Christmas is over for another year and I’ve just taken down the outdoor festive lights. The season of goodwill is so often overshadowed with the need for perfection. Making things perfect doesn’t have to cost money though. I’ve written before about saving for Christmas but how do you really do Christmas on a budget?
The Idea Of Christmas On A Budget
For the last couples of years we’ve set up a separate savings account linked to my current account. Nice and easy to transfer money to and from. We’ve put £10 every week into it. This is done automatically via a transfer we set up. 50 payments of £10 from the first week of January. That gives us £500, excluding any interest earned, to use for Christmas. Our budget for Christmas is not, I repeated not, £500. We spend much less than that. Even with three children and family to buy for, we’ve cut down and limited ourselves because we simply don’t want to go bankrupt for toys and food. Time spent together is more important to us, whilst enjoying some little luxuries and gifts. This year we’ve got £120 left in the fund and will be dropping our weekly transfer to £9 a week. That’s £50 less overall.
Why Do This?
We’ve set this up to take the pressure off Christmas. So many people don’t save through the year and then struggle to bring everything together in their perfect way, sometimes getting into debt in the process. Christmas on a budget doesn’t mean cheap. It simply means you don’t put yourself into a financial situation you don’t want to be in. Set yourself a budget and then stick to it. If you can afford a £50 Christmas, stick to it. If you can afford a £150, that’s great. You don’t have to spend all of it either. Even if you can afford a £10,000 Christmas, you don’t have to have a £10,000 Christmas! Some of our fund is there should January, you know, that pesky annoying ‘long’ month between paydays, is hard. An extra few quid saved up can help should you need it!
Giving To Others
I would also like to note that our charitable giving comes out of our fund too. Our church creates hampers for those less fortunate and signposted to the services of the community church. I help out with the packing and our bulk buying comes out of our Christmas fund money. This is usually around £40-£50. The gift is to the giver, in those famous Whitman words.
Do It Yourself
Don’t get suckered into those Christmas savings clubs or Christmas saving plans. Do your own! This saving plans could go bust and you could lose your cash! If you have your own savings account, you can pay in automatically every week or month, or even just a few quid when you get paid! You then have cash, not vouchers which you may not want. You might want something from a retailer that isn’t on the list of the Christmas savings club, or it might be cheaper somewhere else!
You’re In Control
We often buy gifts throughout the year if and when we see things on offer or at a bargain price. If you have a fund set up, you can dip into it throughout the year, unlike a Christmas savings plan where you get the vouchers towards the end of the year. With your own Christmas savings account, you are in control. Should the worst happen and you crash the car for example, you can choose to use that money for something important and sack off those Christmas gifts and luxury chocolate logs!
Christmas On A Budget
Work out how much you need for Christmas and save up throughout the year. Christmas on a budget doesn’t have to be gifts from charity shops and supermarket own brand food, though there is nothing wrong with that! Some of the gifts our kids love the most are second hand (if they have marks, tell them the elves have been playing with them!) and own brands are often tastier than branded grub! You don’t have to lose the magic of Christmas because you’re cutting back on the money you’re spending! Let me know over on Twitter your budget and let’s smash those Christmas savings goals!
