Gift Budgeting

[Cinnamonhuskies]

Since the recession came to our state..and house...in 2007 Christmas has been tightened considerably. I buy gift cards for dh's mom and 2 siblings, usually Resterant.com or Amazon and spend $10 on each of them. Dh's mom has a Devember bday so she gets an additional gift card then of $10. We are not on good terms with the family so we get nothing from them, my kids dont even get anything from their grandma so the fact that they even get anything from us and a nice card is acceptable. My parents are both gone. I have one sister so she and her husband het $25 gift cards each, and each of their kids get $10 gift cards. Then I spend $100 on each of my boys, and about $75 on dh unless there is something big that he really needs and I can afford. So I budget about $400-$500 a year for Christmas. Everyone else gets homemade gifts or dollar store gift bags like coffees and teas and cocoas, or bath sets. I can make them up cheaper myself than buy the preassembled ones...the same with fruit baskets. Edited October 16, 2010 by Cinnamonhuskies

[hockeyfanamo]

I set a loose budget. We buy for...

My Mother-Requested GC this year so I will buy three $25 GC to her favorite stores

His Mother-$15 Starbucks GC and a lump of coal

Mamaw-New PJ's, another season of House, and a $25 gas card

His Dad & Wife-$75 GC to their favorite restaurant

His Sister-No clue yet but a $50 limit

20 Y/O Nephew-$25 gas card and $25 Sonic card

15 Y/O Niece-Requested hair stuff this year so a hair care basket with straightener, dryer, accessories, brushes, spritz, etc. $50 limit

10 Y/O Niece-Dress, shoes, board game, craft of some sort $50 limit

3 Family Gifts for Friends-All will be family game night with a board game, card game, popcorn, and drink of choice $30 limit each

DH and I will spend no more than $100 each on our gifts

Edited October 16, 2010 by hockeyfanamo
oops

[peppysfireball]

I have been putting money into a Christmas club account each week, some weeks more some less. I am hoping to have $75 a piece to spend on my older 5 and $75 on their spouses. On DD7 I will spend closer to $125-150. My parents $50 each. Brother & SIL $50 for the couple. My office gets a family from social services so $40 for that. We do a name drawing with DH's family and I think the limit is between $25 and $35 for that. Teacher gifts etc it all adds up to fast. Hope I have saved enough or that I 'll get a bonus this year!!! This site is great for helping me stretch those dollars!!

xmas clubs are wonderful. Last year I managed to put 850 in mine and it was wonderful not worrying about money. I didn't start it until February this year and had 750, but I take out 25 out of every paycheck so it's not even missed. I was able to spend so much more on my kids this way. I just got my check a few weeks ago and just kept putting money in , so next year I should habve 1200 . Of course I've been buying all year, so I spend more than this.

[jbdinos]

We've decided to go with the original retail price when I buy gifts. So if I set a limit of $25 per person and I find a gift that has an original retail value/price of $25-40, and I am able to get it for $15-20 (or less) than I will buy the gift and then be finished with that person even if I haven't spent $25. Then I put the leftover money back in the bank.

 

This is my first Christmas shopping/buying/giving this way. I used to spend every last drop of the $25 and give gifts that had an original retail value of at least $50+ dollars. Last year I spent $30 on my niece and the original retail price came to $150. (Robeez, Gymboree, DKNY)

 

The reason I have stopped doing this is we've been making people uncomfortable with the amount that we are giving. Their words, not mine. I have explained that I always look for good deals when I shop and that we do not go over budget, but I don't think anyone in DH's family believes that we can find $150 worth of quality gifts for $30. When we do gift exchanges with a specific limit they always think that we go over the limit even though we don't and most likely spent less than they did. I have also heard that people felt uncomfortable giving us a $25 gift when the gift we gave them was a $50+ gift. I'm not sure why this is the case, but I am going to do my best to stick to or close to the original retail price. I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable about a gift we give :) at least with DH's family. My family knows how I shop and they love it. Heck, my Mom taught me and after we open our gifts we will sometimes say, "OMG, I got such a great deal on this!"

 

 

Has anyone else had this issue? Quite frankly I am not sure how anyone shops for the holidays without looking for an awesome deal!

We also go by the comparable retail value of the gifts we buy, not the price paid. When you are a GD member you just know that you never pay what it's really priced at... that is a sin, right? However, we used to give gifts that were 40-50 dollars and sometimes spent less than 10... no one told us it made them uncomfortable, but someone the family came up with the idea that we are "rich" although we were spending less than half on gifts for bdays, etc as they were. I would hear them talking about us and basically if we couldn't find a deal and went with cash we would get bad mouthed for being "cheap" even if the cash (or gift card) was more than whatever the "norm" was for most of the family.

