A Christmas Spending plan...
My husband and I save throughout the year for Christmas. We learned early on in our marriage that we need to save a little each month towards what is always one of our biggest expenses each year. That money goes into savings account and waits all year until I, ah I mean we, ha!, am ready to spend that designated amount of money on gifts, decorations, and all the little miscellaneous things that add up during the holiday season.
Since I knew I would be spending in a short period of time I need a way to organize my spending. I needed something that was separate from our normal budget. We are pretty old-school, and I created our own budget on a spreadsheet to help keep us organized from month to month. So, I made my own Christmas spending template on google sheets. (I have called this our Christmas Budget for years but I realized it is more of a plan for how you are spending the money you have set aside for Christmas gifts and such.)
This template is a place were I can list out who I need to buy gifts for, what gifts I am buying, and how much it cost. I also can track if it is wrapped and under the tree.
Tracking your spending is a great way to see if you are staying on budget or if you have extra money to splurge on your spouse!
The ease of using google sheets is because I can access it from my phone in the middle of Target and see where I am at as far as budget. It also makes it easy to share with my husband so he can see what we have spent and what gifts he may need to be looking for.
Grab the link to the spending plan below and try it out. Just pop in your names and spending goals for each person and start tracking.
I love this tool because it helps us know how much we have spent on each child at just a glance. Which is you have kids that are around the same age, you know how important it is to them that it is fair and even.
Let me know if you use it this year! I'd love to know if it was helpful for you.
I hope that no matter what your budget is, that your Christmas is full of hope and peace, which everyone deserves, but isn't found in a gift from a store.
-xo
Julie