Saving on Christmas Pt. 1

Christmas is a time that it is easy to overspend on friends and family.  I am not  saying to be cheap or to be a scrooge, the goal here is to make sure, when the holidays are over,  you don't turn around and realize you are really taking it in the pocket.

I have found the first key to not overspending is to make a budget.  My wife and I use a mini budget to make sure we don't overspend on our families.  We set a specific amount and then divide that amount up, in different portions, between parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.  We always include a small category for parties and other obligations where we need to purchase gifts.  We call this the unexpected category.  We use the mini-budget form from the I Was Broke. Now I'm Not. team. Here is a sample of what our mini-budget might look like:

As you can see we left a couple of slots in case we want to add someone.  This way every dollar is designated for a specific category and we know we will not be spending more than we budgeted.   Now many times I will be able to get gifts for less than we budgeted this just allows me to move that money to another category to cover a deficit or to spend a little extra on my wife's present.  In the next part of this series we  will look at one way to get gifts for less.