Staying frugal during the Christmas season

**homesteadmamma** · 11-07-2006, 10:33 AM

Our family has worked on this for a number of years now. Instead of focusing on advertising, consumerism and wanting things, we have focused instead on the true meaning of Christmas and family. In order to do that, we do the following:

~no catalogs come into our home during the Christmas season. They only make one WANT more, myself included. Advertisements that are seen on tv are laughed at. I mean really, how many toys can one child have.

~most of our gifts are handmade. There is something so special watching the children make gifts for their daddy or whispering with daddy about what they are making for me. When they do buy a gift, they go to the dollar store.

~we don't rent any new Christmas movies, we watch the oldies on tv. There is no cost to watching those and they are so much better than some of the ridiculous ones they have out now.

~this year, we are not putting Christmas lights outside. Instead, we plan on putting up a few more decorations inside so that we can enjoy them all day long. Dh is making a number of them so there won't be any cost. The wood he uses is free wood that he got while we lived in the city, from a furniture making store.

~gifts (even handmade) are limited to 3 each for the kid.

~dh and I don't exchange gifts.

~we don't exchange gifts with immediate family, except for my mom. Dh's parents are both gone.

~I don't send out Christmas cards.

~we purchase our Christmas turkey long before Christmas when they are on sale. When purchasing candy canes, I again watch for when they go on sale and purchase a couple boxes of them. We don't purchase any chocolates.

~I save bread crumbs for making my stuffing for the turkey, rather than buying stuffing in boxes all ready to cook on the stove.

These are a few things we do, that may seem extreme to some. However they work perfectly for our family.

How do you remain frugal during the Christmas season?

**Katybird** · 11-07-2006, 11:54 AM

We will be doing most of our holiday cooking for our stockpile. I already have a turkey in the freezer and most of the other items have already been purchased and are in the pantry, I will just need to buy things for making my baked goods and candies for gift giving and for the holidays.

We only purchase gift cards for our kids but they are all adults so they do not expect a lot of gifts. We usually purchase just 1 large gift for our grands. We only bring 1 gift at Christmas to the large family gathering and we have a Chinese christmas swap for gifts.

**yankeegal** · 11-07-2006, 01:17 PM

Excellent thread!

I am making this Christmas all about the family-homemade snowglobes displaying family photos, homemade ornaments, and homemade presents. I will only use the decorations I already have or can make with items already in my vast craft area.
I will do gingerbread houses and cookies with the kids and their friends...
I will give each child a certain amount of $$$-(they love to shop at after Christmas sales) and a stocking-my children are older now so the toy thing is well behind us.
We will volunteer somewhere as a family.
We will continue our annual pilgrimage to see all of the decorations in the neighborhoods around us-my children never seem to tire of this tradition.
Love watching the old movies as well...
Keep all of the suggestions coming!

**McD** · 11-07-2006, 02:34 PM

I started my Christmas shopping in August.

So far I have bought 23 gifts and the average on presents is 4$. I watch sales very carefully and I pick up good things when I find them. This is my first Christmas that we are on a budget so please ladies keep adding suggestions for me!

**nwmissourigal** · 11-07-2006, 02:35 PM

This year for Christmas were are giving couples gifts this year. I have 8 grandkids so Christmas is really for them. We don't lavish presents on them because we want them to understand the real meaning of Christmas. I haven't bought my turkey yet...shame on me...but I have everything else, except the baking supplies and I am waiting for them to go on sale.

**FrugalMomof3** · 11-07-2006, 02:39 PM

This year I am being as frugal as I can, I am done with xmas shopping and although we got TONS of catalogs in the mail I just threw them in the garbage

I shopped flea markets, yard sales, dollar stores and did a bunch of swapping and trading.

**ewokgirl** · 11-07-2006, 07:13 PM

I have no kids, so that alone helps tremendously!

I vowed a few years ago to stop exchanging gifts with friends. Family only. However, our current group of friends always gives me gifts, so I make something. Last year it was homemade bread, honey butter, and homemade ornaments from a Martha Stewart project.

I try to keep gifts for the nieces around $10 each. I shop year round to find good deals. Our teenage niece is a little harder to do that with, so I usually spend a little more on her.

If I can make stuff for family members, I do, but otherwise I just try to keep things fairly low-cost. Once again, year round shopping often helps. I like to look for unique things. This isn't Christmas, but I just ordered something on Ebay for my mom for her birthday. I found a copy of her favorite magazine from the month and year she was born. It'll be a fun and interesting thing for her to look through. For my sister in England, who no longer has a dishwasher, I just ordered some crocheted dishcloths for her. I think they work better than store-bought cloths, so I think she'll like them. I'm giving her 4, and they were only $2 each.

