How to: An amazing Christmas on a budget

So, obviously Sophia will not really know that Christmas is going on.  She will only notice that we’re having a fun day with a lot of goings-on, even so, I still want her to have a great Christmas.  I know that’s not about gifting, etc., but I do really like giving gifts and it’s so fun to see kids rip open their presents. 

 

SO, the solution is to spoil Sophia, with restraint (I’m TRYING!), but to do it on a budget. 

Have you met Rody??  This is Rody – it’s a cute little horse made of durable, inflated vinyl.  The kiddo gets to hold onto Rody’s ears and bounce up and down.  Sophia plays with one when I have her with me at work and LOVES it.  On a whim, I looked for one on Craigslist and found just one result, which happened to be pink for $20.  Since they typically sell for $50 new, this is a great deal!  And it’s sizable, and it’s fun to give a BIG gift for a lower price!

Sophia LOVES my Camelback water bottle, so I’ve been wanting to get one for her for a while.  I saw an old friend at a wedding a while back.  He works for Target as a buyer in the sporting goods department and hinted that Target would be carrying them soon.  Well, I kept looking for them, and now they’re here, plus the first week they were at Target, they were on sale for about $5 less than usual.  I snatched one up and started a pile for Sophia’s stocking.

Moral of the stories? 

Whether you are trying to save money, have a limited Christmas budget, or you would just rather spend less than full price on the same things you are planning to buy anyway, you can end up spending far less on Christmas than you’d think.  All you need to do is spend a little of your time looking around and think ahead about what you’d like to gift to people. 

We’ve gotten many items on Craigslist, brand new, for up to half the price you’d pay in store (more on that later…).  Take a look around – you may end up with a little wiggle room in your budget or a bit of extra cash in your wallet.