How To Budget For Christmas

Christmas is well and truly the most wonderful time of year. However it can also be super expensive. Nobody wants to ruin the Christmas magic with money problems.

Make A Realistic Budget

Work out how much you have to spend. Be realistic with this and double check to make sure you got it right. You don't want to overspend and then realise you haven't got enough for a bill at the end of the month or the big night out with your friends.

Ensure You Don't Forget Anyone

Make a list of everyone you've got to buy for. Separate them into catergories. Family, friends, work and relationships. Double check the list before you move on, you don't want to forget anyone.

Create Individual Budgets

Delegate a segment of your budget to each person. Now you know exactly how much you've got to spend on each person. To make it easier for yourself put the money into separate envelopes for the people on your list (remember to label the envelopes). This will make it easier for you to see exactly how much you have left to spend on each person.

Christmas With All The Trimmings

Using whatever you have left from your budget after buying presents can then be dedicated to buying all the trimmings e.g. card and gift wrap to add that extra bit of sparkle. A great tip for gift tags is to cut up old Christmas cards and use them as gift tags, it looks great and saves you money.

Organisation!

Make a table so you can see clearly what your budget is, what you've already spent, who you've finished buying for and what to buy! I have an app on my phone called manage Christmas which is perfect for this!

I hope these tips help you keep Christmas on a budget.

Only 20 days to go!