I’m Dreaming of a Frugal Christmas

Actually, I’m not the one dreaming of a frugal Christmas, Hubby is. See, I love giving gifts so much that I would put us in serious financial trouble if it weren’t for Hubby’s limits. Hubby doesn’t like saving all year long to spend our entire savings and add a little more to the credit card balance just to give lots and lots of really great gifts. So, we compromise and set a reasonable budget.

This year, Hubby has announced some major cuts to the Christmas budget. The past few months have been a bit financially difficult for us. We’ve made do but we’ve tacked a lot more debt onto our credit card. We’ve worked hard to get through this rough patch and we’re finally back on track so we don’t want to mess it all up by spending too much money at Christmas this year.

I’ve decided to be a sport and not fuss with Hubby about his budget cuts. As a matter of fact, I totally agree with him. Just don’t tell him I said so, okay? Anyway, to help out, I’ve started thinking of ways to lessen the impact of Christmas on our finances.

I recently took up crochet. I love it. I’ve decided to make several handmade gifts for family members. I did some searching and found several free crochet patterns online. I’ve also purchased a few patterns on Etsy. Some of the men on our list will be getting one of these beanies and a matching scarf. Some of the women will be getting a pair of these slippers. One of our nieces will be getting one of these hats and a small, inexpensive toy. Her sister will likely get one of these hats and an inexpensive toy. My nephew is a huge fan of Yo Gabba Gabba so he will be getting these. The cost of purchasing these patterns and the yarn is less than we would spend on gifts for each of these people. Hopefully everyone will appreciate their handmade gifts and the hours it’s taking me to make them.

I have also been working to prepare and freeze cookie dough for the holidays. It never fails, my children will be invited to parties (or having them at school & church) and there will be cookie swaps going on and this way I don’t have to spend time preparing something during the already rushed holidays. Since I have been picking up a few ingredients at a time while doing my regular grocery shopping, I don’t have to rush out and spend a pile of money buying everything at the last minute. It’s also great to have the dough on hand for unexpected visitors during the holidays.

For the ladies in Hubby’s office, I always make a tray of special treats. I usually make several different kinds of candy and place them on a tray but buying all the ingredients can get expensive. This year, I’ve decided to make homemade cinnamon rolls in the shape of a wreath. Flour, yeast, sugar, and cinnamon are much cheaper than paraffin wax, several bags of chocolate chips, coconut, confectioner’s sugar, peanut butter….you get the point. I also bake homemade cinnamon rolls for my children’s bus driver and teachers. I like to prepare them the night before and pop them in the oven the next morning to warm them up and drizzle on the icing and deliver them while they’re still warm. Everyone appreciates a warm cinnamon roll and it’s a nice change from the usual “teacher gifts”.

We don’t spend a ton of money on our kids at Christmas. We never have. They always get really nice gifts and they usually get everything they want (within reason) but we still don’t spend a lot. I like to shop online. I can usually find better deals that way. Last year, I got my son a baseball bat that had been marked down from $130 to $50! Since my boys like baseball so much, we often shop the clearance section on MLB.com. Once the season is over, many clothing items (especially short-sleeve t-shirts) are marked way down. I can usually get them a really cool t-shirt for their favorite team for $10! Often times, you can get free shipping online but for me, it is worth the shipping cost to save gas and aggravation going to a ton of stores trying to find something.

I’m still brain-storming ideas for saving time and, most of all, money during the holidays. If you have any ideas for me, please pass them along. I need all the frugal-ness I can get!