Christmas on a Budget

Finals Week is here which means after Friday I am FREE of school stress until spring! Granted life stress still exists but one less thing to worry about right. I planned on having a fun little post about budget friendly Christmas shopping but I completely blew my Christmas budget out of the water this year. You see I LOVE getting gifts for people. Especially if I feel like it is a perfect fit gift or just something they would really like. Some people will either do a lot of little gifts or one BIG gift. I tried that...failed! I started doing the little gifts but then it just seemed like a bunch of "cheap" little gifts. So I decided how about one BIG gift...I hate just giving someone ONE item for Christmas. Now I understand Christmas isn't about the gifts but I can't help it I love giving gifts! Anyway, I came to the conclusion to do one big gift and two sub gifts for each family member. Sounds reasonable right? Well when you have a large family that idea flies out the window. SIX in-laws to buy for and that is before I by Sugar Bear anything. Needless to say I probably need help but I don't regret it. As long as everyone likes everything it is totally worth it to me! If you are like me however, and have a slight spending problem especially at Christmas then here are a few tips to help keep your budget down a little lower.

Important people first

Buy for your major important relatives first. In-laws, parents, and siblings, etc. Keep it to immediate family. I know you want to buy stuff for friends but unless they are like the super close friends that are basically relatives (I have one of those) don't buy them stuff...YET!

Pick a low ball number

Don't start your budget off at its max. Pick a number lower than your actual budget because then when you over spend you will still technically be within budget. For instance...if you can afford $50 per person then set  $25-45 limit. Then you will already be looking for lower priced items and when you find the perfect gift that is a little over your $45 limit you still won't max yourself out. DO NOT use your low ball number as an excuse to spend more. It is only for the perfect gift items.

Simple and Sweet

You don't need anything extravagant. Go for the sentimental angle. Even if it isn't expensive if it is something special it still carries the meaning behind the gift.

Buying for friends

Honestly keep it simple. Gift cards to their favorite restaurant, a little décor item for the house. If your friends are married they honestly just want to pay their bills for Christmas so give them money. They can either buy something or use it for bills. It doesn't have to be a lot depending on how close they are I'd say between $20-50. They are friends, you love them, but trust me they will understand if you are on a budget.

Don't stress

The holidays are supposed to be a time of joyfulness. How does that work if you're stressing over what to give people and how much money is going out and on and on and on. When all is said and done it is all about family and friends and focusing on the reason for the season!

Hope some of these ideas helped or at least made you feel less alone in the Christmas spending department. What are your major downfalls at Christmas time? are you a gift buyer or creator? Leave a comment below and don't forget to follow me or subscribe to get emails sent straight to your inbox!

A Little Touch of Fall

So fun fact not only has Thanksgiving become such an under celebrated holiday that you can barely find a store with any thanksgiving stuff in it, now when you do find a store everything is already on sale! I am both happy and disturbed at this. Happy cause hello I just got stuff even cheaper but disturbed because how can it be such a glanced over holiday! I mean I get that it is football season but I should at least be able to find something other than paper plates with turkey on them. On to the fun stuff! So I have finally started redoing my living room. I stayed up a few nights ago to clean the room and move some stuff around so I can have room for the Christmas tree. In an effort to start a tradition I will be putting the Christmas tree up November 25th. Yes I am that person. But first lets focus on Thanksgiving! I am so excited for this holiday and I am hoping I can get the house in order so maybe I can start forming some form of holiday tradition. If you are wondering why I am behind in my decorating and house organizing it is because we were supposed to be in our house by early to mid November. Unfortunately, we have hit some snags in the property we bought, mainly the people who sold it to us didn't disclose that you couldn't put septic on it due to an easement for the water treatment plant across the street. So our housing endeavors have been put on hold which is why I am determined to make the space I have work and make it functional. Moving on! First things first I got new curtains. Not expensive because hello budget! but I have been wanting something different for a while so I finally spent the $20 to get curtains. I took the curtains I had in my bedroom and put them in the living area...it already looks so much better. I also moved the 5 gallon fish tank which really opened up the door way space...granted a tree is going there soon but hey we do what we have to do for Christmas right! Now as of right now I am still in the designing portion of the decorating phase. I am thinking of moving my recliner into the bedroom and putting the desk in the living room. However, as of right now I think I am keeping everything as is. So now I can start decorating for the holiday season. The easiest way to decorate for the holidays without breaking the budget is to keep it simple. I went to Hobby Lobby last night and purchased a Thanksgiving cross (it is so cute), a box of 13 glittery pumpkins (I like glitter), a bag of fabric leaves,, and a thing of ribbon. All of it WAY over priced of course because it is hobby lobby BUT EVERYTHING was half off so I got it all for just under $25...Still expensive but since I didn't have anything it was necessary. Now I can just start adding to what I already have each year.

