I just learned a tip from my mom that blew my mind! She was a single mom of 3, worked full time, AND volunteered her time so we could live in a co op development. So money was always tight. I knew she would buy little presents throughout the year and hide them for Christmas (and sometimes forget where she hid them, lol) but one thing I never realized when I was a kid was her trick for giving me a larger number of gifts: She would buy gift sets or toys with lots of parts, and break them down and wrap parts separately. So, she might buy an arts and crafts kit, but wrap the paints in one package, pastels in another, etc. So I always got to open many gifts and felt like I got 8 gifts when it was really just one gift xD That woman is a genius, I tell you.
Yep, my parents always do a silly toy under 10 quid, funny shape soap, a cute decoration for the tree, chocolate coins or animals, socks and gloves in festive or silly colours, and little things like nail polish or cute travel toiletries or stationary. Meanwhile the girl I worked with's dad bought her 200 quid worth of jewelry just for her stocking ! Crazy 🤯
.........someone said there isn't a handbook on parenting or life, but from the last 3 hours of your videos, I have watched you have proved them wrong! You have given me so much guidance and I am happy to have stumbled upon your videos! OMG, my eyes are burning. After each one, I say 'last one', but then there's another great video !! You are amazing Jordan Page!!! I am a single mom to a 2-year-old and I cannot wait to apply a lot of the things I've learned tonight... Now, the last one lol
Omg I couldn't have said that better! That is exactly me since lastnight. I can't stop watching her videos and I just want to apply everything I've learned. 💗
Couldn’t agree more! I’m Obsessed with this chick and her Channel now . what a awesome lady helping us all out with stuff we may not have thought of or just making us feel in general we aren’t alone. and that you sometimes still have to budget things out even if you have good incomes etc . :)
I'm not even a parent yet and that taking a picture with a gift tip has blown my mind. I'm about to be in stores taking selfies with stuff to see if I end up really needing it 😂
I do that too, esp with my crafting items. I store it at the store till i have a project in mind then flick through my pics to find the one to match my project. Saves me a fortune lol!
When I was little, once the Sears catalog arrived in the mail.. it was on. I'll go through and circle all the stuff I wanted and put stars near the stuff I really really wanted. ;)
We were a college family when I was little. We lived in the family housing at BYU. My mom didn't work and my dad was a full time student who worked over night. We would get food from Santa. It was usually special food that was more expensive then our every day things. Large boxes of cereal or special shaped macaroni and cheese. We then spent weeks bartering with our food. If I wanted a bowl of my sisters cereal I had to give her some of mine. If mom asked what we wanted for dinner someone would say, "make my mac n cheese" It was a fun way to learn to share and it didn't feel like we were missing any gifts. We did the same thing for long road trips. Each of us would have our own box of snacks and books that we would trade and share on the long rides across country to visit family.
Love that you put out, up front, no shaming of ANYONE. While I have not seen any shaming for those spending less, on some vlogs, people seem to feel free to shame the big spenders. And like you say, it's different for every household, and if a household can afford and chooses to go big, that's their business.
For our kids, I buy my toilet paper and paper towels at Target when they offer the gift cards. By thanksgiving I normally have $150-200 in cards. We divide them up between the four kids, and have them buy for each other. I will also use old navy cash, Kohl’s cash, meijer perks, and any Ebates payments. Oh, we have a survey company here, so I will go do taste testing or product testing, those gift cards go into my Christmas funds also. Yes, we do Santa- but it is normally a family present. Last year it was the WiiU, but this year it is restocking our board games and a few little extras.
You remind me of my daughter She has six kids and raises them on her own They are ages from 15 to 5 Their father passed unexpectedly She works full time Went to college and has a house Every thing is planned She is on the move all day just like you I am very proud of her She cooks full meals every day She amazes me Keep up the great work!!
I watched this video 2 years ago when you uploaded it, but didn't implement your advice that year. I was already a gazillion presents deep for each kid but was feeling frustrated and kind of grumpy about the holidays. This year I implemented my own version of your advice, and we stuck to getting each of our 4 kids 1 large/expensive gift from their wishlist's and then 3 smaller/inexpensive gifts to go with it. We woke up Christmas morning with 12 presents under the tree. It was the best and most stress free Christmas we have ever had. My kids LOVED just getting the 4 gifts, and never complained once. I wasn't stressed out trying to buy a bunch of filler crap gifts just for the sake of buying more stuff and it made my shopping a breeze. Now if only I could get my extended family on board to scale back for our larger family Christmas, things would be mint! THANK YOU for the great ideas and advice. This is something anyone can implement no matter if your Christmas budget is $50 a child or $500.
