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All Year Gift Fund instead of Christmas Fund

May 29th, 2015 at 03:16 pm

This is the first year I budgeted for all year gifts instead of just a Christmas fund where my goal was to get 1/2 of the money budgeted from 'free' sources.

I have been doing very well, but am curious to see how much people budget for such things.

Lots of family/friends. Some have bigger budgets than others. I splurge a LOT on kids, but give small gifts of books to friends kids.

My 2015 All inclusive Gifts/Holiday Budget is about $1500. That seems SO high, but its really reasonable, since other than nephews/niece and my parents and hubby, the budgets are usually $5-$25 per person.

What kind of gift budgets to you guys have?

In my 2015 budget, I included:

Birthdays:
Husband
Mom
Dad
Sister (33)
Nephew (14)
Niece (2)
Nephew 2 (12)
SIL 1
SIL 2
SIL 3
MIL
BFF
Friend's Baby


I included Holiday/Event budgets:
Mother's Day
Father's Day
Valentine's Day
Anniversary
Thanksgiving - Food/Decor
Christmas - Food
Halloween - costumes
Family Member's Wedding Shower
Family Member's Wedding
Easter
Sister's Graduation from Nursing School

Then I have Christmas:

Husband
Mom
Dad
Sister (33)
Nephew (14)
Niece (2)
Nephew 2 (12)
Pollyanna between Sister in Laws
MIL
BFF 1
BFF 2
Friend 3
Friend 4
Friend 1 Baby
Cards/Stamps
Dollar store trip (friend tradition for frugal decorations/wrapping)
Baby Gift
Misc
Sister's Boyfriend (if still around)
Friend 2 Baby

Posted in Gifts | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “All Year Gift Fund instead of Christmas Fund”

  1. CB in the City Says:
    May 29th, 2015 at 03:30 pm 1432913433
    1432913433

    I spent $2500 on gifts and charity in 2014. I don't separate the two, but my charity is less than my giving to family. This year, with retirement being imminent, I will have to completely overhaul my giving budget. I'm budgeting $720 for the year. Quite a change! But I will have a lot less giving to work friends/events and so forth, and that will help. And my charities will have to do without me.

    The $720 total is not counting what I will give to the grandchildren's college funds, which comes from snowflakes.

    I have two children with spouses, and four grandchildren (counting one on the way). I also give to other family members at Christmas time, depending on who is at the celebration.

  2. scottish girl Says:
    May 29th, 2015 at 03:37 pm 1432913857
    1432913857

    We save 300 in high street vouchers but I try to get free gifts too. After j's birthday I'll start thinking about Christmas.

  3. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    May 29th, 2015 at 04:13 pm 1432916000
    1432916000

    i spend a lot on birthdays since we have a ton of friends. maybe it'll be easier now.

  4. scottish girl Says:
    May 29th, 2015 at 04:30 pm 1432917029
    1432917029

    I think I'm going to buy a separate notebook in to keep track of what I spend on gifts.

  5. Buendia Says:
    May 30th, 2015 at 01:11 pm 1432991499
    1432991499

    Our budget is $900 for gifts. Thanksgiving and Christmas food just fall under our groceries category. We have to buy a lot of gifts for F's friends' birthdays, but we stopped exchanging gifts between us and my brother and us and my sister in law/brother in law. We made a mutual decision that none of us wants any more stuff and we should concentrate on the kids (they have 3, we have one).

  6. Househopeful Says:
    June 1st, 2015 at 01:29 pm 1433165342
    1433165342

    Scottish gril - I have a spreadsheet where I track the money that goes both in & out of the fund. I can be a little over-detailed LOL

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