Remember that cash Christmas jar some were talking about last year? Because of my lack of cash budgeting, I am sure I don't have that much in mine, but I think I have more than $70. Not the $400 I originally wanted, but I'll take whatever I can.Last year I made it a goal to get at least $600 total to spend on Christmas related stuff.
So far, I have $225 + ???:
-$30 worth of Target Gift cards
-$110 in rewards from my credit card
-$85 from October's overage
-??? in Christmas jar
-Two $25 gift cards to different restaurants, which are not located within 50 miles from me. I may try to sell them (though it seems the most I can get is $38 cash) or use them with my half brother. I'm leaning towards using them if I am to lose that much value out of them by selling... (not accounted for)
I guess I'm not in that great of a shape, pending whatever I walk away with in my jar! I may be able to add an additional $200 this coming Friday, since my budget is a lot more relaxed and I've worked quite a few hours at my part time job.
I still have no idea what to get anyone for Christmas, but unlike previous Christmases when I play the black sheep and completely avoid my family, I want to get everyone something, if just to be nice (Thanks, book of Decencies!). So far, the only thing I know I want to get for my brother and his spouse is a customized throw blanket with their family name. Specifically, this one. That alone is $50 after shipping! Though if I spend $50 on each family member, that's still only $300, which means I'm in a good place. I'll go find some other gifts to add to my list... and open the Christmas jar as soon as I have at least 4 of 6 gifts figured out. Did you start a Christmas jar last year? If so, when do you plan to open yours?
I am all about buying a family a joint substantial gift.....especially if I am buying gifts partially out of guilt or a sense of "it's an obligation". lol
ReplyDeleteThe real pitfall I have when buying Xmas gifts is spending too much money. By this I mean that, being frugal, I often spend a lot less on the gift than the normal retail(I get a deal or buy on clearance,etc.). If the item is worth $40, but I only spent OOP $10, I need to keep myself from going out and spending another $30 on additional gifts because "I" know I only spent $10 cash on them. The recipient doesn't know what actual cash I spent so it's just ME and not feeling it's enough. You get what I am saying?
I didn't do a jar/container of change this year but I DID save the change and I've rolled it as I've gone throughout the year into tubes.
I have them all sitting in a pretty bowl on my counter. In another month I'll actually empty it out and count my coin rolls. I'm sure it won't be as much as I would have liked it to be but it's something. 8-)
Nice! That's a great idea of rolling change and collecting it for a while. I don't think I could do the rolling (no discipline here), but that'd be a nice experiment to do.
DeleteAlso join ebates. Whenever I order something on line I see if they are on ebates and I just checked and the place you are ordering the throw from gives you 8 percent back. So if you do order at least join(they give you a 10.00 gift card to different stores when you join) then two or three times a year they send you out checks for the percentage you have spent.
ReplyDeleteI do this on black friday when I order gifts on line. Sometimes between the sales, coupons, and ebates I can wind up getting it almost free.
I did do the jar this year and I am sure it wont contain everything I wanted it to but every little bit helps.
Also remember you can always regift the cards for places you arent going to use
Oh and ebates has a 25 percent off coupon for this site plus the 8 percent back. Check it out :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Definitely checking that out! Thanks! I knew of the coupon (that's how I got it down to 50. There were a lot of 'handling'/customizing/shipping extra fees that really hiked the real price.
DeleteYou are so nice! Especially when some members of your family only deserve coal this year...Just saying:) I second Judy about ebates. I also love shopathome for online savings. And retailmenot allows you to check all the coupons available for different websites too. Check them out!
ReplyDeleteShopathome gives you 10% back on your purchase from personal creations right now and a variety of coupons including 25%.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are great! I'll go check them out as well. I could totally use those extra rebates.
DeleteI did the jar too! Kinda dread counting it... I think it has a lot of pennies. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm there with you. I have no idea what to do with the small change. I doubt I have enough to roll!
Deletewe have a jar with change, but it wasn't started for christmas...we're going on vacation soon and I'm thinking of taking it with us then. I don't know
ReplyDelete