Christmas running total and would DH have a clue?

Thank you so much for this thread it has cheered me up no end. I have been married 33yrs and either paid for everything or asked for a 'bung'.

My DH has no idea of day to day costs let alone Christmas? I did 'suggest' any spare dosh he may have this month to field it my way and ...... Low and behold £200 arrived in my account. With alcohol, food, small gifts etc etc this is already gone. I think he thought it would 'cover Christmas' entirely feeding 6 adults, 2 children, gifts, fuel and everything else.

Brick wall and head me thinks!

I am like Maggiemaybe. I have several spreadsheets! One the overall Christmas Plan, which includes, this years presents, shopping and cooking schedules and menus, budget and expenditure and another which is an archive of what we have given people in previous years so that I do not give anyone the same thing three years running. I do not bargain hunt over Christmas buying, at least no more than usual but I always ask for present wish lists so that money isn't wasted on unwanted gifts. There is no guarantee that items on the list will be given but it does at worst give a guide to what would be acceptable

My budget is around £750 for everything including presents, food and anything else that can be described as a Christmas expense and I usually stay within it. DH does pick up some expenses randomly. He usually buys any beer, wine or spirits, we are not a family where any of us drink much so this bill is not enormous, and he usually pays for the Christmas tree.

M0nica you sound very well organised!!

The only thing DH moans about, I must admit, is when I wail every year like a child: 'but I want a real Christmas tree, not that one out of the attic

I am getting a real tree this year hooray, the one out of the loft has gone to the tip hooray again. It was bought in 1984 so deserved an honourable end (it didn't get one, it was an ignominious one).

I only want a teeny tiny one ....

DH more or less leaves me to it. He does occasionally make small 'tutting' noises when he sees something else coming into the house, but it's easy to ignore that!
We'll be three on Christmas day, four for Boxing day, and just us two for the rest of the holidays, so I've cut back a lot on food this year. I've had enough of still wading through the Christmas goodies at Easter!!!

Aldi have teeny ones for£11:99 and larger for £19:99 they are Nordmann fir which I hope means they won't drop.!!

I wouldn't dare say as it includes me taking myself on a cruise. ( well it leaves darling daughter and her DH free to go to his family on the other side of the country and not have to worry about me! Well, that's my excuse!)

DH is generous to a fault, although he loves a bargain. He always buys too large a tree, and would like to be able to do all prep. on Christmas morning like Scrooge.

My dear OH has virtually no input in to Christmas on either the money or time front and probably has no idea what it costs either. I reckon I spend about the same as Coolgran65 on the family who remain to us: my mother, sister, BIL, three nieces, a son and a daughter. My husband and I have an agreement from when the children were small and we were skint that we don't do presents for each other but his birthday is two days after Christmas so a big fuss is made there with lots spent.

We also buy cheap Champagne and fizz on offer as there are always massive bargains to be had at Christmas. Recently we bought Champagne at £7.50 a bottle which is unbeatable. While this is meant to last throughout the year it's an extra expense.

I buy food ahead and store it. I have the turkey crown (frozen), stuffing, Christmas pudding and cheese biscuits. Nevertheless, the Christmas week's shop always costs double the normal amount and I think that it's because the shops put the prices up.

Goodness knows what we will do when the OH retires! By the way, I love Christmas because that's when I see my lovely family all together.

We have just returned from buying our Christmas tree. We used to have two real ones, one in the big bay window in the study at the front of the house and another in the living room. But getting the one in the bay window in and out of the house without still finding little heaps of pine needles in corners in July has got so irritating (and expensive) that this year we have invested in a really nice artifical tree for the study but still got the real one for the living room where it stands in front of the French windows and can be got in and out without fuss or mess.

I know I spend a lot more than that Coolgran65 but not admitting to how much!

We've really cut back on Christmas this year and are having quite a simple meal on Christmas Day. Had a card from a friend yesterday and on the back she'd said they we not sending cards next year but giving the money to charity; I think I'll do the same. My DD has, instead of buying presents for some people, sent a donation to the Syrian refugees.

I too save my Tesco and Nectar points all year. They double them at Christmas. I managed to buy a lot of presents at Tesco and Sainsburys. Hubby hasn't a clue what I spend. He's very laid back about money. I like to think I manage very well anyway.

To see what others' outlay is has been reassuring to me and I know I could cut down a bit if I had to, if circumstances changed.

I pay £200 a month into my savings account to cover Christmas. I don't spend anything like that amount so always have a healthy left-over balance in January which I use to buy something for the house and put the rest towards our summer holiday.

