The Mirror's Health , Lifestyle and Fashion
How to celebrate Christmas on a budget
Set a budget in advance
Before the frenzy of Christmas time descend, work out how much you are able and prepared to spend on Christmas festivities, gifts and catering.
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The amount will depend on how much you have already saved, how much you can set aside from current funds and how much you can spare in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
If you start early enough, you will have more leeway to save a bit more.
Talk to family
Sit down and make decisions about limits on gifts. This is especially important in large families where the costs of buying a gift for every member of the family can soon add up.
Seek agreement that you will only spend so much per person.
Hold a "catch-up" Christmas
If your family overdid the spending last Christmas and your budget is still really stretched, consider not spending for one Christmas. One non-spending Christmas will ensure that your budget catches up.
There are still a lot of things you can do to celebrate Christmas without spending money.
Cut out unnecessary items
There are a lot of items that are not needed and are unnecessary waste at Christmas time. Save your money and finite resources by not including them in your Christmas celebration.
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Examples include: ribbons, bows, fancy tape, stickers among others which are usually tossed away.
Get everyone to pitch in
If there are people coming to your house for Christmas dinner, assign them tasks to help out.
At the very least, ask them if they want to bring anything; this takes pressure off you and generally people do want to bring something and contribute in meaningful ways.
Store your Christmas decorations
This will mean that there is no need to replace them year after year. You need to properly store the decorations you used previously to avoid purchasing new ones.
Keep fragile decorations wrapped and boxed and place all decorations in a storage place that will not be disturbed.
Buy an artificial tree
A real tree costs money every year, both in terms of purchasing it and fuel needed to collect it. An artificial tree is a one-off cost.
An artificial pre-lit tree can also save money in lights and if one bulb goes, the others will carry on working, obviously depending on which tree.
Cook together as a family
What you are serving on your table does not matter if everyone is grumpy and disappointed or rushing to get to a party afterwards. A happy meal is made of happy sharing.
To encourage more interaction and fun in your family, try to involve everyone with the food preparations.
In the end, all of you will appreciate the labour of love sitting on the table and might even linger a bit more sitting around and talking to one another instead of heading for the phone or television.
Show people your way
Do not sit there stressing about what others might think of you, especially if it is the first time you are doing a budget Christmas.
Instead, make the first move and let them know about your decision to celebrate differently this year and tell them what to expect. You might even make them want to adopt your way or join you for some of the new activities.
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By letting people know your intentions, you will have fewer of them judge you or express disappointment later.
Credit: wikihow.com