Christmas Budget Question

[pkelly6]

Settle a debate between DH and I: If you budget $50 for a person on your list and find a $50 item on sale for $30, do you continue to shop for that person until you have spent $50? Or do you call it a day and move the non-spent budget elsewhere?

 

[barkley]

for our budget the dollar amount is the MAX we will spend on person/family so it doesn't mean I'm held to spending every penny. now if it's something like a work thing or pirate exchange where there's a flat price (minimum and maximum are the same amount) I do my best to hit that amount on the nose (even if it means throwing in some inexpensive stocking stuffer items to hit the mark).

 

[jmartinez1895]

That is a tricky one. I can see both sides. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. On one hand, you got at " 50 dollar gift" so it should not matter if it was on sale, if you had a coupon, used a gift card or whatever. On the other hand, in a gift exchange you would be receiving a gift that someone paid $50 for and you only paid $30. I can see where on the surface that would seem unfair, BUT the value of the gift they received is that same value of the gift they gave.
I would personally get the $30 gift and then throw in a gift card or some other small gift and call it a day.

 

[akcire]

Settle a debate between DH and I: If you budget $50 for a person on your list and find a $50 item on sale for $30, do you continue to shop for that person until you have spent $50? Or do you call it a day and move the non-spent budget elsewhere?

Buy people what you want and are comfortable spending. I also consider returns. Last week I gave a friend a Ralph Lauren baby outfit that cost me $2.48 at Macys. Now obviously I didn't budget $3 for a baby gift. I just happened upon this deal. I bought a second outfit too and warned my friend that returning the Ralph outfit would be a "great disappointment". The full retail price of the outfit was $59 or about twice my normal baby gift spend. Btw it was also really cute or I would not buy it at any price.

If I budgeted $50 for kids in a family I'd spend the full amount. That's me. The $50 gift for $30 may be a great deal or it maybe just the regular sale price. Ultimately how would you feel if the receiver knew it was $30? I don't know. I can tell you this our family used to have a $100 grab bag where everyone picked a name. Note I said used to, a family member passed off a sweater they paid $20 as a gift, unfortunately for them it didn't fit. The receiver was not pleased to get in store credit for 20% of what they had paid out. This was the end of picking names.

 

[disney world dreamer]

i usually budget at MAX of $50 per person but if i can find it for much cheaper than $50 then i get it and move on.
the less i end up having to spend for an item that i know the person will enjoy (usually its something off of their xmas list) the better.
that person is not gonna know i only spent $30 on it instead of $50.

i actually just kinda did this.
i knew what i wanted to get my bff for her birthday and xmas so i bought them both at the same time along with a couple things for myself and used a coupon code which saved me enough money that it was like the item i'm giving her for her b-day is FREE.
am i gonna go spend more on her just cuz i saved that much money? no.
just like i would not expect someone to spend more on me just cuz they got a great deal.

 

[LJSquishy]

Sometimes I will keep buying items until I hit the $50 max budget (from shopping smart), and other times I will buy an item(s) of a $50 total value even if I only spent $30. It just varies.

For my nieces and nephew I tend to find great sales and just buy one item which almost always puts me under budget. We have 4 nieces and 1 nephew so it is very expensive between birthdays and Christmas. I usually budget $20 for birthdays and $30 for Christmas for each kid. Sometimes I'll go over budget on one kid but will be under budget on another so it all evens out...it depends on what age they are and what interests they have.

 

[mjkacmom]

It depends on my relationship with the person, and the reason I got it cheaper. For example, if I'm buying it at Kohls, I know the "original" price is totally marked up. Someone donated what was supposed to be a $100+ auction basket from Kohls, using the original price and a coupon, and spent about $30 on it (and it was obvious).

 

[msmama]

I'd say it depends.

If it were an immediate family member and it was my idea to spend x amount then I would probably keep spending.

If it were more like a one time gift (for a wedding or something) I would stick with whatever I actually spent (assuming it was a good gift).

