It's birthday time at our house!

November begins a whirlwind of birthdays in our house. We celebrate 4 birthdays plus Christmas all in 7 weeks! Sheesh. To say our budget takes a hit during this time of year is an understatement! Not to mention the cost of party planning. So what's a mom to do?! 

Fail to plan & you plan to fail

In the past our budget has always been the number one priority for me because time wasn't really an issue. Now that I have twin babies, making 4 kids total, I have no time and am learning how to balance time without sacrificing money. Why? Because it seems that there is always a trade off - if you don't want to spend time then you'll spend more money (think meal planning vs going out to eat). And if you don't want to spend money, you'll inevitably spend more time planning.

But what if you don't want to sacrifice either? Spend as little time as possible and as little money as possible? Does that seem like a pipe dream? Well it's not! It's all about starting your preparation insanely early. It's easy & it works, you just have to make yourself do it! 

Plan ahead for success

So as far as affording all these gifts, there are two strategies that I've used and had great success with (and a third one that works but is not my preference). Take a look and decide which is best for you.

Start buying early

So when January rolls around, I start shopping sales for the entire year! You can get some crazy good deals after Christmas is over which means spending less while still getting a gift that has a high value. This has worked amazingly well for me! It not only helps spread the cost of gift-giving throughout the year (because I can usually find a great deal on a gift at least once a month) but it also means that when birthdays or end of year holidays come around, my shopping is almost completely done. Can you say stress reducer?! Yes please!!!

Save up for gifts to buy later

If you're the type that likes the thrill of Black Friday or don't want to think about gift giving until the last possible second - there's still a way to plan ahead so your budget doesn't take a big hit when November/December roll around. I have a gift-giving list that I use to monitor who all I will be buying for throughout the year and how much I intend to spend. (Get this tool free at Jillgockel.com/p/giftlist.) In this strategy, I determine the total amount I'll be spending on gifts for the year and divide it equally by 12. Then each month, I put this amount into a savings account. That way I already have the money set aside and can use that to buy gifts without using my monthly budget.

No plans doesn't have to mean disaster

So this year, I have to admit, I didn't do anything to plan ahead for the first time in SEVERAL years. And I am paying for it. I will not be doing this again I assure you! However, even my lack of planning for gift giving will not hurt my budget because I have built up a slush fund. What is a slush fund? Well, after we built up our Emergency Fund, I wanted to have money set aside to buy whatever we wanted whenever we wanted (even if it wasn't a necessity). It's our Fun Money. So this year's presents are coming from that in order to not impact our monthly budget. We're still able to buy gifts without creating credit card debt or taking our monthly budget into the negative but it pains me to see our Fun Money dwindling away on not-so-fun things. :(

So take a little time this upcoming year to plan ahead for gift giving and you'll find yourself with more money at the end of the month and less stress at the end of the year! It's 100% worth it! So let me know - how are YOU going to plan for success this next year????