Playing Santa on a Budget
Playing "Santa" on a budget should mean no more than sticking to financial limits. Budgets may be large or small. Perhaps you have a large budget and a large task like organizing a pre-Christmas community event with funds to book bands, arrange fireworks, visits from Santa and free lollies etc. Or perhaps you have a small budget and have the task of arranging Christmas for your own family.
Whatever the scale of the task, the key to playing Santa on a budget is to stick to financial limits, have a clear set of tasks to achieve and be organized about achieving those tasks, especially keeping a record of purchases and taking advantage of all year round sales etc.
Know the financial limit
First it is necessary to create the budget and set the overall financial limit. This might be given to you from your company, or could be something you have to set yourself knowing your family income, existing outgoing expenses and what members of your family think about how much to allocate to Christmas cheer.
Know what must be done with the budget
Secondly, you must decide what has to be done within this budget. In organizing a community event, these goals will have been decided by a committee. For a personal Christmas you will need to know what you want to achieve. Are you basically catering for a family meal or do you want to decorate the house inside and out? Do you want to host a party for the street, or buy a few close relatives presents? Work out just what you need to do, especially what presents are to be given and to whom.
Get quotes and make a list
Once you have the financial limit and the tasks to be achieved it is time to start getting quotes and produce a list of the best price for each item. You will be able to work out whether you can afford certain items, or whether you'll have to cancel them, find a substitute, another vendor or even if you can upgrade an item because something else was cheaper. For example, if you were hoping to go to Christmas dinner at the local exclusive hotel and find this blows the budget then perhaps you'll have to get quotes for other establishments or look at DIY catering. You might realize that Christmas dinner this year means a pot luck dinner with your neighbours to help you stay in budget., or by doing this you will be able to afford to spend more on something else.
Pay in cash
Once you have a list and are going ahead with purchases it helps to take cash so that there is no temptation to go over budget and change your mind at the last minute. A credit card is all too easy to overuse and will create a nasty hole in the budget as items are paid back with interest. Paying in cash makes the purchase more real and you see you are actually parting with money.
Keep Receipts of Purchases
Sticking to the budget will be easier if you keep your receipts and document what you have brought. Sometimes it is easy to forget that you have already made a purchase, especially if you have been buying things all year, taking advantage of sales etc. as they arise. Documenting your purchases, knowing what must still be bought and the funds that remain will help ensure you play Santa on a budget. It will be absolutely necessary if you are managing funds for a company.
Whether you need to entertain the whole community, or just organize a pleasant holiday for your family, you will need to know how to play Santa on a budget. You will need to know how to set spending limits, how to plan the budget, how to stick to it, how to document it and how to change it where necessary. Consider reading aboutgeneral budgeting tips, as you plan for playing Santa.
