I know we have more or less just celebrated Christmas 2022, or at least it feels that way anywhere but here I am at the start of April already planning ahead for Christmas 2023, as I am trying to be much more organised this year and make sure that I am ahead of myself ready for when the festive period roles around as it certainly creeps up on you. Last Christmas I ended up leaving a lot of things until last minute as I was unwell for the majority of December and everything became a mad rush and there were a lot of mad dashes to the shops for last minute items I had forgot. Christmas 2023 is going to be a whole lot different though as by getting ahead of myself I am hoping to have a full month of relaxing and enjoying the festive period, no rushing around with everyone else and who knows all my presents might be wrapped by then too, if everything goes to plan. 

The plan is to have all the money ready for buying gifts and everything planned out so with just a few shopping trips everything can be purchased and ready to be wrapped. That why from April pay day I am putting a chunk of money to one side so I can purchase gifts, decorations and anything else for the festivities, basically it will be a Christmas money pot so if I see something for someone even in August I can take the money out of there rather than my own treat fund and get a head start.

My family is quite a big family so I have quite a few people I need to buy for each year so by starting the savings in April I should be able to have the correct amount saved up for each person I have budgeted a set amount for, which various depending on which family member I am buying for. Usually the nephew and Liam have the biggest budgets then the rest of the money is filtered through other family members. I am hoping that having the set budget for each person means that I will be able to have all the money saved up by September or October's pay day just so that the rest of the money for the year is for me to treat myself or for me to put into savings. It is no secret there are a lot of jobs I wanted get done in the house this year plus other jobs to do next year so any extra money is super beneficial towards getting everything done so we can free up more money in the future to treat ourselves to things other than jobs.

I will be making sure to track the savings and purchases for the festive period on a trusty old spreadsheet as I can monitor closely what I need to purchase and what I don't need plus I can keep track of how much money I have left and if it is looking likely that extra money will be needed which I am really hoping isn't going to be the case, I want the budget to be final not adding to it every time I see something. Once that budget is gone that person is done shopping for and everything can be wrapped ready to go.

After being so ill for the festive period in 2022 I am determined to get as much out of the way as possible nice and early so I can really soak up the festive period and enjoy myself rather than dashing around last minute, those days are long gone.

Do you plan ahead for Christmas or do you leave it until last minute?