this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

The lights are finally down and I think that all the decorations are put away, but I still needed to take a moment to prepare for next Christmas.

We set aside a little bit each month in order to pay for Christmas. I'm not sure what that number was based on, but I don't think it was based on what I actually spend on Christmas things! When all was said and done, we didn't set aside enough. At first it looked okay, but then when I added on all the "little" things, like the Christmas pajamas and the new clothes for church, I realized I needed more! I ended up using our cashback rewards from our Discover Card to pick up the slack and then did what I could to be sure it doesn't happen again next year. I added up all the Christmas related expenses from this past year and divided by 12. That's how much will be automatically put into our ING savings account that is earmarked for Christmas expenses.

How did you do on your Christmas budget? Do you save a little bit throughout the year?