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In today's current economic climate, many people are probably dreading the thought of Christmas and the prospect of having to budget for Christmas gifts. Budgeting for Christmas gifts is an important thing to do, but there are many other expenses for which you should plan, but because you forget to do that, you find yourself in a very awkward situation because you failed to plan for those other expenses.

Because it is so easy to overlook things when you are otherwise preoccupied, here is a look at some of the expenses that people typically forget at Christmas time.

*POWER STRIPS -

People fail to consider that they MUST have power strips for their lights and other holiday decorations. Extension cords are fire hazards and can be dangerous. A power strip is a safe alternative to an extension cord because it has many grounded outlets and a circuit breaker than can be reset if need be.

*SHIPPING AND PACKING -

People forget that when they send packages to friends and family members who live out of town, they have to pack those packages so that they can be shipped. That means purchasing boxes, shipping labels, packing tape, and paying the shipping or postage costs, insurance, confirmation or whatever other expenses may be involved.

*GIFT WRAP SUPPLIES -

You may have some wrapping paper on hand, but do you have ribbon, tape or gift tags? When you are preoccupied with the gifts themselves, or the need to purchase gifts, it is easy to forget about the gift wrap, especially if you are going to wrap gifts yourself. You may have some of the supplies, but there will always be something else that you forget.

*TRANSPORTATION COSTS -

It's easy to forget how much you pay for gas and car maintenance when the weather is good. If you live in a snowy or icy place, you will have added car maintenance expenses in the form of anti-freeze, the extra gas you will need because you use the heat, or the extra gas that you use when you have to warm the car up before driving off.

*PHONE BILLS -

People forget that when they call their loved ones and family members half way around the world, or across the country, that those calls add up. If you call on a cell phone, that will use up minutes, and the longer the talk, the more minutes you use up. If you have a land line, unless you have a phone plan that allows you to make unlimited long distance calls, you will still have some telephone expense.

*EXTRA MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES -

This would include expenses for gifts you discover you should have purchased at the last minute. Because you waited, you may wind up purchasing something that the store you went into didn't have. That means that the store you went into has to locate that item elsewhere, and when they do, the store that is located somewhere else will have to wrap and ship the gift for you. In addition to having the expense of that forgotten gift, you may have the added cost of shipping and gift wrapping. If you waited long enough, you may even have to pay for expedited shipping.

The bottom line is that it is likely that during the course of your holiday shopping and preparations, things will be forgotten, and you will have to deal with them. When you fail to budget for eventualities or incidental expenses, you will find yourself caught by surprise, and you may not be financially able to deal with that issue. Even if you don't know exactly what those extra expenses are or may be, you should add at least another $100 to your Christmas expenses. If you do, you won't be caught in an embarrassing or uncomfortable position because you didn't plan accordingly.

Learn more about this author, Theresa Rose.
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