Finances during Christmas?

[Jack]

Are you usually willing to go into some debt to go all out for Christmas, or do you save up throughout the year, or just stick within your budget? How do you deal with your finances during Christmas?

 

[TakeYourTime]

Trying to save

We try to budget all year long. Every year Christmas comes and we are behind on bills. Then we charge stuff for the kids. I grew up doing this, and have always been behind because of it. My wife is worse than I am. One more time Christmas is behind this year. Maybe I'll get a bonus.

 

[jason]

I usually start looking at sales in the summer, and try to have most of it done by Thanksgiving. I'll still budget a little extra if something really good goes on sale.

 

[polamalu43]

We try to budget and save. I don't use credit cards for Christmas gifts - if we can't afford it we don't buy it. I know a lot of people that use credit cards and then complain when the bill comes.

 

[Miller]

I'm very good at squeezing twenty cents out of ten. I come from a math background. We budget a specific amount of money for gifts each year. Most of these expenditures are around Christmas. We stick to the budget or do without.