you have decided to spend this Christmas then divide the money proportionately for all the people you have decided to buy the gifts, the clothes, the decoration, and the food, let me give you an example:

Thousand dollars is actually on the high side I remember when we were very young and the family went through a bad patch financially, we had a Christmas on just $5.00 (this is in the mid and late 1980's- not so long ago) but I still had a memorable Christmas and I am going to tell you how you can have one too.

False pride is the biggest enemy when it comes to you making adjustments to your life style, remember make your Christmas memorable for you and your family and not for impressing others who don’t give a toss about you.

• Keep children’s clothes on the top of the list when you are planning for a Christmas on a budget, because it is simple common sense that children will constantly need new clothes and footwear. You do not need to buy clothes from Vogue or Prada or some famous brand. If you can afford it then buy from a big supermarket like Wall Mart, Warehouse or Kmart and there is always something on specials there and if you still find that expensive please go and shop at any recycled clothing store or the Salvation Army stores.

  Remember not to let your ego rule your life, never consider yourself to be too good and do not consider buying from these these stores to be below your dignity, because a majority of honest and hardworking people buy from such places.

  When I was growing up I remember at times my mother buying clothes for me from such places, even now we buy for ourselves and our family from Save Mart which is one of the biggest recycled clothing stores in our area, the clothes, curtains and bedspreads etc are all in mint condition we also buy from the warehouse when they are on specials

• Keep the gifts as a second priority when you are trying to have a Christmas on a budget, think about it, which child would not crave for a toy on Christmas. Till they reach the age where they do not believe in Santa, you can get away with keeping anything under the tree, however my suggestion here is this unless they have not reached the age of keeping things carefully, it is best to buy them plenty of gifts from the $1.00 or $2.00 shop.

  My boys are very sweet, when they knew we went bankrupt and lost everything including all our savings, our two houses and the business, we had made it clear to the boys that the days of spending were over, we explained to them everything without sparing any details, they understood the impact of it and never troubled us there after, they only asked us if we could give them $2.00 each for their birthdays and Christmas to buy something from the $2.00 shop, we were brought to tears for being blessed with such good God fearing, obedient and understanding children, of course we gave them $20.00 each to splurge at the $2.00 shop and bought a few clothes for them from Save Mart and still had a fabulous time

• Food is the third in order for Christmas on a budget. Be it just cooking for your family or budget cooking for a crowd the concept is still the same ”work within your Budget” at the same time try something new, for eg: if you find turkey to be expensive change the menu to something more economical, Bake your own cake instead of buying any. Check out for recipes on the internet for making sweets for Christmas, there are plenty of dishes you can make for a Christmas on a budget, have a look at the recipe and you will know if it is cost effective or expensive to make.
• Decorations should be the last of your priorities, because it is nothing but wasted money and eventually you end up leaving the Christmas tree till February next year, why? Because everybody is too lazy to bring it down, I know a family who kept postponing the task of removing the tree because of the size and the elaborate decorations on it, this went on till the middle of the next year finally they just decided to cover it with a sheet till the next Christmas.

Show your childrenhow to make decorationsfrom decorating color paper, we all did it while growing up, in fact home made decorations are absolutely rock bottom cheap, you can show your children how to make hand made greeting card as well and it could be an excellent family time together.

Follow these tips and I promise you that you will have a Joyous Christmas on a budget

The are plenty of ways to have a Christmas on a budget, if you want specific a advice or ideas with minute details? just feel free and ask us and we will answer you immediately.