Frugal Christmass

[singing hinnie]

I would love to hear of all your hints and tips for planning and having a frugal Christmass. Esp those of you with children, how do balance being frugal and the wants of your children???

[sarahjayn1980]

My parents never had much money when I was young, but I remember never being in want for anything at Christmas time. We baked cookies, we played board games - - lots of family time and attention. Family time can be free, and yet, its priceless!

[codemonkey]

My kids have always enjoyed making christmas decorations. We also like to get decorations at discount stores like Big Lots.

[tearhsong2]

For Christmas decorations, we make some together. I also shop in discount stores and wait for after holiday clearance sales for things.

With gifts, I think it starts at an early age. If you don't start out buying your kids a lot of stuff for Christmas, they're less likely to expect it later on. Christmas gifts don't need to be extravagant to be appreciated. Some of the best gifts I've ever been given have cost less than $10.

What I have started doing is starting in Janurary, I put $25 away each paycheck (I get paid every other week) and it goes into a Christmas/December birthday fund (I have my daughter and my dad in December along with Christmas). I end up with about $550 by Christmas. It's not a ton of money, but if you know how much you have to spend, it's easier to tell people what your budget is and then they can give you ideas from within that budget. My ultimate goal is not to pull out the plastic.

With younger kids it's sometimes easier, because toys can be inexpensive and if they need new clothes sometimes you can just have a relative get that for them or vice versa. It's when they get older that it can be hard because they might want electronic gadgets/games/etc that cost more. My dad got to the point that when we got to a certain age he took us shopping with him or he would just give us money, because he wanted us to see just how far money would go and that there was a limit.