MomDot Party: Day 3

Today is the third day of the MomDot Christmas Party.  If you’d like to read more, about the details refer to my day 1 or day 2 party posts, but on to today’s topic – a favorite of many women – SHOPPING!!!  Our topic today is:

When do you start Christmas shopping?  How do you budget for Christmas?  Do you stick to your budget?

I start Christmas shopping the day after Christmas.  I actually carry a list in my purse and add to it as I purchase things throughout the year so that I can remember who I’ve gotten what for.  All of this stuff is stored in Rubbermaid boxes until November when I pull it all out, give it a final look over and begin wrapping it.  

By doing this, I do very little shopping in November and December.  Except for buying for my girls, I try to be almost totally done by Halloween.   This helps with budgeting too.  Why? Because I pay for everyone’s gifts here and there and do not have to go on one big outing and spend a ton of money.  For that big spending that does happen every year though (like the girls’ main gift or if I decide what to buy someone something in particular earlier in the year, but it won’t fit in the budget), I always get a larger than normal check in November.  For most careers this would be a “Christmas Bonus,” but in teaching it’s really not a bonus.  Instead they take what we make over the state minimum and instead of dividing it out between all 12 months of the year, they give it all to us at once.

As a side note, one day I hope to have a house that’s large enough that I’ll be like one of my heroes.  She, like me, buys her gifts throughout the year, but she also keeps Christmas wrap in a spare room in her house and wraps them as she buys them and stores them in the closet so that there’s never that day of sitting and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping. I always start wrapping with a lot of festivity, but then by the time I finish it seems be a chore. 

Tags: christmas party, Contest, momdot

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.