 

So I just basically stopped worrying about it and go with retail value when there is a limit.. .that way no one ever knows what I really spent. Now that is just the hubby's family.... with my sister (only family I have) and her family ... I can make sure to spend however much $$ I want and she knows that I never pay full price for anything and her kids have no other family on either side to spend on them so I do kinda go overboard a little bit for them. However... for years I could barely afford dollar store gifts for even our own kids and my sister was always there making sure they had nice things (she still does). Now that I can afford to find deals and spoil my neices.. I intend to continue doing it ... and my sister is always impressed by what I spent.

 

As for my own kids... the ones at home are 11, 13, 14, and 16... and they still count total gifts, not $$... of course, they know they can't count the $$ exactly as they wouldn't want to figure out which way to add it up (value vs. actual cost)... and the important thing is they have the same number of gifts in the pile and that they each love their gift... then they each think they got the best Christmas gifts...

 

I go WAY overboard on the 2 grandkids though.. simply their parents can't afford a generous Santa year... and so we make up for it... even my greediest of kids said that it doesn't bother her for the grandkids to get more cause she knows that if it weren't for us they wouldn't get much at all.... seems like I have taught her right... no budget set... but within reason we do what is right for each child :)

[Princess7915]

Since I've started really thinking about it I usually "split the difference" between sale price and retail value to even it up if it's somebody that I'm worried about. Like for my DH or mom I don't care- the more I can get for my money the better! But for some like my aunt's kids I have a budget for and I try to make them even in "looks" So if for my $50 I can get the 15yo girl 6 things and the 9yo boy 2 things that's not really fair. However the 9yo boy wants video games and leggo sets and the 15yo girl wants Bath and Body shower gel, so we all know how that goes with shopping for deals! So I've gotten her some 10.50 retail shower gel for 4 on a deal, I may call it about 6 or 7 bucks to even it out. We also do a Dirty Santa game at a family members house with a $15 limit. I can do a lot with $15 sometimes that I know would look like I went way over my limit but it's not really fair to go completely true retail value on either. This year I shopped the Yankee summer sale -The retail of what I'm taking is about $40 but I paid $10, I'll call it a wash at my $15 limit and be done.

[digman6]

i thought of my kids making coupon books for their sponsors. it would be good for brownies, cookies, cupcakess each month. The book would have six coupons in it along with coupons for a hug or a kiss for fun. Im just not sure how much it would be liked or appreciated. They could put with it a cute ornament or something like that.

[momof3luvs1]

I always have a loose budget but am trying to cut down this year. I had a whole plan and limit but now that I see all the new stuff that my kids want I am going to have a hard time sticking to my plan. Anyone else have a hard time with this?

[Turtle Mommy]

Yes. We set and amount for each person. Our parents all get the same amount spent on them. We do the same thing with our boys. They are too far apart in age to match gifts so we match money. This year the 16 yr old wants just a visa with $$ on it and the 9 yr old will get gifts under the tree.

[pogiporkchop]

I won't have to worry about budgeting too much if DD keeps being naughty!

[Princess7915]

So what's your view on a gift budget for a person on your shopping list? Do you try to get the most for the dollar amount set for that individual and use every dollar. Is it okay to even go over by a few dollars if you have to? Do you try to come in under your set dollar amount if you feel like you've gotten nice things and save the extra cash?

[conj]

don't have a strict budget, and I have the flexibility to shop that way

[Iliveforblckfri]

I was surprised at the vote count. 33.33% for each category. Then I saw that I was only the third person to take the poll. I would love to stay at my budgeted amount, but some are up and some are down from what is budgeted for. Just depends what I can find.

[momof3luvs1]

I have a hard time with budgets. I mean I stay within the bounmdaries of what I can afford but I dont like a set budget because if I see something I know someone will love and I can afford it..I will buy it, end of story! I am not a dollar per dollar kind of shopper...

[Kibit13]

I try to stick to my budgets and I LOVE it when I can find a great gift for under my budget.

 

However, there are times when I find a gift and it is a few dollars over my budget. In that instance it depends on the person I am buying for. If it is my husband, mom, dad or brother then I will spend over my budget. If it is DH's grandparents I won't, but only because we would get in trouble for going over budget.:) If it is my niece and nephews I won't just because I don't want there to be a huge difference in cost/value of their gifts.

 

So overall I LOVE finding great gifts that are under my budget and then saving the leftover money and I go under or stick to my budget at least 85% of the time.

[tinkrbel]

I don't have a set budget either. I try to get people things I think they will like and usually only buy clearance/sale priced stuff. I tend to get the kids lots of stuff and the adults fewer gifts in general but if someone has a new home or baby etc that would probably make me keep an eye out for stuff they would need. I love that the latin pharmacy nearby sells discounted perfumes. The perfume sister in law normal uses that's like 75$ a bottle I can get there for $35 on sale.