christmas budget Archives - Meredith Rines

The holiday season is upon us. The moment Halloween is over, it seems that Christmas is in full swing. I need time to slow down just a little, it’s going by way too fast. I can’t believe it’s going to be our little guy’s second Christmas this year. In a recent Budget Q&A I shared the concept of our Christmas Budget – what we include, how it works and what all I track. Well in that post I promised I would bring a more in-depth tutorial on how you can setup your Christmas Budget to help you tame the chaos this year.

You can watch the video online or below:

You need to create a simple spreadsheet in either your journal, Excel or you can even use Google Sheets to create one. You need 7 columns to get you started:

Who
What
Budget
Spent
Bought
Received
Wrapped

Who

This one is pretty self explanatory, who do you need to buy a gift for. Make sure to include all of your family members, friends, co-workers, any hostess gifts for dinner parties, mailman, trash pick-up guys, etc.

What

The what category always takes you a little longer to complete. This is where you will brainstorm a gift idea for everyone on your list.

Budget

Fill in how much you plan on spending for each person. You can use this guide to help with gift limits.

Spent

Once you buy a gift, fill in this section. As I said in the video if you go over by a few dollars on one person’s gift – that’s okay. Just make up for somewhere else. For instance, if I spend $5 more for my sister’s gift than I had budgeted, then I need to spend $5 less somewhere else. It could be on one other gift or I could save a $1 or so on several different people to make up the difference.

Bought, Received, Wrapped

Use the last three columns as a checklist. Now you can look at your budget at any moment to know who you need to buy for still, what gifts you’re waiting on to get in and which ones still need to be wrapped. These three additions to your budget are a game changer. I promise! No more waiting until the last minute to get a gift for someone because you forgot. Now you will know exactly who you have left and about how much you still need to spend.

Want An Easier Way?

For those that don’t want to struggle creating their own holiday planner can now grab the one we use HERE! Included is a budget for Thanksgiving and Christmas to make sure you are completely covered. Plus, I’ve included the gift checklist and tracker that was so popular last year. Finally, there are several checklists and to-do lists to help you get organized for the holidays.

For more tips and budget help, check out these great posts:

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