Christmas Budget Printable (Day 3)

Welcome to step 3 in the 12 Steps to Christmas Sanity Challenge hosted by myself and Liz from Hoosier Homemade. In this step, we're going to focus on the budget by using the Christmas budget printable and by considering some budget friendly gift ideas.

The most important thing to avoid overspending for the holidays is to set your holiday budget. If you have trouble sticking to your budget, I recommend trying cash envelopes to avoid overspending. Make sure to consider all the areas you'll need not spend extra money, including:

Gifts (including family, friends, smaller gifts like neighbor gifts / teacher gifts, and stocking stuffers)
Extra groceries (for holiday baking and Christmas dinner)
Gift packing (wrap, gift bags, bows, tape)
Decoration
Storage for decoration
After Christmas sales when you might want to stock up for next year when things are on sale
Holiday cards
Postage and shipping

Fill out this budget sheet with your Christmas budget. Click here to download it.

As far as sticking to your budget, we'll be sharing several DIY ideas throughout the challenge. Also, you can follow my Christmas on a Budget board for tons of frugal Christmas recipes, gift ideas, DIY decor, and wrapping ideas. Here's some of my favorites:

I like this idea for frugal, quick and easy neighbor gift idea from Bargain Shopper Mom:

You can certainly spend a lot of money on decorations if you're not careful, which is why I love this super easy DIY ribbon garland from A Dose of Paige:

I also love this DIY Christmas canvas art from A Dose of Paige:

Another area where it's easy to spend a lot of money fast is in gift packaging. Seriously, I think you easily spend more in fancy gift wrap and bows than on the gift itself! That's why I love that Kelly from Typically Simple shows us how to make this really simple DIY gift bow. It definitely looks do able, and I recommend using ribbon from the Dollar Tree to make it super cheap:

If you're wondering what to do with your leftover gift wrap tubes, definitely check out this super cute Wrapping Paper Tube Snowman Candles from Little Miss Celebration:

I hope that gives you some great ideas on how to enjoy Christmas on a budget. Share some of your favorite money saving Christmas ideas in the comments below.