We participate in as few of those little $5-10 gift exchanges as possible. Sometimes that involves saying no to party invites. I don't like to be out and busy every weekend anyway. We're choosy about which parties we attend.

Honestly, I like to hang out at home and watch cheesy Christmas specials on TV or video (I own several). I do send out Christmas cards, but I usually buy them super cheap. I set up a tray table in the living room, watch a Christmas movie, and write my cards. I enjoy it.

We used to buy a new ornament each year, but the last couple of years, I've made ornaments. Actually, I think I've spent more money on supplies for the homemade ones, but I can make a lot and give some away. Two years ago I made the Martha Stewart cinnamon-applesauce ornaments in bird shapes, decorated with seed beads. They were beautiful! Last year I made the Martha Stewart clothespin ornaments. I made Victorian couples and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. My DH asked for Star Wars ornaments, so I winged it and managed to make a pretty good little Leia and Han Solo! It was fun to be creative like that.

**PrairieRose** · 11-07-2006, 09:32 PM

We've cut our gift giving down by about 75%. I shop all year long for the gifts that we do give and usually get them at about 75% off. I've got all but for my dk's done. I'm cutting that down as well this year. We'll be mostly staying home/eating at home and playing games during the holidays this year.

**i.m.cheap** · 11-07-2006, 09:53 PM

We never spend much at Christmas, usually around $100 for all gifts. That usually breaks down to $40-50 on dd's gift(s), $15-20 each for DH and I, and we buy a small gift for my mother, and one very special aunt.

**SammeyG** · 11-07-2006, 11:14 PM

Well I have no kids living at home. But with my family I am going to buy 1 item. I do have some coupons to various stores That I want to use. For dfil and mil they don't want anything from us kids. But when db and I were growing up we always watch a Christmas Story. Now it has been a tradtion in both housholds.

**Dolores** · 11-08-2006, 05:58 AM

We have stopped giving gifts to everyone but immediate family. I used to buy toys and clothes for my cousins' kids but not once did I ever receive a thank you note back from any of them. Instead, I have redirected toys and clothes I pick up during the year to local charities here in Appalachia and send some to charities on the Lakota reservation in SD.

DH and I spend as little on each other as possible. We already have too much cluttering up our house as it is. I put out the word with our family that the only thing we 'need' is an electric blanket. No towels, no cooking sets, just an electric blanket. Hoping they take the hint!

Dolores

**dmvezina** · 11-08-2006, 08:20 AM

We set a budget per child. We shop the sales. DH is great with the day after Thanksgiving sales. He gets a ton of great deals. I grab free or nearly free stuff whenever I can, which is mostly stocking stuff. Like a couple of weeks ago, I got hairspray and mousse for free, so I put it away for my daughter's stocking, full size products too. I put lights up everywhere, but plug them in for limited amounts of time, except for Christmas Eve, then they just have to be on all night for Santa!! LOL

**Backtoreality** · 11-08-2006, 10:24 AM

This is the first year we are on a budget. I just heard today that the average money spent in the USA is $1000!

On the upside, the kids are grown and DH and I are on the same page. I can see us doing homemade gifts and one gift for the 3 youngest nephews. Who knows?? Maybe less than $200 for everything.

**Cricket1** · 11-08-2006, 10:42 AM

I set a $200 budget this year for Christmas and I'm officially done my shopping. I have to confess, there are some receipts that I haven't added in so I think I went over budget.

At first, I was going to get gifts for teachers and bus drivers. Once I figured everything, I realized that on those alone I would spend $50! Instead, I'm having my boys make bracelets for their teachers with some beautiful beads I already had. Bus drivers are going to get homemade cookies.

For my kids, I spent $50 each on and I just bought my dh two books.

**Telephus44** · 11-08-2006, 12:37 PM

Last year we scaled back to only buying for my parents, my sister, and my godparents (5 people). DH's family was never big on presents, so they don't have a gift exchange. I am giving my in-laws a photo collage of their first grandson this year, though.

For everyone else that I used to buy for, I've been going the baked goods route. I picked up a few small loaf pans and tins, less than $5 for all of them, and I'll drop them off. My total budget for everything this year is $300, including all of the cards, postage, baking supplies, presents. I'm pretty on track with it.

The one thing that we do splurge on is seeing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert. We've seen it every year since we were dating. We get good seats and end up spending around $100 for tickets and parking. This isn't included in my $300 budget above.