So below are pictures of my simple yet still budget friendly purchases and some before and afters of the living room.

First up what I got!

 

 

                                        

 

Before (I will admit I did clean up before I took pictures)

After! Like I said SIMPLE but still decorative ^_^

Before (The 5 gallon fish tank used to sit on the other side of the TV)

After! (Love little glitter pumpkins, I want to get some foliage as well still)

 Before

After!

The ribbon I haven't used yet because I wanted to do a bow for the door but I forgot I don't know how to make a bow. Point is no this isn't the most over the top perfectly decorated home that just screams I love the holidays. However, for the space, time and budget I currently have it lets me have a little taste of fall décor. That's as far as I have gotten so far but there will be more décor and cleaning organizing tips to come so stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe and follow me to get these little things right in you inbox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy November ^_^

Happy November! I am so excited for the holidays. Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday followed just barely underneath it with Christmas. I love thanksgiving because it is the one holiday that to me hasn’t been ruined by retail marketing (obviously considering it just gets skipped over 90% of the time). Seriously though I love Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie and turkey, hot coco, cold weather (or barely cooler if you live in texas), families gathering together to eat and talk and enjoy each other’s company, football! I am one of those, go all out decorate and host a party kind of people. I remember when I was little thinking about all the things I would do during the holidays when I got married. Although my plans didn’t quite work out as I planned (His family isn’t big into holidays and mine is out of the picture) I am still looking forward to when we are finally in our own place and I can really get into the holiday season. My project for the next few weeks is going to be to get our little house all decked out for the holiday season. However, I am working on a baby budget (I’m talking infancy here) and a small space with way to much clutter. If this sounds like you then stay tuned for how to plan for the holidays on a tight budget and limited space. To give you a better idea of what kind of space I am working with we have aprox. 600sq. ft. and it is two mirrored bedroom/bathrooms connected by a hallway with a door leading to the back yard in one of them. So we’ve basically turned one of the bedrooms into our living room (the one with the door to the outside) and it’s connecting bathroom is our “kitchen.” We use the hallway as an extension of kitchen which then leads into our master bedroom. So basically a one bedroom/bathroom house. Honestly I have no complaints! It is a lovely little setup. The only noticeable shortcoming is lack of a kitchen but we make it work.

 Anyway, if you would like to join me in my decluttering/decorating extravaganza then stay tuned. As for now if you are joining me on this adventure then lets start with a room. I am starting with my living room because the only way I am getting a Christmas tree in there is if I move a LOT of stuff around.

First, pick a section of your home to start with and make a plan. Start with the obvious simple stuff, pick up the trash and if there is clutter that shouldn’t be there move it. If it has a home, put it away. If not then pick an area (preferably the last place you plan to deal with) and turn it into your “pile.” This is where all the stuff that you don’t know what to do with will go…we will return to this towards the end of our adventure.

After all the obvious trash and clutter is gone next you need to start deciding what to keep and what needs to go away. Get a bin or box and some wrapping paper (if you have breakable stuff) and start going through your room and deciding if stuff needs to stay or go. Once this is done there will be a lot more space for holiday decorations.

 Now I don’t know about you but I have three MAJOR obstacles in my living room that need to be moved. I have a five gallon and ten gallon fish tank and a recliner in the corner where my tree went last year. Obviously these items can’t just be “stored” until later. So I am going to have to do some serious reworking to make stuff fit…or get one of those “night stand” Christmas trees (that is so not happening). So if you have any major obstacles identify them now so you can start redecorating to accommodate those items.

If you have followed me this far then you are well on your way to decorating and decluttering your home on a budget. With work, some family drama, school and finals week only a month away it promises to be a busy next few months. Life goals is to have Thanksgiving decorations up by Nov. 1^st but since I have clearly missed that deadline I am going to try to get everything done by the 15^th. Subscribe and follow me to get these décor tips sent straight to your email. Leave a comment with your ideas for decorating on a budget or send me an email for questions or suggestions (vintagegirl112212@gmail.com) I will try to answer as many as I can. Stay tuned, and pictures are coming soon!