Works for me.

DH hasn't a flipping clue, he thinks our weekly food bill is c£25!
I've said that this year he has to contribute (1st time in 38 years!) and he's asked if £100 is enough....and went pale when I said that was about enough for the food, not for presents.
This 66 year old DH is in for a shock me thinks - upto this year I've been the main breadwinner and paid for virtually everything but that's changing now

I think for most of us our Christmas spending is based on what we can afford and what we think appropriate.

I expect DH and I could, if we wanted to, spend a small fortune buying DGC every toy and treat they could ever want. But we don't because DGC are quite happy with what they do get. They do not expect to get everything they want and that is as it should be. Looking through the wish lists I always ask from everybody for I see requests for DVDs, books, items of clothing and small treats, nobody is asking for, or expecting to get anything expensive.

My one unbridled expense is the basic foodstuffs of Christmas lunch. I always buy a free range organic turkey and organic gammon joint and not an ounce of it is wasted.

I am so happy that a lot of other households are like mine. DH sees DDs pressies for 1st time when they open them. He doesn't care what I spend on DGD and buys me gorgeous gifts (which DDs choose, get and wrap for him!). But he claims to adore Xmas!!!

We are not spending so much this year due to us going away for Christmas. We will have a small get together on the Sunday before Christmas to exchange presents with our two children, SIL and two DGD's I think the most I will spend on presents is £400 as we are cutting back this year due to me reducing my working hours and us going away on an expensive holiday over Xmas.
My DH has no idea how much I spend on anything, he leaves all the banking up to me and hasn't a clue what savings we have. He never carries cash and rarely uses a cashpoint machine.

Agree Monica that money is well spent on buying good quality organic food.

When DH was in employment, he travelled overseas a lot, at short notice for indefinite periods and our household would have entered financial breakdown had I not taken full responsibility for all financial matters.

Since (sort of) retiring we have shared the honours. I still do the day to day finance. He manages savings and investments.

Old habits die hard so when it comes to Christmas, I do most of the planning and buying, though, as already mentioned, he usually pays for the Christmas tree and wine etc. Otherwise I do think he has a pretty good idea how much everything from Christmas to the weekly shopping costs. He manages to buy my presents from him without assistance, although he is sometimes sweating the last few days before Christmas in case something is not delivered in time.

Like most people on here I do most of the Christmas buying etc but husband helps with food shopping (simply as he drives, I do not). What was nice is that he came with me to buy our grandchild's Christmas gift as it's their first Christmas and he wanted to be involved.

I know roughly what Christmas cost but if I had to include Christmas lunches out and that kind of thing plus a yearly outing for my daughter and self to Pantomime, I'm not quite sure what that would come to. In future years it will be the Pantomime for three, grandchild not old enough to go yet.

I think my husband does have an idea what Christmas cost, each year we invest in Asda Christmas Savings cards, which have been great for the food shopping and Christmas sweets. I do buy other special food items from Marks, did that the other day as we are going to my daughter's Christmas Day and they get loads of visitors, so we take treats, biscuits and the like to help them out as they are good enough to have us over.

Where we come from you never turn up at someone's door this time of the year empty - handed. Even a small packet of biscuits is a very welcome gesture to a friend or relative when visiting. Though we do this all year round.

I love this thread. I always start off with good intentions and a budget. But we all know where good intentions lead ...

It's extraordinary how the nearer to Christmas one gets the more profligate one is. For example I had every intention of going to Primark for a few presents for the grandchildren and ended up spending a fortune in The White Stuff because it is such a young and vibrant shop and the staff are so lovely.

As for buying for DH I have already bought him some expensive leather slippers to support his bad ankles but then, on a whim, have ordered a new laptop for him! How did that happen? Love comes into it I think. As I am married to the most unselfish men in the world I think he deserves something more exciting and extravagant than another pair of slippers as his main present.

A pity he won't be getting any new PJs or socks this year though ... AND I have mentally cancelled all wish-list holidays for next year.

But who cares? As long as we're together, that's really all that counts.

I manage our joint account and have done for the past 40 yrs. DH neither knows nor cares what I spend at Christmas or any other time.
I have to reign in his spending, it's a bit of a joke in our family that his favourite phrase is"if you want it have it"
I only buy for DH, DD, DS DGSx2 and nephews which comes to about £300 or less and about £50 on food. ( there will only be the three of us at any time over Christmas) We don't get invited out over Christmas so no added expense there.