Christmas - Page 2

[jeslynn]

I shop clearance and end caps year round for Christmas and birthdays. Last Christmas I had over $1,000 worth of stuff and spent less than $300 on it.

 

[rnra]

Originally Posted by alaskanmomma 

DH and I got in a bit of a financial mess(after shopping) because a daycare parent didn't pay their bill *UGH*, I kicked them out of the daycare, and while they said they will pay, its been a month, so doubt it. 

Look into taking them to small claims court.  It isn't actually all that difficult (you can do it on your own--no lawyers need to be involved) and you may get your money back.

[3timesamom]

That stinks alaskamomma:(

[foxsmama]

I'm selling things on ebay and setting that $ aside for christmas. Each child is getting 1 handmade gift, either from etsy or our local holiday crafters market.  DS1 is also getting some dinosaur books I have found at thrift shop throughout the year.

[crunchy_mommy]

We are in a black hole financially, we just can't make ends meet, and we are short by A LOT. I did get an amazon gift card via swagbucks & used that to buy DS socks (he was still wearing baby socks... he's almost 4... ) and a couple very small things for Christmas. Fortunately we've never set any precedent for Christmas being extravagant, so he'll be OK with very little. What I am worried about is gifts for other people... we had agreed to do nothing but now DH wants to give something to his family (7 adults), and he wants to bake for coworkers and others, etc. and I'm freaking out because that's money out of our grocery budget, we can't even afford to get DS a proper present and we may lose our house so in my mind all these things need to wait until some future Christmas when we don't have such huge financial stresses. Someday we will be financially stable (or at least able to have more income than expenses!) and then we can buy decent gifts but I feel like in the meantime we just need to stay afloat. Not sure what to do, I don't want to be stingy or steal Christmas joy but we have a child who needs food & shelter... *sigh*

[lactatinggirl]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

We are in a black hole financially, we just can't make ends meet, and we are short by A LOT. I did get an amazon gift card via swagbucks & used that to buy DS socks (he was still wearing baby socks... he's almost 4... ) and a couple very small things for Christmas. Fortunately we've never set any precedent for Christmas being extravagant, so he'll be OK with very little. What I am worried about is gifts for other people... we had agreed to do nothing but now DH wants to give something to his family (7 adults), and he wants to bake for coworkers and others, etc. and I'm freaking out because that's money out of our grocery budget, we can't even afford to get DS a proper present and we may lose our house so in my mind all these things need to wait until some future Christmas when we don't have such huge financial stresses. Someday we will be financially stable (or at least able to have more income than expenses!) and then we can buy decent gifts but I feel like in the meantime we just need to stay afloat. Not sure what to do, I don't want to be stingy or steal Christmas joy but we have a child who needs food & shelter... *sigh*

Could you have your DS make them something? Even something as simple as a card. Then it's giving them something, but it's not necessarily money out of your budget. Or you could do something like a saltdough ornament. It uses ingredients, but it's not much. We don't have much money in our gifts budget, so I make a lot of our gifts. Pretty much anything that's for someone outside of our house is made, mostly knitting. DD1 is also making gifts for people because she wants to. 

[3timesamom]

Crunchy mom, That just stinks! I am feeling very poor this year, but we are able to meet our needs. One year I got a Christmas job. I got a job at a portrait studio that had an end date and I loved it. I want to be a stay home mom and for our family it just works, but a seasonal job helped that year.

[wildmonkeys]

Throughout the year I usually collect several rebate "credit cards" and some cash rebates.  I set these aside for the holidays.  We still end up spending some, but it really knocks the total down. It feels great to walk into a store to do Christmas shopping with a rebate credit card for $100 and the freedom to shop and leave feeling like you really haven't spent anything :)

[wildmonkeys]

Also, Crunchy_Momm - I agree with you - this isn't the year where you should feel pressured to buy for other people. Especially adult family members.  There are some very inexpensive things you can make (salt dough, bird food, etc.) but if you are not in a position to meet your own needs then this is the year to wish them a Merry Christmas :) 

[onlyzombiecat]

We came at Christmas gifts late- just started this week.

We decided on $500 maximum for our Christmas budget this year. We talked as a family and decided on a family gift which is a bit pricier this year so we aren't really getting many things.

We spent very little on our anniversary or other occasions and have been pretty frugal so we have a little extra money set aside.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Just wanted to share our Frugal Gifts article with you. Might help in some way. 

[eirual]

http://www.circleofcrafters.com/irisfolding/

Last year we did iris folding and framed them for extended family. Lots of free patterns: santa, tree, angel, gingerbread man averaged about $2/ family.

[eirual]

HELLO, PLACEMAT PILLOWS!!!

http://pinterest.com/msqueen/frugal-gifts/