Christmas In August???

Yes, now is the perfect time to be preparing for Christmas, especially if you are on a tight budget. Actually, January is the perfect time to start thinking about Christmas so if you haven't already-you are behind! =) You don't need to spend a lot of money to show your family and friends that you care about them. In fact, I think homemade, personal gifts are often times more meaningful than something you can buy at a store.

Some Christmas Gifts we have made in the past are:
Homemade wine & Beer
Knitted scarves and hats
Handmade Cards
Candy & Cookies
Homemade Jam

With the exception of the candy and cookies, all the other ones are gifts you want to start making months in advance. All the wild berries right now are perfect for making jam, so I have been picking berries like a crazy woman. The Man and I had fun last night bottling our wine and it is nice to know that is already done.

I have this thing about always being done shopping and having all my gifts wrapped by the first of December so that I can take the month of December to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Since we are on a very tight budget this year a lot of people on our Christmas list will be getting homemade gifts so it is imperative that I start planning for Christmas months in advance.

If your budget allows you may also want to start setting aside money each month for Christmas. We used to go all out and just put our Christmas gifts on our credit cards (and still be paying them off by Easter!) but now we are done with debit! We don't buy things on credit so that is not an option for us. Last year was the first year we did this and you know what? We had a wonderful Christmas! Not to mention we paid for it with CASH so we didn't have to worry about getting the bill. This year I encourage you to PLAN AHEAD and do not use credit to have a Merry Christmas. I promise it will be much happier.

What are you planning to have a debt free Christmas?