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Last minute budgeting tips for Xmas

Posted on: 19th Dec, 2009 05:58 am
Hi all,

Xmas is just round the corner. Most of the people are already done with their Christmas shopping. But are you one of those super-busy people who have not been able to manage time enough to buy presents for near and dear ones? Have you saved enough to cover the cost of the Christmas gifts? If your answer to the queries above is "no", just go through the tips given below to know how you can complete your last minute Christmas shopping well within the time and your small budget:
  • Make a list and plan your budget: The first thing you should do now is, take a pen and paper and make a list of all your family members and friends who you want to gift this Xmas. The next thing to do is to determine how much you can afford to spend. Set aside a portion of your money which you think you can spend to buy the gifts. Say, if you have 8 people who you want to gift and you wish to spend a total of $800, you can buy a gift of $100 for each. If some of them are special to you and you want to give them special gifts, you plan accordingly. You can then, for instance, buy gifts worth $110 for each of your 4 special ones and buy gifts of $90 for the rest of them.

  • Save time on shopping: Time is running out and you need to complete the shopping as quickly as possible. Browse through the sales paper and check out who are offering you the best deals. Try and use internet to shop for gifts that are not easy to find. In that case, sites like Amazon.com, Ebay.com can help you a lot. You can also visit your local retailer on the internet. They often offer special deals for those who shop online.

  • Plan your last minute shipping: If you want to send gifts to your dear ones who are miles away from you and your shipping budget is small, you need to plan accordingly. It is best to send your gifts by 20th so they get delivered to your beloved ones right on time. But if you cannot send your gifts well in advance, you need not worry as there are overnight options aplenty to help you. However, it can be quite costly depending on the package. So, it is always better to send the gifts as early as possible.

Thanks,
Jerry
be wise when shopping for Christmas, not like me. if you do your shopping for next year in the days and weeks immediately following Christmas, you'll find a pretty decent savings. and you'll have it out of the way early, too.

remember that ornaments, etc. are deeply discounted after Christmas, too; so you can pick up on all those trinkets that you'd ordinarily buy at the last minute, too.

nice budget you mentioned, jerry.
Posted on: 19th Dec, 2009 07:42 pm
Here are few tips from my end:

Pay cash - To keep a tab on your spending habit, you can withdraw the amount that you want to spend on the gifts. You should buy your gifts depending upon the amount of money you have in your hand. Once you spend the money, you should end your shopping. On the contrary, if you use a credit card to buy the gifts, you may lose track of exactly how much money you've spent.

Shop alone - It's a general belief that if you shop alone, you will spend less money. If you have a shopping partner, he or she may tend to influence you and you can end up buying lot of things which you don't need. So, it's better to shop alone and shop wisely.

Creative gifts - Rather than going for costly gifts, it's better to go for creative gifts. A hand-made card or home baked cookies and brownies can be nice gifts for your neighbors and co-workers.
Posted on: 21st Dec, 2009 12:56 am
People spends lot of money for Christmas things but it is not possible for low budget person. They can choose online shopping options to buy entire things because everything available in low rate with free shipping service.
Posted on: 17th Jul, 2012 08:59 pm
Go through this page also : http://www.mortgagefit.com/budgeting-finance/about5819.html
Posted on: 02nd Aug, 2012 12:47 am
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