It is true that Christmas is the most fun-filled season in the year. Every year, I make efforts to have a nice time with family and friends and it has always come out very great. The result of catching too much fun is that I suffer in January. This had happened to me for two years consecutively but I learned my lesson the hard way and have covenanted that I will never overshoot my budget.
My budget for this year's Christmas is simple. I won't kill myself over anything. No doubt, it has been a very strange year with some very harsh experiences. Most of us in Nigeria will understand that the economy is not smiling. Food items have tripled in price while income has either nosedived or refused to increase. In fact, some people have even lost their jobs.
The first thing to be grateful for is that one is alive and has a source of livelihood. I can now share my simple Christmas budget, perhaps you may want to take a cue from it.
My 2024 Simple Christmas Budget
I started planning for Christmas early. I knew through past experiences that clothing materials are going to get very expensive. So, my wife and I started to make arrangements for the children for Christmas and new year respectively.
Clothes and Shoes
This was the first thing we settled for.our children while my wife and I bought a new clothing material to be sewn. The clothing for the children costs more but we are glad we bought them already. Everything we bought coats us about $150 (about #230,000 Nigerian Naira). The kids loved them when they were made to wear to check if they fit.
Food Items
We are going to be travelling to my family house as all my siblings will be returning home with their nuclear family. This has been our yearly tradition. We planned Christmas by contributing or making pledges on how to support the family throughout the season.
Min An
We have a total of about twenty people in my family, children inclusive. Some of the things we pledged are: Bags of rice, bags of garri, vegetable oil, ogbono, egusi, crayfish, stock fish, dried fish, chicken, goat, palm oil, and cash donations.
Everything written above has been received and is in the store at the family house. The only thing that we have not bought is the goat we will be using for Christmas and new year.
This is one way to help to ensure that we do not spend all our savings for the year on Christmas. We have mandated that everyone cut down on expenses during the yuletide while looking forward to continuing running our individual homes after the festive period.
Asad photos Maldives
Family Day Out
We would be going to the beach as a family. It is one way to kill boredom for the children. Eleko beach is not far from our residence and the kids are already excited when they heard we shall be visiting. As part of our routine for the beach, we will be going with a griller to prepare some barbecue with pineapple juice.
All together, we will be staying at our parents house with our children for about two to three weeks. Everyone is expected to return to their station after the new year celebrations.
The total budget for feeding, outing and clothes is about $400 for me and my immediate family but if I were to take responsibility for everything, it would gulp up to $600.
This method of coming together as a family to distribute items to be used in our family house has become a tradition that helps us not only come together but to reduce our expenditure for the yuletide.