Before I start I just want to make it known that I won't be posting any amounts on this subject. Whether you spend $250 on Christmas or $2,500 it doesn't matter to anyone except you and your family. I want to make sure everyone is clear that we each try to stick to a budget that fits us as we each belong to a different demographic, culture and income bracket. That said there are very few people I know that will actually budget for Christmas and even fewer that are actually able to stick to it!
Last year I had a budget as financially we were in a difficult situation and there was literally no way to spend any extra on Christmas without taking food from our children's mouths or fuel out of our car. From memory I do recall being a little sneaky and as we approached mid-November I would purposely shop for groceries as frugally as possible so I could stash a bit more towards presents and the likes. This year although we still have not won lotto (yet) we do have more money to spend than we did last Christmas. So I sat down this week and wrote down every possible Christmas-related expense that could possibly apply to us.
The next step was to go through each item on my budget and fill in the 'budgeted amount' with how much I would LIKE to spend on that item. Once that was done I grabbed a calculator to total my budget, wanna know what it equaled..? Too much! I then went back through and crossed out any amount I could, to replace it with a figure that seamed more reasonable. Just by doing this I halved the amount that I had budgeted.
The Reindl man and I have been in discussions over the past week about how to pay for Christmas. Eg he thinks me paying $36 for a king size santa bedspread is ridiculous and isn't happy to spend "Family money" to pay for items that 'I want'. So we have agreed that items such as Santa presents, kids presents, alcohol and food for his family's Christmas Day gathering shall come out of the family budget. Anything else that he sees as 'unnecessary' (class gifts, charity donation, santa photos, elf items and the like) comes out of my own weekly allowance. I'm happy with that agreement as I feel like I'd be better at sticking to the budget that way.
Each week I've been purchasing Coles prepaid gift MasterCards to assist with the purchases that will be coming up soon. They don't need to be registered or activated, once purchased they can be used straight away and are available in $50 and $100 amounts. The cost of the card includes a $5 card purchase fee (so total price is $55/$105) but the best part is that you can get flybuys both on the purchase of the card and when you make purchases with the card at stores that accept flybuys.
Flybuys is something I've grown EXTRA fond of lately with learning about coupon stacking, the 'We <3 flybuys' Facebook community and the upcoming 'points for packing' offer. I've always used flybuys as a way to buy more at Xmas time than I would usually be able to, but this year I've gone a bit flybuys mad. My meal planning is even based around meal planning!
"Mum what's for lunch?"
"Two minute noodles with asparagus and paprika"
"I wish flybuys would give Mum better bonus point offers!"
Well it hasn't gotten that bad... but still. So not only will flybuys help me with buying an extra toy or two for the kids for Christmas but it will also help me purchase something cool for the Kmart wishing tree and to pay for all the perishable items that will accompany the non-perishable items that I've been collecting in my DIY food hamper. It just helps make Christmas a more enjoyable and less stressful time.
Using a budget and store rewards cards will help you progress through the silly season with ease and tact.
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