Anyone else going to be broke for Christmas??

[nicem815]

With me not working more than a few days here and there, we are able to pay our bills but we're not left with much extra. I need to tell people who we usually exchange with that we can't do that this year.

Our family isn't nearby and daycare is too expensive PLUS my husband's shifts change every week. So me working consistently is kind of impossible.

On the bright side, she's still too little to understand so she won't feel like she's getting jipped if she doesn't get much this year!! Christmas isn't about gifts anyway, right? We will be making homemade ornaments for our relatives in lieu of gifts.

 

[Rainstorm]

Me. Which is why I was thinking of suggesting we each get a family member assigned and buy that person a gift instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone else. That way we would only buy one, but we'd make sure everyone gets one at the same time. Of course, the children will get more than one cos everyone enjoys buying for them...

 

[nicem815]

Me. Which is why I was thinking of suggesting we each get a family member assigned and buy that person a gift instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone else. That way we would only buy one, but we'd make sure everyone gets one at the same time. Of course, the children will get more than one cos everyone enjoys buying for them...

That is a great idea!! I think I will suggest it, too.

 

[loeylo]

I'm pretty skint as I'm on maternity leave just now. We are putting away money also to allow me to take more time off, plus it's our first year with the added expense of a baby.

I have made use of deals where possible - 3 for 2 gift deals for instance. I have been honest with people and just said presents won't be the usual standard, but I have also told people not to get for us and just to get a small gift for the wee one.

 

[misspriss]

Me, we are struggling, I don't see how we can afford anything really. I would post more but I have a baby sleeping on my arm, I'll post more later

 

[zorak]

Us. We've just moved internationally and are still sorting out jobs, somewhere to live etc. We are focusing on the kids. Our own two are so young its easy. They've each got a main gift of about 50 pounds but the rest is things like toy cars from the charity shops. Thankfully our own siblings stopped swapping gifts years ago. Nieces and nephews I'm following a strict budget on and since both sets of parents have been putting us up we are trying to think of something inexpensive but thoughtful to give them.

 

[hanni]

Me, I've just started a new job and they're totally cocking my pay up. We're also going to Barcelona next week as a surprise for my mum's birthday. It was booked months ago but it's made us so skint

 

[jodilee6]

Me. Which is why I was thinking of suggesting we each get a family member assigned and buy that person a gift instead of everyone buying gifts for everyone else. That way we would only buy one, but we'd make sure everyone gets one at the same time. Of course, the children will get more than one cos everyone enjoys buying for them...

We do this every year, it works out really well as we find you tend to put in more effort into one gift rather than buying cheap commercial tat

We're having a scaled back Christmas this year, kids just don't need £100's spent on them at this age

 

[_Meep_]

We try to drop £5 (or more if we can afford to) in a jar every week for the year and usually end up with something around the £250-300 mark which is then our Christmas budget.

Seems to work well enough, we've been doing it a couple of years now. We just don't have the money to go all-out come December without saving first!

 

[Rainbow82]

Yep we are super skint this year due to mat leave and trying to save enough to extend it through the unpaid portion. adults are getting homemade chutneys, salt dough decorations, framed photos of LO etc so almost no money, friends with kids the same age we have agreed a toy exchange, we gift them one toy from our toybox and they gift us one back from theirs. We are also making bathbombs (sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a drop of oil) they cost pennies but can be made to look nice, we make mini ones in ice cube trays. DSs presents have come from charity shops and baby sales we have spent about £20 and he has got an activity table, books, ball pit, ride in rocker, ball popper, ball drop, walker and blocks and some more teething toys. My nephews are getting a tablet that we got free with a phone contract last year and never use.

We have also just been upfront and honest with people and said that we can't afford more than hOmemade gifts this year, a lot of people are in the same boat. Some friends we have agreed to just get together at someone's house for dinner aNd each bring a tapas style dish.

 

[felix555]

I'm not going to be broke but I'm Just so over loads and loads of stuff I'm just getting my son 2 Or 3 small things and telling everyone else we are skipping gifts as we will be travelling. We will be away the whole month of December anyways.

 

[adrie]

We don't exchange gifts with adults for Christmas...it was always like that for me growing up and I'm more than happy to keep the tradition... plus, no stress! In our family, Christmas gifts are for kids. At the most, I would buy a nice wine or buy a host/ess gift if we went somewhere else for dinner. And buy any child there a gift, of course.

