How Much Did You Spend on the Holidays?

Now that the holidays are over and many of us are looking over our 2012 spending while planning for 2013, I thought I'd ask the following:

How much did you spend this year on holiday presents?

Personally, our budget was $700 for the year and we spent about $850. We always go a bit over, so we might as well recognize the fact and increase the budget! :)

That said, $150 over budget isn't going to break the bank for us, so it's all good.

Most of the money was spent on our direct family (me, my wife, and kids) and my parents (my wife's parents are deceased.) There were other amounts for friends, a handful of extended family members, the postman (and similar people), and people I volunteer with at various organizations, but that's about it.

How about you? How much did you spend this year on holiday presents?

Comments

[Practical gal]

I found that I stayed within my budget for gifts. Where I found it challenging was staying within budget for the get togethers we hosted. Last minute runs to the store for a missing ingredient or beverage added up.

[tom]

$2,500. This includes everyone, friends, family, co-workers.

We do go a bit overboard, but you know what they say... it's better to give than receive.

[Jane Savers @ The Money Puzzle]

I went over but not by much. I spent about $700.00 and that was on presents for my two sons and extra extravagant foods (bacon for breakfast two days in a row and fresh berries in the Canadian winter).

I had planned for $700 dollars but I had to dip in to the Christmas fund to pay for some other emergencies (broken windshield and flat tire in about two weeks time).

[Old Limey]

We spent very little indeed over the Christmas holidays largely because my wife had to spend 14 days in the hospital and wasn't released until Dec. 14th., I stayed with her the whole time. Fortunately the outcome was very successful and by next Friday she won't have to be tethered to a mobile Wound Vacuum device. Try spending 24 hours/day having to drag a mobile device that's connected to your abdomen everywhere you go - it's no fun, especially when it starts beeping at you because it needs attention.

However there was another benefit, the experience made us realize how much we love each other as well as reminding us how fortunate we are to have the best healthcare available in Silicon Valley, with Medicare paying for almost everything.

[Lance @ Money Life and More]

According to Quicken I spent about $250 in December. I might have done a little bit of shopping before December so $300 is probably on the safe side.

[Matt]

On budget.

[Jonathan]

We don't track our holiday spending (or any spending, for that matter), but I suspect if we added it up we'd be around $800 or so for gifts, not including various end-of-year charitable gifts.

[SR]

We save $100/month throughout the year into a separate ING Christmas account. The goal is to keep all Christmas spending, including donations and all gifts for family and co-workers, within $1200. We did stay within budget, but after seeing that FMF only spends $700, I think our budget may be a bit high.

[JP]

$575 on gifts, went over by $75, including a December birthday.

Spent $400 traveling to see family as well, which was $100 under budget.

[Joan]

We don't have a big family on either side to buy gifts for so our amount spent on gifts is very low each year. This year was around $250. My husband and I buy what we want throughout the year so there is really nothing we really "need" when Christmas time comes around. We are on a very strict budget and now more money is taken out of our paychecks due to the president, we are on a more strict budget now!

[Param]

We had 2 trips planned around school vacations.
One in summer was budgeted at 600-700 USD & completed within 500 USD. One in fall was budgeted at 800-1000 USD & completed within 900 USD - even after including our in-laws!!!

[Param]

now i feel like an idiot... i misread the post as about holiday 'travel' spending instead of 'gift'. sorry!

i had been wondering why i am spending more on vacation than you, at least that mystery is solved now :)

[billyjobob]

I guesstimate about $250. I keep it to about $25 for everyone. and then a bit more for my Mom. Then between food and other get togethers I probably spend $500 total.

[JayB]

~$550 for x-mas gifts, no travel expenses or anything else. But I made 80% of it up due to overtime at work. I hated working over but it didn't kill me and now its over.

[Elizabeth]

I spent a little over $1,200.00, which was a bit over budget but not by much. I had initially budgeted for $2K but scaled back. I still have teens and they all wanted expensive gifts--(xbox, laptop, new cell plan w/phone, etc.) Then, I purchased gifts for Mom.

[Steve]

About $3K. we go crazy for everyone for christmas and for each person's birthday. From day 1, with the first of my 3 kids I impressed on them the theory (that some friend had taught me) that people get wants/splurges for christmas/birthdays, and thats it, no other time. Its amazing how wonderful this is, none of my children ever cry about wanting anything from a store ever, they just occasionally say "I want that for christmas" (or my birthday, whichever is closer). No one even considers getting a 'want' at any other time as a possibility.