Throughout the year you are put into a position where you are expected to give a gift. It can be the usual culprits like a birthday or Christmas, or it can be for special occasions like a wedding, a baby shower or house warming.
Whatever the reason, it can become rather expensive and put a serious dent in your budget.
Here are three tips on how to be kind to your budget and still give awesome gifts
- Categorise your gift responsibility
Be honest with yourself, not everyone you know deserves the same value or amount of effort for a gift. Your closest friends deserve more than your work colleagues or acquaintances. Even your family members can be in different categories – your direct family (siblings, nieces & nephews) versus your cousins you only hear of, or see every few years. Write this down somewhere and put names in each of the categories. This way you can remind yourself of who falls into which category when it comes around to getting the gift.
- Assign a spending limit to each category
Once you’ve created the categories, assign a realistic budget to every category. Direct family and close friends will have a higher limit in comparison to work colleagues and acquaintances.Be frank about your budget to your family and close friends. Get them to agree to the limit for when they are buying your gifts as well. This will ensure no uncomfortable expectations around the size of the gift and unnecessary pressure to try and match the expenditure.
Remember that your gifts are not a reflection of how successful you are.
- Giving the best gifts
So, you’ve categorised everyone and assigned a budget, now comes the hardest part – getting that personal, thoughtful gift.
3.1 Making gifts
Don’t be afraid to give homemade gifts. A delicious and awesomely presented bag of cookies can mean much more to your work colleague than another pair of socks.
A delicious homemade chicken pie, as a housewarming gift, will be the first happy memories your friends make when moving into their new house.
3.2 Memories versus actual gifts
A gift can also be an experience where memories are made. For example, a day out hiking in a nature reserve with a picnic is probably not your idea of an excellent day out, but for your son or nephew, this will be the best day ever. He will not stop telling the world about his fantastic day. If your husband is an adrenaline junkie but never really does anything to live out his dreams, arrange a bungee jump day-trip. Make the whole trip about him (you don’t have to join in the actual jump) and create memories together.
3.3 Wishlist
Don’t be shy to ask for a wishlist. Various packets of gorgeous serviettes combined with tealight candles might not sound like anything you would ever want, but if it is on the wishlist, you can be sure that it will be loved and appreciated.
Don’t hesitate to share your wishlist either!
If you’ve fallen victim to overspending on gifts and other luxuries, and now find yourself in massive debt, give Debt Rescue a call.