We noticed last year that it's hard to keep the magic of Christmas once your children are older (mine are 18 and 14). Because we have what we need and most of the wants we decided to change it up--we gave the kids and ourselves $100 dollars from the house fund for Christmas gifts PERIOD. The stipulations were that you could not go over the $100 and no lists were to be given, you had to watch and listen for gift idea's. I now had only $33.33 per person, as did they, to spend (NOT gonna lie this was hard!!). However, you haven't lived until you see your children pacing with excitement over you opening the gifts From them. This is our second year and the intrigue (trying to combine with someone else to get Daddy the ... he wants etc...) and the joy of seeing that we've been blessed with young adults who love to give probably more that receive has been The Best Christmas Gift since the birth or our Savior Jesus.
My 6 year old was watching with me and said, "Really? Santa can bring cash? I want cash." I burst out laughing. Love this and love that you set a very reasonable budget. We have 7 kids, 4 of which are 13 and older so their wants are pretty big. We budget $200 each for our older kids and the 3 younger ones we budgeted $150, but so far we've come way under. Have a very Merry Christmas Jordan, Bubba and family.
I shop Clarence all year long and I put stuff away in the plastic tubs for family and kids whoever it's going to be for. I pay next to nothing for the item but I give the best gifts every year. And my family is always saying that I do too much but really my budget on all the stuff was really cheap. I do the same thing for birthday parties and every holiday holiday i buy stuff for the next year and keep it brand new in the box till it's that time. Just by stopping in and checking the clearance after every season I bought stuff for 90% off.
Same! I buy clearance items throughout the year. I have designated gift bag in the back of a spare closet that I dig through when its time to give a bday gift or xmas gifts. Buying throughout the year really helps my budget!
Honestly you have the best tips, but I also love your relationship dynamic. I know it isnt always the same off camera but it makes me really happy that he seems really interested in every part of parenting even stuff that is "traditionally" for moms. You guys support each other in your interests and I love it. Thats how it should be.
We rarely buy gifts for our kids but my husband has 6 brothers and a lot of cousins and they give my two kids a lot of gifts. We told our kids Santa doesnt exist since they were very little so they are thankful to the uncles and cousins for every gift. And we give our nieces and nephews gifts as well. It has worked for us . Thank you for all your tips.
When my siblings and I were little my mom would send us into dollar tree with maybe ten dollars to buy our parents and other three siblings Christmas presents. It was probably one of my favorite parts of it.
My sister bought my daughter that ice cream cart and she absolutely loves it! We've had it for 2 years. She got it on her 1st birthday and she's 3 now. Still plays with it everyday!
Love this! We spent just $50 on each kid this year (we have four) and we've done this every year! If you shop and look for deals and plan ahead it is so so doable! Thanks for your video! :-)
My husband and I continued a family tradition that my parents did. We bought things throughout the year and hid them for Christmas. It saved us so much time and money around Christmas to buy for our families. I had so much money saved that my husband and I were able to afford presents for each other this year. Best thing ever.
Our kids are all grown now ( Two boys/One girl ! ~ The baby ) One day when they were little I asked them...To make a list of what they wanted for Christmas...I sat on the sofa and listened in as they made their list...My middle son...Wrote down a whole bunch of stuff...Then my oldest said..You don't really need all that stuff and they spoke to each other and when they were done...Came to me with the list and when I looked to my surprise...They each only asked for one item...One! See I raised them to know that things are not as important as they are and that we are celebrating God's Birthday on Xmas and that we should be thankful that we have each other and are alive...Have a roof over our heads and food to eat. Kudos to you. I love that this video isn't about stuff and more about substance..love and caring. Thanks for sharing it. I sure miss my kids at this age and in general ( I live on the East Coast now and they live on the West. :)) #MoreBlessings
I set up a savings account that is not easy to get to. All year I send money from each paycheck (automatically) and at the end of the year I have money for gifts. Because I save each time we get paid, I really do not feel it at all. I did not set up this account where my other finances are because I did not want to be tempted to dip into it. This has really worked for our family and every year we have money for Christmas. By the way, I love your videos. You are so alike, you even finish each other's sentences, which is cute.
Hi Nikki, I used Sallie Mae to open my savings account on-line. Once the account was set up, I set up ACH withdrawals from my checking account to go directly to them two times per month. Be sure the money is there so if you get paid on the 1st and the 15th, then ask Sallie Mae to take the money on the 2nd and 16th. . Then in December you can have money moved back to your checking for Christmas purchases. Good Luck! Here is the link to open the account with them www.salliemae.com/banking/smarty-pig/
I was able to send $100 every paycheck which accumulated $2400 for the year. We do not spend that much, but it is nice to have just in case. It can work with any amount your family can budget. It just needs to be consistent and around your paycheck so you do not feel it as much. The hardest part is to never touch it once you send the money so it is ready for Christmas. Good Luck!
