Christmas for me is the most vibrant, live and happy season of all. This is all true for all ages I believe and especially now I have a cute nephew to celebrate with and my family as well my Christmas will be extra special.
But with all the 13th-month pay, gifts and salary came in which I already allocated for savings and other usual stuff what is there to spare for giving. I really love the essence of giving to my Goddaughters on Christmas but my budget won’t allow me to! Help…
But with all the 13th-month pay, gifts and salary came in which I already allocated for savings and other usual stuff what is there to spare for giving. I really love the essence of giving to my Goddaughters on Christmas but my budget won’t allow me to! Help…
Overview of my dilemma this 2017 Christmas
• 2 Goddaughters (3rd one is too far I am pretty sure she will not come)
• Siblings of my Goddaughters (for sure they will come at home with their siblings and friends)
• My Childhood friend’s Son
• Christmas Caroller’s (kids and other community or group carollers with complete guitar and drums set and beautiful choir voice→ I don’t know if you feel shy as well if you say ‘patawad’ to these caroller’s→ Oh well Filipino tradition is like that)
My Game Plan (Yes I am serious!)
I don’t know if this will work, but I already limit my budget to P500.00 (because that is all to spare) and instead of buying individual gifts I think the spirit of Christmas is felt more when you hand down a small piece of envelope or ‘ampao’ to their hand (without it is alright I think having a newly printed notes will do).
Rewind…
Last year, we did pack some candies, chocolates and biscuits in one bag but I don’t know somehow I felt like the kids wanting and waiting to have more. (they just got to have the $$, well in our case Peso LMAO) So now instead of doing it again, I will be straightforward in giving, just plain paper money. That’s it!
I will change my P500.00 pesos into 20’s pesos notes…
1st Goddaughter 5pcs X 20.00 = 100.00
3Siblings 3pcs X 20.00 (1 each) = 60.00
2nd Goddaughter 3pcs X 20.00 = 60.00
3Siblings 3pcs X 20.00 (1 each) = 60.00
Childhood friend’s Son 5pcs X 20.00 = 100.00
4 Nephew 2pcs X 20.00 X 4 = 160.00
540.00
Budget (500.00)
Deficit 40.00
I still need a budget for Christmas Carollers. I think I will just leave it to my mom and some unexpected visitors’ maybe that I forgot to include. For the P 40.00 deficit, I will get the money from my daily budget from work.
My head aches when it comes to budgeting but it has to be done. I really think an overview of what I have to spend on Christmas day will help me a lot not to overspend.
Pointers to remember to prevent overspending:
• Set a budget
• Create a list of your expenditures
• Stick to the budget as much as possible – I know sometimes we can overspend but if you have listed down all possible things that you might spend on at least the amount you overspend will not be that surprising.
• Be creative – Like what I’ve mentioned earlier we tried not to give money and give treats instead last Christmas but unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but it doesn’t mean that your idea will not work as well. I am thinking to give away sling bags if I see a good one with less than P100.00 ($2.00) price range, I think it will be a great idea and my goddaughters will appreciate (that is not yet final but we’ll see).
• It’s the thought that counts – remember that whatever the amount is, still it’s the thought that counts. I think it is enough to remember them on this festive season and we love to see them once in awhile (because for sure I didn’t see them all the time now, unlike before).
Thanks for reading all the way!
I love your tips and I do them too. Since I'm a creative at heart, I do many DIY's and I also recycle things like I reuse old magazine pages as gift wrappers and ribbons from cake boxes to prettify the gifts. :D
ReplyDeleteAaawwwwtz! Im touched. One of the blog i follow commented😍😍😍✨✨✨✨❤️❤️❤️❤️ Thanks for commenting @peachypinksisters
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