Budgeting for gifts
At the beginning of the year is the perfect time to create an annual gifts budget. When you make out a gifts budget in advance, you don’t have to worry about the impact of forgotten gifts on your monthly or weekly funds. You’ll already have mapped out who you need to buy for and how much you plan to spend, and hopefully, you’ll have that amount included in a sum of funds you’ve set aside each month or week to accumulate until you need to dip into it.
To make the entire process as simple as possible, I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet that I use to track those budgeted gift amounts. By taking the time to complete the spreadsheet and list all the people I’ll be buying for this year, I save myself time later in trying to track gifted amounts and gift values. This also helps keep me from having to worry about gifting too much to one person and not having enough for someone else—think in-laws, children, and siblings…
This spreadsheet includes three sheets:
- Instructions
- Christmas
- Other Gifts (including anniversaries, birthdays, etc.)
The gifts budget spreadsheet is available as a free download on my templates page.
I hope you find it useful. If you do, please consider leaving me a comment.
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