Christmas in July! Tips on how to afford Christmas this year!

[GinaPQueen]

It's time to start thinking about this especially with the predictions of a double dip recession hitting fever pitch. Some are even calling for it to last for years at best and worsen into a depression at worse. Soooo, what I propose is this:

1. Discuss with your families now what you are going to be doing for the holidays this year. Those being your siblings, your parents, your in laws. If your budget is not going to allow for gift giving, get that out in the open now so you are not feeling pressured and obligated in November.

2. Start thinking of inexpensive ideas if you just cannot wiggle out of it. For that matter, start thinking of inexpensive gifts anyway. As summer goes on, summer toys will start to go on sale. Some of them will be good for gifts even in December. Grilling sets, heck, even little grills for instance. I know that the dollar store will get down to a quarter for some things like toys that will still get be good to use for gift giving.

3. If you are talented and can sew or whatever, start purchasing your supplies little by little right now so that when the time comes, you have everything even if you find that your wallet is empty. My friend recently bought some patterns from a seller on etsy for felt play things. There is a farm and some food and other things, can't remember but she bought more than a couple and what she's doing now is getting a few sheets of felt and embroidery thread each pay day to have so that she can make these if she have nothing else. At 29 cents for a felt sheet and 29 cents for thread, she will spend $10 a month and have oodles of supplies.

4. Recipes. If you have dishes that your children, your sisters, your whoever just love, get some index cards and a cheap pocket photo album, hand write them and give a "cookbook". Both of these items are VERY inexpensive. You could even go all out and order some really cute recipe cards to write on. A little more expensive to do it that way but very personalized too.

5. Clearance items. There are some really cute summer items right now at wal mart. Ice cream dishes, summery glasses, pitchers, etc. Gardening stuff will be going on clearance soon enough too so if you can think of anybody who likes that sort of thing, grab them and put them away when they are on clearance. Another thing I do if I have it in my budget is buy a $20 or $25 GC at the grocery store during my shopping trip and I put them away. This helps with the holiday dinner budget. I think of it as food lay away.

6. If you shop on-line at all, there are free sites that pay you cash back.  I use one myself that I think is the best out there.  You can use these sites all year long. 

Anyway, I will stop lecturing but I hope that you all have begun to think about this.

There is nothing sadder IMO than seeing posts the past couple years from members here who find themselves not being able to have a good holiday season. I truly feel that if people start preparing now, even if it seems insignificant, it will be a brighter holiday for them.