 

[NYEmomma]

I ask myself this question when I'm shopping for family EVERY year! For my kids, no doubt... if my budget is $x.xx and I can find it for less, I'll keep shopping with the extra money. Though in reality, we don't set a budget with the kids. We stop whenever it looks like we have "enough".

 

[Katy Belle]

It depends. Last year I happened upon a super great sale , like 70% off, of costume jewelry. I bought jewelry for all the women on my list. I spent what I normally would have spent, and everyone got an impressive looking gift. Other times I have bought a high quality gift at a great price, and not spent the whole amount I had budgeted.

 

[usd2bmd]

There is usually a max that we will spend but I don't keep shopping until I reach it.

My mother in law sets a budget and spends every penny. Very often there is an envelope under the tree with an odd amount of money in it because she couldn't find something for $2.57.

For us it is more important that we give gifts that I genuinely think the recipient will like regardless of whether or not I came close to the max.

 

[Kenjie B]

I would leave it as is. The quality of the gift is more important than the amount that you spend.

My husband gave his groomsmen g-shock watches as a gift for being in our wedding. They're normally $80-$100 but we lucked up and found them at Costco for $20 apiece. The guys were happy to receive the watches. I don't think any of them cared how much we paid for them. If anything, I felt pressure to spend more on my bridesmaids to get them a more equal gift.

 

[TravelMommy]

I use the money elsewhere. I set a max of $15.00-$20/each niece/cousin this year. I just got them all $40 sweatshirts on super sale for $7.49!!!! Done, yay!

 

[dpswift]

It depends on why the item was so inexpensive and who it is for. Say if DD had a $50 blender in mind and I found that model at a BF sale for $30 I would get her something extra with the $20.

If it was for a gift exchange I would just give the blender and keep the $20. I would not want others to think I was overspending to show off.

 

[disney1990]

If the item can be bought for less, I don't worry about it. For example, a $50 gift card bought with a red card at Target cost $47.50. So be it.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

I'll usually continue shopping until I hit that $50 that I budgeted. In fact, I love to find sales and deals so I can give more for less. Today I inadvertently started my Christmas shopping when I was looking for cargo pants for one of my sons on the clearance rack at old navy. I saw about six pairs of jeans in my older sons size at about $7 each so I grabbed them. I never did find acceptable cargo pants for my younger son- he's so picky. But the savings on my older sons jeans will probably wash out the higher price of my younger sons cargo pants when I find them.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

I call it as finished shopping. My budget is the amount I can not go over. If I find gifts for less and am happy with the thought and gift for the recipient...there is no reason to go to max. It also opens up the budget in case the gift for another person goes over.

 

[MomToOne]

It depends.

Sometimes I spend the full budget, but get things that are worth way more.

Sometimes I find a deal on something that would be worth the full budget but I pay less and pocket it.

If I really stop and analyze it, I think it mainly depends on what I had in mind for a certain person, and whether or not my budget was properly in line with that item to start with. Did I discount the budget, knowing I could probably find a deal? Well, then I'll spend the full budget. Did I not expect to find a deal so I budgeted enough to cover a higher price, but I found it for less? Then I pocket the difference!

 

[stargazer2892]

I think depending on the person the 30$ gift should be good, however say IF the 50$ max was someone close( like DH) , I would probably buy a few little extras to get to the 50$. However we have a 100$ max "big gift" rule for the kids, if we find DS a bike for example on sale for 60$ then I don't feel the need to buy him extra gifts to equal 100$. I guess it really depends on the situation.

 

[itutorfortravel]

I'm on the fence with this one. For instance, at Christmas we have a set budget for exchanges with my BIL and SIL. Often I am able to find super deals and can stay under budget and get something that has a value of about double (or more) of what our budget is. So if I actually have a few more dollars I can spend I typically don't. My SIL doesn't have time to shop the super sales, so the gifts my DH and I get typically look like they cost what our set budget is...so if I keep spending I'm worried it will make her feel uncomfortable if it looks as if I have spent a great deal more on them than they have on us, even if I haven't.

On the other hand, if it's for my child or DH I spend the full amount (and then some, typically LOL!)...it just depends on the situation