For the last couple of years, since my brother and I are kind of older (I'm 19, he's 16), my parents have let us pick between an item and an experience. So if for my birthday, I want us to go to the water park, then I get an item for Christmas, or vice versa.
our stockings, growing up, were filled with: orange in the toe, apple, peanuts in the shell, and a chocolate Santa. It was a "leftover" from the depression when my mother had that. Sooooo, we did it for our kids and they do it for theirs. The stocking is almost the most fun and we all sit around and eat peanuts in the shell during presents!
Yes!! We grew up with "Sacks" ....brown paper bag or flour sack filled with tangerine, apple, nuts & candies. We loved trading candies or nuts between us. We were so grateful for all that was given to us.
I advise checking to make sure that there is not a penalty for extra payments, some accounts have them. Also ask your bank about bi weekly payment. In the end this method pays off your house 7 years sooner on a 30yr mortgage.
I LOVE the tips about taking pictures of the things that the kids want! Year round, too and how it keeps the panic attacks from happening 😂!! Thanks guys!!
My family has always had a "present box". Sometimes at birthdays we will get a toy that we already have, or at the shops there will be small toys on crazy sale - we add those to the present box and they are great for birthdays or Christmas. Other times, if we see a set of toys that are on sale, we will open them up and put each individual toy in the box - these are great for stocking-stuffers and small birthday trinkets!
We do Christmas very similar. This year we decided our 6 young kids Will each get four presents. One from mom, one from dad, one from Santa, and one from a sibling. Our budget for our older kids is about $200, and $100-150 for the younger ones. We got almost everything off Amazon. We have had whole Christmases from Ross when our kids were littler. They do carry some great stuff!
I love how honest and transparent you are with all of these tips and showing us how you really do it. My husband and I only have one child and so it is always a challenge for us to rein in our compulsion to buy her a ton of stuff, and as she has gotten older it has become easier since toys are no longer on her list for the most part. She loves books and drawing so those gifts are rarely ever expensive. We stick to the the four gifts rule: Something you need, something to read, something to wear, and something you want. We do this for her and my nephews ( I have 5) and it works. This year our daughter's need was a new laptop for school, other one had an accident a few years with some lemonade and has been on its last leg for some time, but she never complained and worked through it, so we figured we would budget for it and thanks to Costco and them honoring Black Friday Deals for a week we got a great laptop that should see her all the way to college. My mother goes pretty extreme for the kids since she can afford to so things that we may not have the budget for or just something that we think Grandma would love to get the kids we leave for her to pick from. Love the videos!!! Looking forward to the next one. And go Bubba with all that wrapping!!
We always had a gift for our three girls to share that had all their names on it. Now that they are older, we make it a family gift. This year we bought tickets to see Wicked for our family gift as we are all musical fans, and we got some surround sound speakers since we love to watch movies together.
I think it's a great idea to set a budget. My husband usually gets a $600 christmas bonus and we have 3 kids aged 15, 10 and 3. We split the money and spend $200 per kid. It works great!!!! Thanks for your tips!!!
Awesome!! I also took my kids to Wal-Mart and let them pick. Went back and put all the big things on layaway to budget each paycheck and all my shopping was done by Thanksgiving! Great video!!
My parents never got me Christmas presents. They only ever came from santa. My parents budgeted all year to save for Christmas. Some kids would get a small toy for good grades or good behavior, but not me. I was good because it was expected. And Santa heard that goodness and showered me with gifts at Christmas. Like 10-15 items! Christmas day was always so amazing! I'm sure the dollar amount was close to $200 a kid, but the quantity was overwhelming
Sounds very similar to my family and how we did it. Santa bought them all until we were old enough to understand more. And we had to get a 3.0gpa or we would be grounded the entire grading period. And if we didn't behave we wouldn't get gifts. Santa was supposed to spend approximately$300 a piece. So grateful
I don't even have kids and I love that 'take a picture of it' and choose one approach. Really eliminates the instant gratification and helps them find value in their favorite thing. So many great tips, thanks for sharing!
My parents always did a similar thing with stockings, especially the older I got. Stockings was filled with inexpensive things, but things that are so helpful. Chapstick, gum, toothpaste, socks, undies. I have always appreciated that so much.
I thoroughly enjoy your video's. My wife and I just recently got married, we have a beautiful 7mo daughter and we are currently in the home buying process so watching your vids have made tons of an impact on our budget & strategic moves. Keep em coming.
