It’s officially 7 days before Christmas, I hope everyone has done all their holiday shopping or are almost done! You know, I hear that December 23rd is officially the busiest day for shopping (must be all the last minute shoppers frantically trying to find something for their loved ones).
Krystal over at Give Me Back My Five Bucks asked how much her readers spent on Christmas presents this year.
I thought I would do the same. I ended up spending about $450 this year on about 13 people. Some presents were very small, that only cost about $9 or so (cute passport holders).
I did a lot of online shopping this year, bought a present on Cyber Monday. I also bought some presents (three to be exact) ahead of time in October when I was in Hawaii. I went to the Premier Outlets and bought some nice sweaters and zip ups that would otherwise likely cost about $50-$60 here in Canada. I bought them for $20 each. You can’t even get a T-shirt here in Canadian malls these days for $20.
I used one of the daily deal sites for a $10 chapters gift certificate worth $25 and bought a book for my brother.
I also redeemed my Air Miles points ahead of time for a $50 gift card to the local sports equipment/ outdoor lifestyle store earlier and bought BF something from there (I won’t be specific in the rare chance that he is reading this).
I only went to the mall once and it was pretty horrid. I think I have developed an allergy to the mall. Not sure what it is, perhaps it’s the crowds of people, the overzealous sales staff, or the increasingly stringent return policies. I spent a few hours trying to find a decent sweater for my sister that would cost $20 (which was what my budget was). It was pretty difficult, so I ended up going over budget and spent $33. To my chagrin, the sweater was NOT on sale. I was desperate to find a present.
I am looking forward to try my best to avoid experiencing the Boxing Day Hangover this year (it’s like Black Friday for Canadians) …I think that would involve staying away from the computer (buying online) and the malls.
Meanwhile, here are some great PF Blog Links to distract you from Christmas shopping until the 23rd 
- Financial Samurai shares with us the Clubber’s Guide to Saving Money and Having a Good Time
- Consumerism Commentary justifies that it’s the time to by a house (but not as an investment)
- Frugal Zeitgeist teaches us how to avoid holiday overeating (all these treats at the office are NO help!
) - Canadian Finance Blog does a review of Mint.com (I’ve been using it more and more, I like the functionality of it, but I don’t like the seemingly lack of security)
- Sustainable Life Blog shares the details of his most expensive month EVER!
- Every Day Tips and Thoughts creates a list of items that EDTT refuses to buy generic
- Boomer and Echo share things to take care of before year end
- Sustainable Personal Finance helps calculate how charitable donations work
- How to Save Money does his weekly round up of Canadian hot deals
- The College Investor analyzes how much you should tip the people in your life (including the mail man)
- Canadian Profiteer is this site that aggregates all the good personal finance info all in one place- pretty handy I’d say
- The Financial Blogger also has a post on how to prevent stress while last minute shopping
Readers, how did your Christmas damage budget pan out this year?
My friend you are sure right about the fact that you can’t even get a t-shirt in Canada for $20. I much like your self, enjoy shopping for clothes in the States more. Much better bargains. Especially Macys, you present them with your Canadian passport and you get an aditional 15% on top of all ready marked down merchendise. Also, please do avoid Boxing Day “Specials”, because as we Canadians know, the true deep discounts are in January.
@Fox- MUCH MUCH better bargains in the states. I didn’t know you get an additional 15% off with the Canadian passport??!! Have I been living under a rock? Is this with every Macy’s? Yes, so right- the deep discounts are in January. Boxing Day is where the stores put up clearance goods that are too ugly to put out during regular season and they call that a boxing day sale. The only thing that can be good during boxing day are the Best Buy/Future Shop sales.
Good for you for redeeming points for a gift card (I just wrote an article about that!) And I never understood Boxing Day, so thanks for clearing that up. I never shop the day after Christmas because I’m just too shopped out (even though in comparison I don’t shop that much, I just hate shopping). So enjoy your Boxing Day relaxing.
@Little House- cool! Great minds think alike. I’m going to head over and check it out right now
Thanks- I will enjoy my boxing day relaxing. Did you take advantage of Black Friday?
