Christmas Budget 2009


Image by Skpy

Item 2 on my Christmas Planning Checklist is to update and review the Christmas Budget. As I have been buying materials for the home made gifts, I have been inputting all my expenditure into an excel spreadsheet, which I specifically designed to track spending on Christmas.

It is very easy to spend much more on Christmas than anticipated. Something small here, trinkets there, additional items here and very soon you can lose sight on how much you are spending. I have found that tracking expenditure eliminates part of my tendency to want to occasionally over spend!

We have a set amount that we allocate each year to Christmas. This includes spending on:

  • Presents
  • Food
  • Drink
  • Entertainment
  • Decorations

I also use this spreadsheet as a “Master Plan” for Christmas. It includes individual spreadsheets for:

  • Christmas Planning Checklist
  • Christmas Budget.
  • 2009 Christmas Present List.
  • Previous Year’s Present List (to ensure that I am giving a variety of gifts to people each year).
  • 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).

If you click on the link below you will be able to download a template of this Christmas Budget Spreadsheet:

2009 Planning With Kids Christmas Master Spreadsheet