i was wondering if any one budget in for birthday,Christmas
or any other gifts? All so do you buy things on sale or buy
gifts all year round.
If i can get a good deal I’ll buy a gift ahead of time.
Like now the dollar store having 70% and 90 % off
different things. Some things I can get for my grand kids
now for birthday and Christmas gifts. Which doesn’t cost
much. Most things are .03 cents to .10 than bigger things
or name brand like froze are $1:30 or a little more.
I usually just use my change i’ve saved up all year and
buy Christmas gifts because it rally i’ve extra money.
I am terrible when it comes to gift giving. Even when I was younger, I didn’t get my siblings many gifts on their birthday because I never knew what to get them. Then I would always feel bad because they would all give me gifts even though I hadn’t given them anything. (When I got older and moved to the States [we used to live in Nicaragua] I did send them all gifts to make up for that )
When it comes to my wife and I, we find that most of the time, we don’t really need or want any particular thing. We are both of the mindset of getting rid of stuff rather than collecting it so it is really hard to even think of any material gift to give.
We both enjoy experiences so generally a gift will consist of a special meal at a place the other really likes or a trip to somewhere near or sometimes far.
Because of the nature of these gifts, it does tend to take a little more planning on the financial side.
We even sometimes forgo on the “gift” for a special occasion so that we are able to save up and plan for a later experience.
Gift giving is good, and I believe you should plan ahead to be a giver, but make sure the gift is meaningful and will be valued or else it just ends up being a waste of money.
So very true about the gift being meaningful or its a waste
of money. Thank you for your input. My husband and I don’t really
do gifts that much. Once ever couple years and that’s and it’s some
thing one of us has been wanting for a long time
I would start doing it…I used to buy when I see it…This seems like a great idea…Buying ahead of time…So, I can have it…If you are on limited income…you have to spend wisely…
I do budget for gifts & include a rough amount for birthday parties that my kids might get invited too. I do also buy certain items when I find them on sale that I think will be perfect for someone on my list.
My hobby is entering contests, so sometimes I use the prizes as gifts such as Lego & Playmobile for kids bday gifts, spa gift card for my mom, restaurant gift cards for anniversary date, etc. It helps the budget!
@nicole what kind of contest do you do to get gift cards.
I do 2 different ones. But 1 you can do different things on
it to make money. The other is survey which I just started
you can get free things and you can get paid with pay pal
amazon and some other gift cards.
For the adults in my family, I send a family Christmas package. Every year, I select a theme and then make at least two Christmas ornaments. For example, this year, I made BEAR ornaments. I included bears made of pipe cleaners, bears made of felt and bears made of sea shells. For this year, the theme is a FOX. I am still working on ideas at this point. I have done a felt fox and am playing with an old clothes pin fox idea and the third hasn’t been decided yet.
Every Christmas, the kids all get a book from Thrift Books.
During the year, each child may get one toy that piques their interest. Etsy is a great place for the ladies who get a piece of jewelry based on their horoscope/gem. (There are enough to choose from so that I can buy on a budget). The men on my list also get some little item that they might be/are interested in from EBay/Etsy.
I NEVER buy new. I also have the dates of thrift store sales. As doctor appointments, weather or illness prevails, I hit as many thrift stores as possible every week looking for deals. I make it into a game and reward myself for each present I score!
I save for and budget for Christmas, but really, since everyone’s Birthday is Nov and Dec, I use that for birthdays as well. I’m not an extravagant gift giver, but I do pick up things throughout the year if I see something that would be perfect. I keep the cash in a safe so i can access it as I need to.
)
