Give the guilt a miss

A written plan and a budget is the very best way to survive the silly season with your finances intact.

It should include a breakdown of everything needed: the menu, presents, cards, the tree and decorations. Decide how much money is available and assign a cost to each major category and item. The more detailed the better.

If the amount you plan to spend adds up to more than the total you have set aside, start pruning.

That might mean trimming presents. It could also be checking out websites that break down the meal into serving sizes. No reason to buy 2kg of kumara when 1.5kg would do.

It’s also a good idea to order your lists in terms of most important to least, so you can cut from the bottom up. Otherwise keep it all but shave a little off every item.

Plan templates are available to download and may include a calendar to ensure you’re not paying more in petrol than you need to because you forgot something essential at the mall or supermarket.

Some tips I follow myself are:

Go BYO

Talk to family about “co-hosting” the celebration so you can divvy up the costs. An article last month asking whether guests should be charged for Christmas dinner polarised readers. I liked Tracey Hancock’s comment that her family bought a Christmas food box and split the cost. Anyone who quibbles about that ought to be dumped from the guest list. If, like me, you live in the most suitable venue for the wha¯ nau to celebrate then you shouldn’t be footing more than your share of the bill, unless you need your ego massaged. At the very least outline what you want every guest to bring. If someone you know compares the cost of what you’ve given with their present, you’re the one in the right. If you’re worried, broach the problem. Tell them you’re budgeting this Christmas and you’re only giving a: a token gift, or b: a gift of a specified value. An alternative is to suggest a secret Santa where each adult receives just one gift. But make sure you give something the other person genuinely wants or, if you don’t know who you’re buying for, everyone can use.

Use an alternate wrapping paper

I watched the international student who is living with us wrapping presents to take home to Italy last week. She used old copies of the Herald from my recycle bin to wrap the gifts, in preference to the wrapping paper I offered. The outcome was stunning and this is the last year I buy wrapping paper.

You don’t even need to buy string. Harakeke (flax) does the trick.

I’ve since found hundreds of ideas online for Christmas decorations made with newsprint. The point here is: don’t buy Christmas consumerism. There are many ways to DIY. Even a natural tree can be constructed with ease from driftwood.