Tips for budgeting for birthday gifts

Photo by Alexander Mils: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-100-us-dollar-banknotes-2068975/

Throughout life, it's important you budget in order to enjoy the nicer things of life. By successfully budgeting and saving money, you'll find it easier to buy your first property, buy a car as well as enjoy nice meals and find it less stressful buying birthday gifts. 

The price of birthday gifts can vary depending on your income and how much they mean to you. You are more likely to spend a greater amount on your brothers, sisters, and parents than you are on your friends – this can sometimes be the other way round, it all depends on the type of relationship you have. You are also likely to spend more money if it's a milestone birthday like an 18th, 21st, 30th, 50th, or 60th. On milestone birthdays, higher price gifts are expected such as diamonds  – if you are buying a diamond make sure you know how to tell if diamonds are real.

Below are our tips for budgeting for birthday gifts.

Save a certain amount each month

When buying birthday gifts, if you know you are going to be spending a reasonable amount of money, don't spend it out of one paycheck. By spending it out of one paycheck you could stretch yourself too thin for the month, causing you to stress about money. Instead, aim to save a certain amount each month, this means, when it comes to buying the present it doesn't come as much of a shock. If you spend over what your monthly savings have been, it won't be as much as if you had to spend it out as one lump sum without having saved a bit each month.

Set a budget and stick to it

It's important that when you set a budget you stick to it when buying birthday gifts. This not only makes it easier to budget for, but it also reduces the stress of overspending when buying presents. By setting a budget, you can go into the stores and tell the salespeople what you are willing to spend. If they bring items out that are less than what you have budgeted, then this is a bonus. If it's more, simply remind them of your budget and ask them to show you other items. If the present you want to buy is slightly more than what you budgeted, that's ok just don't go too much over. Remember you can always find alternatives to your present ideas, for example, if you want to buy non-alcoholic rum, you could look at alternative brands that sell the product in order to still get the same thing but at a reduced price.

Think outside the box

Remember when buying a present, price isn't what it comes down to. What it comes down to is that the present is thoughtful and that you have spent the time going out looking to buy them something. For this reason, try to think outside the box instead of going for something mainstream. You can gather what money you have or sell something you no longer need to buy a great gift from a charity shop. For example, using the best site to resell tickets you don’t want can get you enough money for a fantastic second-hand gift. If you know they like art, instead of paying a lot of money for an art piece, try and paint something yourself (If you consider yourself a good artist). You could cook them a three-course meal instead of taking them out for dinner or organize a picnic with wine as a way to show you appreciate them.