Are you cutting back on Christmas?

[Susanscraps]

What is your plan? I will be cutting back, and I plan to only shop with cash, and I am starting NOW! I will start by shopping for my 4 nephews (all under 4 yrs old), and then move on to my niece and nephew (20) and (15).
My sister has it all, and is very hard to buy for, therefore she is getting scrapbooks of my 9 month old twin nephews and some homemade cards! My BIL is, of course, equally hard to buy for, and I have NO idea what to get.
But, I will not overspend this year, no can do! What about you?
I have already told my kids, early lists this year please!

[TheRootedNomad]

We are cutting back some more this year but only because we had let it get a little more out of hand than we wanted after several years of shoestring Christmases. (The reality was the shoestring Christmas was never really a problem it was the all year long shoestring living.) Even our "out of hand" is/was pretty calm by comparison to what a lot of others mean by that but this year I'm going to be working really hard at putting everything back in prospective.

[joyofsix]

Well, we are always pretty circumspect with Christmas so this year won't be any different. I have money setting in a Christmas Club account to pay for it so providing nothing goes terribly wrong between now and then we're good for our usual Christmas.

[Dixie]

We will definitely be cutting back. Dh didn't get his annual incentive check this summer and we usually use that for Christmas gifts. Our property tax bill has tripled and it's due right around Christmas. Add high gas and grocery prices and it will be a lean Christmas this year. Well, materially speaking, anyway. The ol' grinch can't take away the true meaning of the holiday.

[Missourimom]

Honestly, this is the first year I don't know what we're going to do. We won't be using credit cards, that's for sure. Times have been really tough for our family and our 3 daughters are going to have to understand. I'm not so much worried about our 17 and 18 year old, it's our 7 yr old I'm concerned about. My main priority is paying the mortgage and bills.

I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year.

[Jenna_Army_Wife]

We don't overspend, so I'm not necessarily "cutting back", but we both have large families and have to be careful with buying for everyone (I have 6 siblings, my husband has 3). I did an awesome job last year by finding most deals online with free shipping. I really need to start that soon, because I'm due with Baby #3 on January 2nd!

[many houseapes]

I started at the first of the year. I was given gift cards from my favorite craft shops & bought stuff to make presents...also gleaning the best items from what I received from Freecycle for gifts....free tshirts, toys. from rebate/refund offers...& I have a few items set aside from a few years ago in my "gift stash". Everyone will be getting 1"main course" present...the other stuff will help to fill in.
Last year, I spent about $365 on Christmas for dh, 10 children, my parents and my grandmother...I will be amazed if I can get it lower this year

[Mom2Many]

I'm cutting back in some areas. I'm hoping to pull off more useful gifts this year and have less "junk" for the kids.

I am going to try to get a Wii as a family gift from Santa, but a lot of other stuff is going to be refurbished from around the house. My 8 year old wants her own computer so I'm taking an old one I've got laying around the house and getting it working for her. I'm also refinishing 2 vanities for each of my girls. I'm not sure about the boys yet, but I've still got time to look.

I'm also picking up a few gifts for the kids each payday so I don't have a huge expense all at once.

[Pemberleyan]

No. We've never been part of the whole Christmas over-spending or even spending a lot group.

[Wendy Mack]

Well this year ... I have a christmas club at the bank .. well its hubbies.. he uses it to pay the bills in december, its a thousand dollars. And this is the first year I get a christmas club through work, the company matches up to the first 8 dollars you put in it,( I put in 30 every two weeks) and then they pay you 5% interest. Sooooo baring anything major I will have a thousand dollars to put towards christmas this year.. I told hubby this was christmas money and not for bills!!! I hope I wont' spend that much but I have 7 neices and nephews now and then grab bags for 4 christmas's we go to (all family).. then we exchange gifts at work .. $5 dollars or under per person which is now up to 8 people ughh ... but i usually go to dollar tree and get them a gift bag and put several things in it.. even if its only some soaps and bath stuff. They always seem to like that so going that way again this year unless i get some other idea... wish i baked and had the time to do it .. cause i know they would appriciate some bread or cookies better!! I just dont' know what to do with the kids .. hubby always over spends this time of year on our kids. And I know my 16 year old thinks she needs a lap top .. sigh!!! Thats only what 600 dollars and would take up more than half the budget for the whole christmas!!!!! Don't think so unless I can find one cheaper than that. I Mean last year she wanted an ipod.. and her grandma and I bought it for her... she is spoiled yup yup. But come on this is too much~!

[McD]

We aren't really cutting back, in terms of the number of presents we are buying or anything like that, but we are being creative in how we are purchasing these presents. I'm using mypoints to get gift certificates for stores like Target, Bath & Bodyworks, etc. to buy gifts. I use my rewards points to get gift certificates to buy gifts. We are purchasing gifts year round. We have a Christmas Club account.

[MomToTwoBoys]

We're not necessarily cutting back. However, we are preparing earlier than the last few years. No more of this 'wait until two weeks before Christmas to get anything started' business for me!

We have DH, both DS, my MIL, FIL, SIL and BIL, plus I'm sending my mom something for her and her BF and the BF's two girls. I might slide my three nephews something but these are the nephews from the sister I hate so much, so I'm not sure how that'll go.

I also have DH's aunt and his two cousins to buy for and our "pick" gifts (which we're only spending max 10 dollars a piece on).

We have more people to buy for but this year, I'm being smart. I'm sending out emails and Facebook messages to people, getting email addresses and then sending out a mass email to people to email me back with what they think someone will want.

I may be cutting back on unnecessary gifts and increasing the thought value into the ones I give.

[brenda67]

For the first time in 16yrs this will be a lean christmas for my boy's ages 16,14and 12..We are closing on our new house (have lived in a trailer for 10yrs) in less then 2 weeks and our mortgage payment is normally what we have been saving each month after our bills are paid..so this is a whole new world for us..However getting this house is one of the best presents my family could have ever received..I guess we will see how we look financially in the next couple of months and that will determine our christmas..

[frugal is fun]

I just got divorced this year so I am totally cutting back on Christmas this year.

I'm shooting for under $10 for coworkers, adult friends, school teachers, etc. I don't really have a dollar amount in mind for family but its not going to be alot. And I have already started shopping.

I found packs of 8 note cards with the saying "teachers make the world go round" at the dollar store for my son's preschool teachers

I bought a package of dried "Penn State" pasta from a fund raiser for $7.50.

I also printed out a list I found on Google "63 gift ideas for under $10" and I have matched several items up with people on my list and plan to buy one gift every week.

[rainbowgc]

I am done! I shopped the after whatever holiday for their 75% off and put away for Christmas.