Thanks for the mention!
@Tom- you’re welcome
Thanks for the mention, I’ll be hitting the mall this weekend to finish up my shopping. I never have done the Boxing Day thing though…too busy playing with my toys
@Echo- I’m surprised you’ve never done the boxing day thing! I thought it was a right of passage for Canadians
I went with a friend to a Boxing Day sale once at Future Shop and was traumatized by the line-up and mob behaviour. Never again!
I’ll take the online shopping any day, love Great Canadian Rebates too (cash back).
@Echo- Yeah, a lot of the Future Shop and Best Buy sales start online on christmas eve, right? Yeah, the line ups can be brutal- people start lining up at 3 am for a TV, for goodness sake.
I haven’t bought any presents yet… uh oh… Except for my sister’s dog. I bought the dog a box of dog biscuits.
I’m terrible at getting gifts!
How come Macy’s gives Canadians a discount? Out of curiosity.
@Kellen- That’s where I started off too, buying a present for a pet! Buying a gift for my dog- I got him two toys from the dollar store.
Thank you for the mention! I would answer your question but I’m not quite finished with my gifts yet. But my budget goes well so far!
@The Financial Blogger- Good to hear TFB!
Perhaps I’m not the best example, but so far I have only spent about $6.51. Now, I did spent about $30 on wool to make a hat and scarf set for my then-bf … but that is in the past tense, so I’m going to probably be using the wool instead to knit for charity. However, this year my parents asked for just one thing; for me to come home early and do some cooking, because they loooove my cooking. I am more than happy to let that be my gift
@Money Rabbit- Wow! That’s great! I love receiving knitted hand made things as presents- I think I would prefer it to a generic gift card any day. Your parents must be so happy to see you. Hope you have a great xmas!
Sounds like you did well with your Christmas shopping, but I have to object to the $20 t-shirt comment!
If you read through my hot deals weekly posts, there are always tons of coupons for 30%+ discounts on all merchandise (including sale and clearance). My wife was able to buy a nice t-shirt at Aeropostale for herself that was on clearance for $6.99 and we got 30% off on top of that to boot.
Therefore, I submit to you $4.89 for a Canadian t-shirt!
Seriously though, mall prices are usually crazy in Canada!
@SavingMentor- hehe thank you SavingMentor for pointing that out! Wow a $5 T shirt from Aeropostale, not bad! Apparently their stock is doing really well (saw it in the news the other day).
I think I have spent about $600 so far for about 30 people @_@ and that includes gifts exchanges I participate for work and friend’s parties.
I saved some gift cards over the year and bought stocking stuffers over the year when it was on sale, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be!
@Money Pincher- Dang, that’s good, girl! 30 is a lot of people to think about! I like the idea of saving gift cards- it really pays to plan ahead.
Ohhh premier outlets, how I love thee.
I usually go across to bellingham or blaine. Cheaper in gas too!
Just shopping across the border in general is soo much cheaper. Im in the Vancouver area as well, & I go across for lots of things – but if your ever around the states, you can get super good deals on cheese & meat there
I’m off to read some more of your blog.
@Daisy- Cheese and meat- yum! But I’m wary because I know that Canadian meat and cheese don’t use growth hormones, but I know that certain US cheese and meat have some growth hormones in them. Gas is way cheaper in Bellingham or Blaine… so annoyed with all our taxes on our gas. It’s expensive enough as it is. If only they built better infrastructure for mass transit…!
That’s true about the growth hormones. You can buy meat and cheese here without that stuff in it, but then you’re back to paying high prices again. Although the meat you get at those prices is DELICIOUS. I love you Whole Foods.
@Kellen- To be honest, I’ve never tried Whole Foods or organic meat! I don’t think I’ve even ever stepped foot in Whole Foods- they’re so gourmet
I’ve had organic meat in Buenos Aires and it was delicious.
[...] Young and Thrifty [...]
I hope Christmas went really well for everyone
for some Christmas budgeting tips for next year take a look at http://blog.heaps.co.nz/how-to/how-to-save-money/budget-for-a-better-christmas/