Do the holidays ever feel like they just sneak up on you? Suddenly you need an extra few hundred dollars for gifts for your kids, family, neighbors, teachers and secret Santa at work? Add in food for special functions and fun extras that inevitably come with the holidays. Suddenly, you’re up to your eyeballs in a few hundred dollars that you may or may not have planned for. It does not have to be that way. I am passionate about keeping Christmas simple and beautiful because I think when we don’t, we distract so much from who we are actually celebrating, Jesus! We love to give gifts and have all the Christmas fun, just not go broke doing it, ya know? I have several posts on budgeting and this is another tool for budgeting: A Christmas closet!
I’ve written about this extensively, but here I go again with a few pointers for keeping Christmas simple including this post about shopping early to take a lot off your plate!
**A note to someone in financial crisis, I write often about things to do if you are deep in financial crisis and this is not something I recommend unless you have the $5-$10 a month to spend on clearance gifts. If you are simply not in a place to buy anything extra, do not do it. Don’t over-extend yourself to prepare for a holiday 6 months away. And don’t do it when said holiday arrives either. Everyone will be fine.
Some budget reads you might find helpful!
7 Essential Money-Saving Tips We Learned While Being Heckin’ Broke
Affordable and Effective Low-Tox Personal Care Products.
Eat Well on Any Budget: Protein Forward Grocery List
A Victorian Christmas Closet
My Grandma lived in a beautiful Victorian home that was large and had all kinds of nooks and crannies. Upstairs off the bathroom was a large closet that we affectionately called “the Christmas closet”. It was a huge walk-in closet and we were not allowed to go in there because we might see the gifts she had stashed throughout the year and previous years. Except, sometimes we did go in there. The closet was off of the main bathroom upstairs and my cousin and I would sneak in there. One of would be in the bathroom keeping a lookout through the old key hole to make sure no one was coming down the hallway and the other one of us was whispering our findings to the other. Then switch places and repeat. A side note, one of my older cousins found a candy stash upstairs. Same process, assigned lookout, key hole, but instead of just intel, we were gathering candy. ANYWAY.
We spent Christmas at her house in 2022 while we were remodeling our house. Little did we know that it would be her last Christmas with us. I am really thankful for the time we had with her in her home we loved so much!
When my grandma passed away, I was the executor of her estate and going through that closet was one of the most fun things we got to do. We saved it for last because unlike sifting through decades of paperwork, it was going to be fun! And it was. Boxes and bags of clearance toys, clothes, decor and goodies with our names still on it. She would write the name of the intended receiver on the box or tag if it was specific and other times it was just a stockpile of socks, underwear, white t-shirts for the dudes and pretty gifts she found. She bought for her 3 kids and their spouses, 12 grandkids and their spouses and 8 great grandkids and everyone got something. The gifts themselves were not “cheap” but the prices she paid were because she, like myself, was a clearance shopper.
My grandma did not ask for a list of what people wanted, but generally she knew all of us pretty well and could pick things we would like. Not always spot on, but it was fun. For example: Somewhere along the way she concluded that my cousin, who is a dude, and I liked Celtic dancing music. I mean, technically I listened to Irish music but I don’t think she knew who Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly were. FOR YEARS my cousin and I got matching Celtic dancing CDs and it became our inside joke and I looked forward to that Cd every year.
She would buy clearances toys, clothes, decor, toys and gifts all year long. I love the concept, and so I utilize it similarly but with a little more strategy.
First of all, you don’t need a closet. Any drawer, laundry basket or tote will do you just need to hide it from nosy little kids. Not that I know anything about that.
We have never had a closet dedicated to being the Christmas Closet recently. Christmas gifts are not the only thing stashed in said closet, but since that’s where the Christmas gifts are soooo Christmas closet remains the name. No one wants to say “tax document storage closet’, ya know?
Christmas Closet with Strategy.
- Keep a list.
- Shop Early
- Shop Clearance
I don’t always shop as early as I want, but when I do I shop clearance and get slamming deals.
Keep a list.
Here is a very important part that my grandmother loosley did, but also sort of did not do and that is to keep a LIST. Make a list of people you need to buy for, stash it in your wallet and when you’re out and find something super cool check out your list and see if there’s anyone who would love it on your list. And here is the important part, don’t miss this kids, write the item next to their name. I usually have a dollar ammount that we spend per person. So for example, I usually have “Person’s Name: Budget $$, item purchased” on my list. My grandma kept a list of everything in her closet, and sort of who it was assigned to. But it was a rather loose list and so then there was always some last minute shopping or rearranging of her gifts to make it all work. I submit the idea of starting with names, and track that way.
Shop Early
I have been doing this for years, likely because my grandma and mom always did it. But I pretty much shop all year round for presents. You do not have to have a lot of money to do this, in fact, if you budget $5-$20 a month you can find some pretty sweet stuff. I love it because it takes a lot of stress out of the Christmas season and it’s fun! I wrote a blog post here about early Christmas shopping.
Shop Clearance
If you do not know how to shop clearance, you are in the right place. I’m about to share some examples from this year.
- Clearance. Section. Almost every store has a clearance aisle-just take a quick look when you’re already there. Additionally, most stores have clearance within each department.
- TJ MAXX and the like. Discount stores are a great place to find good deals and they also have great clearance sections.
- Thrift Stores. Some people frown on the idea of “used” Christmas presents, but you can find GREAT stuff at thrift stores, garage sales, rummage sales and so on. This is an especially good option if you are looking for something specific to add to someone’s collection.
- Bin Stores. These are great if you like the thrill of the hunt. You can get awesome, new stuff if you are willing to dig!
The above stockings were Threshold brand from Target. I got them for $1 each. I think theyre so cute! IF I dont decide to make them our stockings next year, I will fill them with little goodies or perhaps a bottle of wine for a cute gift.
Everything in the above picture ranges from $0.79 to $6.00. The most expensive being the tie dye tumbler in the background. Notebooks were from Meijer, picture frame, cookie tins, brown spray bottles and tumbler from Hobby Lobby. I make room sprays with the brown spray bottles.
These cute tumblers were $7/ each at Walmart. I filled with some chocolate and added $10 coffee gift cards.
This is not the best photo quality but I purchased two of these boxes of glasses from Costco for $6 PER BOX! Then I filled them with candy/gift cards for teacher gifts and to round out other gifts.
Ok, I did not buy every item here for gifting, BUT this is just an example of how you can find clearance anywhere. I got all of these items from Costco, the bowls were $6 for the set. (I did gift the bowls). The other two items were also clearance and though I would not necessarily gift someone a rug unless I was certain it was the exact one they wanted, I am happy to put it in my own home!
All this to say, you can have an affordable, lovely Christmas you just have to get creative sometimes!
I will update with my clearance Christmas findings as we go.
Drop in the comments your best Christmas finds and hacks!
-Lauren
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