We do the 4 gifts. Something to wear, something to read, something they want, something they need. Our stockings are the same as yours. Right now I haven’t set a specific budget for each child cause they are still young and don’t know exactly how much things cost. So they aren’t comparing prices of gifts. So last year we spent more on one child and this year it was a different child but they got the same amount of gifts
I do the EXACT same thing w my kids and taking the pictures on my phone thing, lol. It really does satisfy them and they never ask about it again. Magic!
Are kids are very little ( 5 under 6!) so this year we said mommy and daddy will get you each a gift, then Santa is bring 1 big gift for the family and your stockings. We got everyone, even my nieces, done for under $300. I know that wont last as they get older but right now when we're working to get were we want to be financially and working our way out of debt it's pretty cool :)
My favourite Christmas tradition in my family is the stocking/ornament one; we each (3 kids) have a custom stocking with our names on it, and every year from birth to 21, the year is embroidered on the back in different font styles, shapes, textures like beads or felt etc (one year we were all sheep in a Panto together, so that year is leftover fluffy felt from our costumes), and we get a different ornament - frequently matching ones in different colours - so that when we leave home at 21, we have some sentimental decorations for our own tree (our family tree is covered in sentimental ornaments, unboxing and hanging them often takes multiple hours to reminisce over all of them) Our stockings also always contained something arty, some sweets, something small and techy like headphones or cases etc, bathbombs or bubblebath, some jewelry (we had a family jewellers until last year so small silver jewelry items like earrings) and funky socks. If I was planning on having kids, I'd pass the stocking/ornament tradition down myself, but so far I'm just planning on being the extremely cool aunt to a couple of friends kids in the future 😅
Just a tip .. Walmart and Target price match to Amazon . You just need to show it on your phone and pay at customer service . Target and Walmart are open typically 11pm everyday ... go at 10pm and parking issues or lines .
I think it depends on the Walmart individually. When I was there the other day (I'm not a frequent shopper there), there were signs at check out that announced as of Sept or Oct, they were no longer price matching there :(. Your Walmart may vary!
The taking photos of kids with toys they want is brilliant! We use Amazon wish lists to share with family, they love it and said it's made present buying a lot easier
I love regifting free stuff. I’d rather it went to someone that would appreciate it more and that person gets a better gift than if you had bought something cheaper yourself.
It’s awesome that you don’t go overboard on Christmas presents. I think it teaches some really awesome life lessons. But don’t be afraid to spoil them!
I did my christmas shopping 3 months ago and wrapped them. I spent less than $200 on my two kids and got soooo much. I hit deals and got everything on my list and saved tons. Nailed it!
I absolutely LOVE transparency at Christmas! In my family we exchange envelopes with our christmas budgets for the person and then all go shopping together (then give the items bought back to the person to wrap!) Everyone gets EXACTLY what they want and it's drama and stress free! This is also teaching your kids such amazing money skills for the future! Huge kudos!
Your kids have the best smiles i have ever seen. Literally all of them. With my kids, its my son that does and my daughter needs some work. Lol. But all of yours have great smiles. So cute. Love your videos. You're awesome
Wow! Those are amazing tips! I don't have kids of my own but I do shop for my 4 goddaughters and 4 nieces/nephews. I typically spend about 15-20 bucks on an outfit or pjs for each kid. Then I'll buy something small to add to it.
Love how you teach your kids about money and budgeting. Also love the idea of stopping a tantrum by offering to take a picture to add to a want list year round. I think my kids will also respond really well to that. Great advice, Thank you!
The best gift shopping idea is to LISTEN to your loved ones. I always pay attention to what they like and want but won't buy for themselves and I write it down to my phone notes. And when the right time comes I know exactly what to look for and by doing so I am setting my budget as well because I know how much I wanna spend on that person and how much is the actual gift - if it's under budget, great I can use that money on someone else and if it's over, no big deal I have plenty of time to look for the best deal, black friday etc. It seems like a lot of work but it's just listening to the people I love and making a note here and there but trust me it makes birthdays and Christmas a lot less stressfull.
I really appreciate the honesty. My baby is 6 months, so we've decided to not do gifts this year. But I'm thinking about what we'll do next year. Thanks for the picture tip. That's a great idea. I'll have to use that.
