all of our money goes into one pot so how do i budget christmas?

[CrazyQT]

My husband and I put all of our money into one banking account. Our monthly bills (insurance, utilities, cellphone, cable etc etc...and dang those add up to a lot) get paid out of that account. We have a set amount each pay that we transfer to savings and we pay ourselves each $100 to do with what we like - no questions asked. I don't tend to spend a lot of money on things so my "spending money" has been accumulating quite nicely. All gifts for birthdays, Christmas (although we are not big Christmas gift givers. We don't exchange between each other. We give the grown adults gift cards to make it easier and I do stockings for everyone) and anything else that pops up comes out of the pot.

We usually take a vacation once a year and that money comes out of our savings.

We used to disagree a lot on what we felt was necessary spending thus the introduction of "spending money". No more disagreements and this arrangement works best for us. Hubby takes care of balancing the bank account and I just leave receipts on his desk so I don't forget where I spent money.

Tonight I am going out to dinner with a bunch of co-workers and that expense will be withdrawn from my spending money as it's an extra expense. I don't mind

[blueeyetea]

For next year, say January 2nd, why not come up with a ballpark figure for next year's christmas, divide by 12, and set aside that amount each month?

[Frugalbigmama]

I have Misc. and Christmas on my budget. I celebrate Christmas so I know it comes every year so I put $ away each month for it.

[Jessie1]

Naturally, an essential part of creating a budget is to list your bills. But many people unwittingly go astray during this step. Some individuals omit certain expenses, dismissing them as "one-time" expenditures. Or maybe you "forgot" about certain bills because they're paid semi-annually, not monthly. To get a clear handle on your finances, you must include all costs incurred during the year. Begin by itemizing all areas where you regularly spend money. Some common categories include:

• Food
• Housing
• Entertainment
• Transportation
• Debts
• Utilities
• Educational Costs
• Insurance

It seems to be good for me, too.

[Colsgirl]

Don't feel pressured into spending the big $$$ at Christmas. We set ourselves a limit of $20 we could spend on each other last year. We had to be so resourceful and think way out of the box, we had so much fun doing it. We could also use anything that was in the house.

[mandolinatou]

I posted this before but I learned a few years ago when my MIL passed away and her estate was frozen for estate processing, my FIL was locked out of his own bank account since it was a mutual shared account for a little over a month. He'd actually earned all the money in there too since she wasn't working the last year. He had no access to any of his money for more than a month and this was immediate, right when he had extra expenses. Its always a good idea to have a little account just for yourself for millions of things like secret christmas birthday shopping, emergency car stuff, marriage issues, and the unexpected death of a spouse. Definitely something to know if you have a relative in palliative care with a spouse. I think both spouses should have one with an agreed upon amount. A months worth of expenses in a personal account I think is a minimum, but thats me. I tell everyone who discusses their couple finances about it because it surprised me. This was in Quebec and it might different in other provinces.

[Ciel]

That means anyone with a joint account with a parent might be running into the frozen bank account scenario as well? Not a good way to help someone in their time of need regarding funeral expenses. Brother might have that problem with one of Dad's accounts but as brother is employed, he has his own financial resources. Might be worth sending Mom in to chat with a bank rep to find out. While she has a policy that she expects will cover funeral expenses, when the time comes, she won't be able to do a thing about it. I don't know what the issuer's process is for paying for arrangements, etc. Will have to look into that as it's the anniversary month when her statement will come in the mail.

[brunt]

Here's an idea from when things were tighter for us. Maybe not an exact answer to the original post, but in the same area at least.

We like to frequent thrift stores, flea markets and antique stores. Often, we would find a really good deal on something that we would like. We would buy it, place a post-it note on the item with its price, and keep it in a box. This box would come out in December for our families to "shop" in. They would pay the posted prices on the items in the box.

They didn't need to worry about shopping in crowded stores, whether or not we would like the present, and whether it was going to be too much money (we always made sure to have some cheaper items). People would grumble about the concept (with the presents not being a surprise for us), but they would always clean out our box.

