I have friends that give incredible gifts for Christmas! Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable to think how much money they spent on me. One Christmas, I had a friend who gave me a Coach bag. That’s great, except I knew she and her husband did not have a large income and I couldn’t help but think that must have really stretched them to be able to do that for me. Another Christmas, I had a different friend give me an expensive bottle of perfume AND the newest Fitbit watch. I’m pretty sure she spent more on me than my own husband did (because we were on a tight budget trying to get out of debt) and she was living on government assistance while unemployed. It just felt wrong! I have had family members give me gifts in boxes that included their receipt details down to the payment plan because they FINANCED the gifts they gave me.
I obviously have some very generous people in my life who I am extremely grateful for. Maybe you are one of those people or have gone to similar measures in your Christmas gifting. I have heard of so many people who put all their Christmas gifts on credit cards and spent the next few months trying to pay them off. I whole-heartedly believe that is not how God intended our giving to be. Christmas is about celebrating THE GIFT God gave to us to pay our debt of sin, it can’t possibly be right for us to put ourselves into debt for this special holiday.
I consider myself generous, but I also consider myself frugal. How can you be both? Here are my 5 tips on how to purchase incredible gifts for your friends and family members without blowing your own budget, putting financial strain on yourself, and without the payments following you into the new year.
- Plan Ahead
Make a list of all the people you want to purchase gifts for and start brainstorming what kinds of things you would like to buy for them. Do this AT LEAST 2 months before Christmas. If you’re a planner like me, you may start this even sooner. The reason I say at least 2 months is so you have at least a couple of weeks to think about it and remember people to add to your list before you start doing your research in the next tip.
- Utilize Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals
By mid-November you should have a list of people to buy for a gift ideas for them. Black Friday ads are often available a week or two (sometimes more) in advance. I use bestblackfriday.com and Brad’s Deals for early access to those ads. This is how you will find the best deals on your gifts. Most deals are available online, so you don’t even have to brave the crowds if you don’t want to. Also, many sales are available online earlier in the week as well! Trust me, the deals are worth the planning ahead!
- Put Aside Money Throughout the Year
I use an envelope that I put in a locked safe at home and add to it gradually from January through December. Add this category as a line item in your monthly budget and pull out cash every month to add to the envelope. Some months are tighter than others, so I may not be able to add as much to the envelope as other months. Some months I have birthdays or showers to attend that I will need to use money I would otherwise be adding to the envelope to save for Christmas. That’s OK! There is not a perfect formula for this! The point is to consistently add to the envelope as often as you can to create a habit out of it. You will be AMAZED by the time the Christmas season comes how much stress is relieved by having this envelope full of cash stashed away. It actually makes Christmas shopping way more fun!
- Set a Budget –and Stick to it!
Once you’ve made your list of people and gift ideas and know how much money is in your envelope, you should decide how much you are going to spend on each person. This is important, because if you don’t plan this part out, you will potentially get yourself in way over your head. I tend to categorize people (immediate family, extended family, close friends, friends, Pastors, teachers, etc.) and set an amount for each individual in those categories. For example, immediate family gets $100 each, extended family gets $50 each, close friends get $50 each, etc. You decide your amounts, I’m just trying to create a picture of what this looks like. Also, DON’T FORGET those white elephant gifts for Christmas parties. Most of us can anticipate how many Christmas parties we will attend each year (Office, Church, Small Groups). Many of those parties you will be expected to bring a gift of a certain monetary value to. Can you purchase something worth $20 for $10 on Black Friday? Yes, you can! So, add those parties to your list too!
- Talk to Your Friends and Family about Gift Expectations
If you have a really large family of Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces, Nephews and it starts to get overwhelming to think of how many people you have to buy for and how much money you will have to spend, you are likely not the only one in your family feeling that way. It may be helpful to have a conversation with your family about drawing names so rather than everyone buying a gift for everyone, everyone only buys a gift for 1 or 2 people. Way less stress for sure! I know that plan doesn’t work for all families, but if it will work for yours, try it out! My family uses an app called Elfster to put gift ideas of all different price ranges on their “wish lists” to help ease the frustration of coming up with ideas they will love (maybe that’s one of your spiritual gift, but it most definitely is not mine!) I like to know what people want so I don’t end up getting them something they don’t even like or will never use.
Christmas is not supposed to be stressful, and if you are stressed, you’re doing it wrong.
Try some of these ideas and see what works for you. Feel free to tweak the ideas to fit you and your lifestyle as well. This is what has worked for me for years and I don’t want to withhold potentially helpful information from you. You’ve got this! You CAN make Christmas fun and stress-free!
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