Ask the Readers: Do You Have a Holiday Shopping Budget?

By Ashley Jacobs 113 comments

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Kate, Razorbacks92, and Nicholas for winning this week's contest!

It’s time to start thinking about getting your holiday shopping done! Shopping for the holidays can be a huge drain on anyone’s bank account. While many people create a budget to follow when they holiday shop, others prefer to spend first and worry later.

Do you have a holiday shopping budget? Why or why not?

Tell us if you have a holiday shopping budget and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — one for random comments, one for random Facebook "Likes", and another one for random tweets.

Mandatory Entry:

Post your answer in the comments below

For extra entries (1 per action):

Go to our Facebook page, "Like" us, and leave a comment telling us you did, or
Tweet your answer. You have to be a follower of our @wisebread account. Include both "@wisebread" and "#WBAsk" in your tweet so we'll see it and count it. Leave a link to your tweet (click the timestamp for the individual URL) in a separate comment.

If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.

Giveaway Rules:

Contest ends Monday, December 12th at 11:59 pm Pacific. Winners will be announced after December 12th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
You can enter all three drawings — once by leaving a comment, once by liking our Facebook update, and once by tweeting.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered, or associated with Facebook.
You must be 18 and US resident to enter. Void where prohibited.

Note: Due to recent changes in Facebook's promotions guidelines, we have restructured the entry format of our giveaways.

Good Luck!

Tagged: Giveaways, Ask the Readers

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Jane

Nope. No specific budget for my husband and I, however since we're both students, we're always on the lookout for great deals both online and in stores. We got some great boxes of holiday tea sampler for half the price! Looks like it'll be a lot of tea drinking around our friends and family this Christmas.

KelR1

Around $600. I have way too many people to buy for, so I'm hoping to not go over that amount if possible.

Mdm.Levesque

We don't buy too many presents, just ones for the giving trees at our work. The little girl I bought for wanted books, so I swapped some books I had at the local book swap and got children's books for her. Then we went to Marshalls and got my wife's giving tree recipient a $20 pair of Guess sneakers. So, our budget is $20! Success!

Our families will get the gift of all of us being together, eating, drinking, and having a great time. To me, that's priceless.

B&B

This is the first year we sat down and wrote out a budget for Christmas gifts, i.e. who is getting a gift and how much we will spend for each individual. We have had spoken budgets in the past but have experienced "shock and awe" in January when the credit card bill comes because of misunderstandings that lead to overspending. We still use a credit card to securely track gift purchases and because we pay for gifts with a Christmas bonus that comes right before the holiday. We are keeping track of purchases with receipts that we keep with the written budget. It is working!

Heather

This year has been a tight year--tighter than normal. So the budget is $150-200 this year. Many of the gifts I plan to make this year--baked goods, picture collages, maybe even a handmade book or two, etc. Even at a low budget maybe especially at a low budget, this is difficult.

Natalie

We just got married and are paying off student loans, so we're doing DIY gifts this year and set a total budget of $500. We do gifts for parents, siblings and cousins.

Natalie

We just got married and are paying off student loans, so we're doing DIY gifts this year and set a total budget of $500. We do gifts for parents, siblings and cousins.