I loooove how you did this! Your kids will have much more gratitude. I was spoiled being young and wanting all of these gifts, even getting upset if I didn’t get them. I’m glad that around 10 my mom started doing this as well. I only got one gift for Christmas, and still do. But it is the most amazing thing. My one present from last year meant more than a million gifts. It also allowed me to focus on giving to others, and began to find that giving was by far the best part of Christmas
Great idea for Christmas gifts for the children ! I gave my two grandchildren a Santa Writing paper with envelopes and each year they write a letter to Santa and so we know what to get them! Because of recession in Greece no one gives gifts anymore like the old days and Christmas eve has become very special to me as my son, daughter in law and my granddaughter we get together and we exchange gifts just between us! And Christmas day is the family day...no gifts anymore ! Thank you for sharing your ideas on Christmas gifts, its brilliant !
Love the way you budgeted! Our family is similar. Every year gifts include a book, lego set (under $20), and under clothes. This year everyone got some type of exercise item like a balance ball or yoga mat. The price you got for the Diary of a Wimpy kid book was FANTASTIC! I saw it the other day for twice as much. Enjoyed watching and will return again.
I have 3 children. I told their grandparents NO Toys. I want to be the one to buy the toys this year. I went to your blog a few weeks ago and we really liked the idea of a simple Christmas. We have 3 "big" gifts for each child, and then they also begged for socks and underwear. My son has been asking to look like a missionary at church, so we bought him a suit that was an awesome deal. They will have plenty of stuff to open. I am not worried about them feeling deprived at all. We spent about 140 per child. Low stress. I'm more concerned about my husband! The man has expensive hobbies.
I have to say (with no disrespect) as a grams myself- I want to be able to bring a smile to my sweet granddaughters face. I think spoiling (within limits) your grandchild is one of the perks. :) that's the rainbow after raising your own kids And sometimes struggling to do it ... just my thoughts :)
I have a ton of siblings and I only have one child. Guess what every one of my siblings get my kid? Toys, Toys, and more Toys! We live in a small apartment of TOYS! I wish I can just tell them to back off the toys but I feel it’s rude. She still has toys in it’s original boxes from last Christmas! I tend to buy my nieces and nephews clothes, art supplies, and creative discovery stuff. Yes, I’m that lame Aunt.
No that's a good aunt! Consider donating some of the new toys. My mom was the same way. She liked to give a lot of stuff to my kids and by the time they got them home they wouldn't remember half of what she got them!
I understand you, but you should give the relatives a list of gifts that they can buy. It could be airplane ticket, family fun, a shared experience or a piece of clothes your kids wants.
I thought I'd share how I do gifts with my daughter, who is now 20. Her birthday is Dec. 1, and so we ended up with basically a month of gift giving, as we celebrate both Hannukah and Christmas in our house. I started noticing that after Christmas, she'd end up with unopened gifts in her room. She really got so overloaded with it all that she didn't even care, and we were spending so much money. I felt that the time and money I was putting into it wasn't appreciated. As she got older, I created a rule that I was not going to get her anything that would be a new project - no cameras, no sets that she had to put together - because she was just too busy to sit down with things like that. Her school became so much work around the end of a semester that I felt what she really wanted at the holiday season was my time. I started when she was about 13 giving her a spa day for her birthday. And she LOVES this. When she was younger, I found a place that specialized in teen massage and only gave her a 30 minute massage (always with a woman) - because 30 minutes is a long time for a young girl to sit still, and being not clothed and touched by a stranger is not a usual experience. She would wear a sports bra for the massage. I'd also get her the facial when she was younger. Now that she is older we will usually do an hour massage. We will go to a tea shop and get the fancy full tea experience, too, around mid day. Then hit the nail shop and get her usually a design on her nails, too.
My oldest would love this. She is 11 and doesn't want much stuff, but we have 6 kids so she craves mommy and her time. It is easier to do separate time for each of the kids with their daddy, but near impossible to do with me, sadly.
Wow we are almost exactly the same!! Around $100 for each kids, $150 for each other, and then $20-$25 for our siblings and $15 for cousins - and we draw names too. So helpful! Love the idea about taking the kids to the store and getting their ideas too!
This was so in-lighting I was a very privileged and I’m very great full for the things I receive but watching this and reading the comments makes me realize how much my life is blessed I want a big family when I’m older I have random cash that I’ve been sorta saving since 8th grade it’s only a hundred or so but I just want to save more and more so I can give my kids an amazing life
Yes! Yes! Yes! I totally agree with taking the picture of the item your child wants! I have been doing that since my son was about 4 and he is 7 now and we have a 3 year old now too. We do this all the time for bdays and Christmas.
OMG Best vlog ever. Where were you guys when I was shopping for my kids when they were little? Oh yeah, probably toddling around like they were. I'm old. Great ideas, thanks!!!
We don't watch TV at all, so the shopping tour with the kids is an amaaaaaazing idea... they also tend to have crazy wishes without the input. Thx a lot!