 

[Teri7489]

Us! Being on mat leave hits us hard but its worth it. We suggested a secret Santa in the family which everyone is more than happy with which is capped at £10. We bough dd a few things as she's 2 but not loads as it was her birthday on Halloween. My husband wants to wait to the January sales so he can get one big thing cheaper. We will be doing fun home made decorations with our daughter too. Ds is only 3 months so isn't getting anything as he was spoiled for just being born lol

 

[rebeccalouise]

Yep! We're in for a very expensive month next month. All of our bills seem to have gone up, it sucks. luckily we've done all of our Christmas shopping this month, but we are broke now, and will be until after Christmas I reckon. We've been a little harsh with gifts this year, but we have still made the effort to get everyone in the family something.. So I won't be happy if they moan! X

 

[MamaLoCo]

Of course. I had my baby August 8th and returned to work October 28th. The good ol' U.S.of A gave me a whopping 60% of pay for 4 weeks b ecause, apparently, that's how long it takes to recover from a Cesarean...
and I took my full 12 week FMLA. While I was out, I paid about $493 of insurance premiums that covered through mid-September and my first paycheck covered a little more than that for the remainder of insurance premiums I owed...which of course more than doubled since I added my daughter.

 

[nicem815]

We try to drop £5 (or more if we can afford to) in a jar every week for the year and usually end up with something around the £250-300 mark which is then our Christmas budget.

Seems to work well enough, we've been doing it a couple of years now. We just don't have the money to go all-out come December without saving first!

Great idea. I think we will do that next year!

 

[nicem815]

Yep we are super skint this year due to mat leave and trying to save enough to extend it through the unpaid portion. adults are getting homemade chutneys, salt dough decorations, framed photos of LO etc so almost no money, friends with kids the same age we have agreed a toy exchange, we gift them one toy from our toybox and they gift us one back from theirs. We are also making bathbombs (sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a drop of oil) they cost pennies but can be made to look nice, we make mini ones in ice cube trays. DSs presents have come from charity shops and baby sales we have spent about £20 and he has got an activity table, books, ball pit, ride in rocker, ball popper, ball drop, walker and blocks and some more teething toys. My nephews are getting a tablet that we got free with a phone contract last year and never use.

We have also just been upfront and honest with people and said that we can't afford more than hOmemade gifts this year, a lot of people are in the same boat. Some friends we have agreed to just get together at someone's house for dinner aNd each bring a tapas style dish.

What a a great idea. We were thinking of just suggesting time together instead of gifts, too. Oh and the dough ornaments here, too!!

 

[dom85]

Yep. We were probably worse off last year as we had just moved and I was pregnant and had spent loads on fixing our car, so we only bought for my eldest and our nephew and that was it. People were happy with us saying not to get us anything and us not buying for them, and I think this year a lot of people with be relived if we say that again.

I think as you get older and have your own kids it just gets too much to be buying for everyone else as well. I don't want loads of stuff, I would rather have the Xmas experience with my kids but even that costs money, decorating the house nicely, visiting Santa, going to Panto etc. We have stuck to a £100 budget for our boys and then we will see what we have to spend in December when it comes to everyone else. We did get some nice pictures taken of the boys at a fair for £6 so there will be some framed pics as gifts and then I was going to look into handmade gifts, the bath bombs are a great idea!

 

[Louise88]

Not sure if I should even be in here considering my youngest is nearly 2, but I'm so with everyone here, silly me decided moving house over Christmas was a brilliant idea however we need new sofa and carpets so having to save a lot for that, I'm making do with a lot of the argos 2 for £30, 2 for £15 offers and have told family we cant buy for them this year, I think I've spent around £100 each on my 2 and I'm done as I cant afford anymore however we will have a special day with a nice dinner, hot chocolates with marshmallows and cream as well Christmas movies.

Although ds has his 2nd birthday on the 30th December however we plan on hitting the sales after christmas and hopefully get him a couple things then.

 

[nicem815]

Yep. We were probably worse off last year as we had just moved and I was pregnant and had spent loads on fixing our car, so we only bought for my eldest and our nephew and that was it. People were happy with us saying not to get us anything and us not buying for them, and I think this year a lot of people with be relived if we say that again.

I think as you get older and have your own kids it just gets too much to be buying for everyone else as well. I don't want loads of stuff, I would rather have the Xmas experience with my kids but even that costs money, decorating the house nicely, visiting Santa, going to Panto etc. We have stuck to a £100 budget for our boys and then we will see what we have to spend in December when it comes to everyone else. We did get some nice pictures taken of the boys at a fair for £6 so there will be some framed pics as gifts and then I was going to look into handmade gifts, the bath bombs are a great idea!

You're right. As we get older it's way too hard to buy for everyone. I ended up creating a Secret Santa with my family and just telling friends to not buy for us...