And we always got presents that we wanted, rather than what people rushed out to get for us.

While we were at it, we would also pick up things for presents for other people as well. This way, there was no one single point of the year where gifts had to be purchased, but rather a steady stream of small purchases throughout the year. Canadian Tire has really good prices on some tools throughout the year that works really well for this.

Another thing where this is good is that in case a present that you were not counting on has to be purchased, you just go through your boxes. Chances are always pretty good that there is something in there that will work.

[PurpleBunny89]

Don't feel pressured into spending the big $$$ at Christmas. We set ourselves a limit of $20 we could spend on each other last year. We had to be so resourceful and think way out of the box, we had so much fun doing it. We could also use anything that was in the house.

Oh my gosh!! Nicely done though. I thought our budgets were tight.

We have a set budget for gifts no matter how much extra money we have. $50 for birthdays and $100 for Christmas. Normally I'm so budget concious and strict but when it comes to spoiling my DH I have a bit of trouble so this is where I really like to use my loyalty programs so that I can indulge him a little bit more. Sorry and I should mention that these budgets are only for gift giving between the two of us. We don't really do gift giving between family members and they don't do it back. Its an agreed upon arrangement and we really like it as it makes life less stressful around birthdays and holidays. We do sometimes get gifts for his parents though if we find something we know they would like or could use but its rare because when they aren't the people who have everything they are the people who only use such and such a brand imported from Mars in a padded wicker basket endorsed by the president of Pluto despite the fact that technically Pluto doesn't exist anymore. You get where I'm going?

I think a lot of people spend too much on gifts when with some real thought from the person who is getting the gift as to what they really want and what can wait until next time you would save tons of money. This is how we manage on small budgets.

[Colsgirl]

Oh my gosh!! Nicely done though. I thought our budgets were tight.

We have a set budget for gifts no matter how much extra money we have. $50 for birthdays and $100 for Christmas. Normally I'm so budget concious and strict but when it comes to spoiling my DH I have a bit of trouble so this is where I really like to use my loyalty programs so that I can indulge him a little bit more. Sorry and I should mention that these budgets are only for gift giving between the two of us. We don't really do gift giving between family members and they don't do it back. Its an agreed upon arrangement and we really like it as it makes life less stressful around birthdays and holidays. We do sometimes get gifts for his parents though if we find something we know they would like or could use but its rare because when they aren't the people who have everything they are the people who only use such and such a brand imported from Mars in a padded wicker basket endorsed by the president of Pluto despite the fact that technically Pluto doesn't exist anymore. You get where I'm going?

I think a lot of people spend too much on gifts when with some real thought from the person who is getting the gift as to what they really want and what can wait until next time you would save tons of money. This is how we manage on small budgets.

LMAO our budgets weren't tight. It was just something we decided we wanted to do. Some friends of ours did it the year before and they were saying how much it made them look at things differently when you knew that you couldn't spend any more money. The difference between what we actually spent on each other last year and what we usually spend, we donated to charity.

[anawhatsme]

We do sometimes get gifts for his parents though if we find something we know they would like or could use but its rare because when they aren't the people who have everything they are the people who only use such and such a brand imported from Mars in a padded wicker basket endorsed by the president of Pluto despite the fact that technically Pluto doesn't exist anymore. You get where I'm going?

haha this was so funny!!
i would love to be able to buy only for my kids and boyfriend.
it would be sooooo much easier and more fun!
i hate buying for people outside of us because it's so forced.
i don't see many of them ever, if i do it's once a year or less.
others already have everything they need and more, and usually anything we get wouldn't be needed or used.
then there are the ones that will talk amongst themselves about the junk you gave them.

[hanyklowe]

If you have some savings, you can use it to start a home-based business so you can earn additional income this holiday season. If you know how to bake, cookies and cakes will surely give you nice profits. Take the opportunity that this season gives and do business.