leefamily23

Thank you Brad!!! Great ad- and I'm very excited. Walmart always ends up as our first stop and I don't see nothing different this year.... looks like it will be our first stop again!!!

This is a bit better than usual.

Gamestop does not price adjust purchases within a week or two of the sale do they?

I found out today that most years my job gives about $100 per person before taxes. HOWEVER, our budget is so tight this year that I'll be shocked if we do. The last board mtg was last night, and tomorrow is the last management meeting w/ final budget analysis for the year. So, I'm assuming I'll hear something tomorrow in light of that.

In the past as group gifts like that- we've gotten: Ornament 2 Movie Theatet Tickets each Wine Picture Frame Travel Mug w/ a $5 Tim Hortons Gift Certificate was the most recent.

I'm just waiting on the last 2 big players for me- Walmart and TRU. We don't have any more Disney Stores, which is sad, because this was ALWAYS one of our stops. I'm assuming Gamestop will have there sale on pre-used games they seem to have every year, which is good because I still need a few Xbox and DS games and I've been waiting for this. The only small store I'm waiting on is PacSun. Not really an ad, I'm just waiting to see if anyone knows if they'll have the extra 20% off your whole order again.

We were going to do it yesterday, but it was just too nasty out. Anyhow, this weekend is the game plan. We plan on doing both the inside and outside. Honestly, I couldn't believe dh agreed to do the inside this weekend too. We've ALWAYS done it Thanksgiving weekend. I used the arguement that last year Thanksgiving was on 11/22 and that is this Saturday, so it's the normal time to put it up. I can't help it that Thanksgiving is so late this year. Guess it helps alittle that my birthday is this weekend and dh wants to make me happy.

I bought another gift this weekend, I was pretty pleased. It was a must-have for my neice, and I got it marked down from $15.99 to $6.59. As long as dh and I stay home and decorate this weekend like we planned, I should be able to retain the $500 budget I set for BF- and hopefully get myself close to done, at least 75% done. Hoping and praying, w/ fingers crossed, we'll have another little one for Christmas this year (odd statement huh......). Anyhow, my nephew was placed into foster care almost 3 weeks ago, and it's looking good that we'll get a relative placement w/ us by the end of the month. He's only 2.5 months old, so it shouldn't throw my gift budget into a tailspin too much. Though, I will of course have to get him a few santa gifts. It will be worth stretching the budget for.

I think this will be the first job I do not get a bonus at. (This is a new job for me this year). Though there is rumors that they have gotten them in the past. SO......who knows...... All the other physicians I worked for gave an average of 2-4 wks pay as a bonus. It's going to hurt to not get that this year.

Not Dec- but my husband and I are Nov. 23rd & 24th. I actually hated (and still kind of do) when it falls on Thanksgiving weekend. Growing up if it was the Wed-Sun of Thanksgiving, my mother was always too busy to really do anything on the side to celebrate. I don't remember ever having a birthday cake, honestly. Seems like no matter when my birthday fell they always celebrated it on Thanksgiving w/ a candle in a pie. Never had to worry about the combo gift, but being that close to a major holiday, always made it kind of an after thought. Now for budget wise, we have my fathers birthday 12/5. My son's birthday is 1/20. I always feel bad, because I'm usually too broke in January to do something all out. I always joke though that I get hit w/ mini-Christmas in the summer/spring. within a 6 weeks timeframe I have Mothers & Fathers Day, my neice & nephews birthday, my sisters birthday, my mother and MIL's birthday, and my BIL. I guess I should be thankful they are all not close to Christmas, but heck they could of spread out a little more.

Still waiting for all the ad's, but every year it always seems to be the same game plan. So, I do not see it changing this year. Usually in this order: JCPenney's (because they open first) Walmart, TRU, Target, Old Navy, AC Moore (for the candles they have every year), then the mall for breakfast and the stores there.

Halo is a good deal, even if it's 3. I seen this list on another site too, last night. Looks the same. We always hit up Target, but we do not usually go there first, because of the sale being a 2 day sale. Now just waiting on TRU and Walmart- and of course the scanned ad for Target.

1 gift of mine has to go back, as it was for my neice and nephew- bought them the V-tech motion (they are 4&6). My sister is got them Wii. So, the V-tech system will be nothing compared to that, so I'm less done than I thought. Though I did pick up 3 more gifts this week. Slowly but surely getting there. So far the BF ads are not looking promising for me though.

