Clever Homemaking

Photo by pfala.

The start of the new year is a great time to revisit your family’s household budget. One question people often wonder throughout the year is how much they should budget for gifts. Because Christmas is often hard to judge once it has past, it is easy to avoid saving altogether. This can be a disaster for your budget at the end of the year. If you do not know how much your family spends on Christmas each year, the beginning of the year is a good time to incorporate Christmas savings into your budget.

Perform the following steps to implement a Christmas savings plan:

1. Gather receipts, bank statements, and/or credit card statements detailing Christmas purchases.
2. Calculate how much you spent on Christmas.
3. Evaluate how much you spent: was it too much, less than you thought, or the amount necessary for your family?
4. Decide how much you want to spend next year.
5. Divide your christmas expense total by 12.

Step 5 will give you the amount of money you need to save each month in order to meet your Christmas savings goal. Be sure to include this line item in your monthly budget.

If your monthly budget does not allow for savings total to the amount in step 5, do not plan on making up the difference in subsequent months. Plan on ways to reduce the total in step 4. Decide ahead of time how you will reduce the cost of Christmas to match your budget.