The Perfect Christmas Budget Plan! Plus, How to Have a Stress-Free Holiday Season!

Is this YOU During Christmas Time? 

Or Is this YOU? 

Update: Do you have a Christmas Budget Plan put into place for this year? If not, here’s a quick repost as we get ready for the upcoming Holiday Season. Keep your budget in check and have a stress-free holiday season!

Christmas becomes a stressful time of year for everyone.  You worry about money, your budget, if you will be able to get what your kids are hoping for, Holiday parties, family get togethers……the list goes on and on. Once I realized I was making my life more stressful by waiting till the last minute to shop for Christmas, I changed my ways.  And I haven’t looked back!

So here are Step-by-Step Directions on How to Have the Perfect Christmas Budgeting Plan!
And How to Have a Stress-Free Holiday Season!

Step 1:

Decide how much you are wanting to spend on Christmas presents this year.  It could be $200, it could be $500 or even more.  Whatever your number is, decide on that now.  This amount includes all gifts you will be giving…. Family Gifts, Extended Family, Friends, Neighbor Gifts and more.

Step 2:

Take that number and divide it by the number of months left till Christmas.  For example, if you are only wanting to spend $500, I would divide that by 5 Months (since it is July right now). That means, that I will need to set aside $100 each month for Christmas. Or, divide it in half and take $50 out of each paycheck.  I would recommend putting it in a separate checking or savings account so you aren’t tempted to use it!

Step 3: 

Have your kids put together their Christmas Lists NOW.  Seems crazy, I know! But, have it be a running Christmas list that they can add items to if they want.  You can even give them a cutoff date so the list doesn’t become never-ending.  Tell them that Santa needs time to find all of their toys so they can’t keep adding new toys to their list.  This should help your sanity too!

Step 4:

Now that you have your list, take a quick look at what those items normally cost retail.  I would personally make a list of those items and put the prices next to it.  Then, when you see a sale on that toy or gift, you can take a quick look and see what the original price was and how good of a deal it truly is.  If it is awesome, purchase it right away.  Then, you can store it away or hide it at your house until Christmas!

Step 5:

Keep Christmas Saving in the back of your mind.  Other Holidays will come and go between now and then.  But if you can always keep it in the back of your mind, you will be ready to strike when the deals are hot.

Keep it Stress-Free and Double the Amount of Gifts with Your Budget!

By following these steps, you can easily turn that $500 into $1000 worth of gifts!  And that is the BEST part about following this plan.  Don’t procrastinate and pay full price.  If you start early, you will be able to get gifts 40%- 60% off retail price when stores offer sales, promotions or discounts.

That is why having an Early Christmas List to go off of will really help you.  And, by having $100 set aside each month (or whatever your number ends up being) you will always have money to purchase those hot deals when they do pop up!

I cannot tell you how nice it is to actually enjoy the Holidays and do fun things with the family!!  You can have the majority, if not all of your Christmas shopping done before Black Friday/December.  It truly is the best way to go!!  And memories are those things you can’t put a price tag on.  So follow this plan to get Christmas taken care of early and spend the rest of your time making memories with the fam!