We were at our TRU at about 3:30 pm- I swear they put all the video game accessories away. We could not find anything. We have an XBOX 360 and PS2- we were hoping for controllers or wireless guitars. Didn't have anything for either of them out, just a bunch of empty places. We did make an unexpected purchse of the PS2 guitar hero (Aerosmith) for $64.99. Came w/ 1 wireless guitar and the game. We figured this was a savings, but not what we went for.

Pretty sad when this is the ad that has been the best for me so far. I do usually even go there on BF. I am interested in the camo and the $15.00 off coupon for athletic wear. I cannot read the fine print- so this one I'll have to read further on to see what it excludes. Never mind the coupon just panned in, I was hoping to use it for Underarmour. Anyhow, the Camo is still a good deal for me. I need either pants or bibs for my son.

Still not much further along. I have some money set aside, and the budget looks good. Alittle tight, but if we're disciplined- it looks good. I tried shopping all day Saturday. Went to the mall. It was busy beyond belief. We had to circle around looking for a parking spot. Spent several hours there and left w/ a pair of shoes on sale for dh (for now). Went to Walmart, bought 2 small things. Came home spent 2 hrs online looking for deals. NOTHING!!! Everyone is so hard to buy for this year.

Igia Flat Iron Hair Straightener Compare At: $107.94 Our Price: $21.56 http://http//us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/graveyard_2025_10992398 http://www.graveyardmall.com/ighast.html

I'd consider the PSP. Usually on BF, Gamestop has movies for the PSP for $4.99 you could possibly pick up 1 or 2 of those too.

I've tried putting money away- it does not work. It goes this way every single year. I always get stressed this time of year, but we always make it through on cash only. 2 years ago I almost caved and charged Christmas, but we did not. (My husband had received a modest lump sum of cash a few years ago for being hit by a car (as a pedestrian) when he was on the side of the road. Anyhow, we used a majority of it to pay off all our debt, and we swore we'd never use cards again.) I've charged myself w/ sitting down this evening and figuring out our budget through the end of the year for sure. This way I can take a chunk of each of the 6 paychecks and buy the gifts we need, and I should be able to use both support checks in full for gifts.

Goodness, wish I was there. I'm usually about 1/3 done by now, and I usually do another 1/3 on BF and the rest just before Christmas w/ a bonus check. Not this year. I've bought next to nothing that I need. I'm maybe 1/10th done. I only have 2 small things for my son, and he is the biggest part of my budget. Along w/ a few other gifts I needed to buy. I'm starting to stress big time. Oh and no bonus check this year to help things along......

I've been procrastinating, but it's going to be time to sit down and look at my budget for the rest of the year. I have only gotten a few small gifts so far. I realized today that I have 4 checks left between now and Christmas (including the one I get this week). My husband has 2 checks only (he's paid monthly). I also have 2 child support checks left between now and then. That is just not that many considering I still have to pay w/ those checks at least Dec Rent (Nov is paid for and I'll get paid on 1/2 and can pay January's then if I absolutely have to). 4 car payments (2 in Nov and 2 in Dec.). Once again, I could push 1 car payment off to the Jan 2nd check as that date still falls within the "grace period", if push came to shove. I have 2 gas bills, 2 electric bills, 2 cable bills, and 2 car insurances left. **We have no credit cards, so no CC bills. I hate pushing December's bills off until January- but it seems like that is the only way we can pay for Christmas every year. The only bright side is we're always caught up by mid-January, we do not touch a credit card at all, and we always pay within the grace period to not be reported. (We only push off what we know we can get away w/). It just seems like we have to rob Peter to pay Paul every Nov-January. It doesn't help that I also have 4 birthday between now and the end of the year too. Anyone else starting to feel the anxiety of not too many paychecks left???? Doesn't help that we have not been able to pass a budget at work yet either. The are starting to talk cut-backs. I do not think my job per se will be affected, but you never know. My department has the least # of employee's of any department. Though we do the same volume of work, we just cannot seem to keep it staffed. So, I'm thinking worse case scenario they might not fill the 2 openings I currently have. I always worry about job security at this time of year when I do not have my gifts bought. I start imagining how will I give my son a Christmas or how will I pay those bills I pushed off a week or two. Ironically, the rest of the year I don't think much of it........who know's holiday financial anxiety is just starting to set in.

Too far for me, otherwise I definetly would of picked this up. Great find!!!

I frequently can pick them up for $5.00 at our local Hallmark store.

This is a shame, looks like our local CC is being saved.

We change the limit every year, but we do set limits. There have been years where we've spent $500+ a piece and others we've spent $25.00 a piece. Essentially we buy all the other gifts we need first, make sure the bills are paid, then go ahead and see what we can afford.