[flickr id=”2946059445″ thumbnail=”medium” align=”center”]
1. Gingerbread House, 2. Untitled, 3. | Feliz Navidad / Merry Christmas |, 4. merry flickrmas!, 5. Red Christmas 2006 – 236F, 6. fabric ball ornaments, 7. Untitled, 8. They are back !, 9. Button Christmas wreath
This is my first in a countdown series to Christmas. I have a complete Christmas Preparation Plan that I will be following over the next 10 weeks, so that I avoid that last minute franticness that has so often plagued my Decembers.
We have budgeted the same amount this year as we have previously, even though the last two years expenditure has been over budget. I have done a number of things differently this year, that I hope will mean I actually stay within our budget:
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Handmade many more items well in advance.
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Kept an eye out at sales and made purchases months ahead of Christmas.
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Greater planning so there should be no last minute (expensive rush) purchases.
It is important to understand the different categories that money will be spent on over the Christmas period, so I can identify better in what areas, if any, I have over spent, for example:
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Presents
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Food
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Drink
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Entertainment
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Decorations
As with most things, I use a spreadsheet to track our expenditure. I have created just one 2008 Christmas Planning file with many individual spreadsheets including:
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Christmas Planning Checklist
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Christmas Budget.
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2008 Christmas Present List.
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Previous Year’s Present List (to ensure that I am giving a variety of gifts to people each year).
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Gift Idea List For The Children (I enter items as I think of it, for myself and for our families who often ask what they can get the children).
Do you set yourself a budget for Christmas? How do you track your expenditure and how successful have you been at sticking to budget?