Do you have a large family? It gets a little panicky when you realize how expensive large families can be around the holidays. As our family has grown over the years, I’ve learned how to handle Christmas in a much different way than I used to. If you have a large family or plan to some day, I hope these tips help you to stress less and afford more for your large family over the holidays.
Keep it simple
One of the best things for affording a large family over the holidays is to keep it simple. Setting a budget for each person is the way to go. If you keep buying until your wallet is empty, you will have a bigger problem than before. For example: Each person in the family has a $100 limit.
Cash is a great option
This is especially true as your kids get older. Simply giving money and letting them pick out what they want is sometimes the best gift of all. Let’s say you give them a $50 bill, they get to pick out their own gift with this money. It takes the stress off you and the child can choose to do with it what they want.
Choose a large gift for everyone
I love this idea and think that it can go so far when you’re trying to afford a large family over the holidays. Instead of choosing gifts for everyone, choose a destination, experience, or large gift. A destination could be an indoor water park or it could be a vacation for after the holidays. Whatever you choose, remember that this will be an experience that the whole family gets to do together.
Go with one large gift
Sometimes it can seem as though going cheap with small gifts is the way to go, but what about one large gift per person? When you buy one large gift, you aren’t spending $5 here and $10 there, you are investing in one large gift. While this may feel odd, the outcome might be better for the whole family.
Have Secret Santas
We have eight children and most of them (obviously the baby doesn’t) like to give gifts to each other. While I love their desire to give to one another, it can get a little costly because the little kids don’t have their own money to spend, so mom and dad are the ones actually buying the gifts. So now we have the kids draw a name of one of their siblings and they only have to give a gift to that one person; and we put a maximum value on the gift so that it’s fair and we don’t spend too much. Plus this makes it fun trying to guess who is your Secret Santa.
Now that I’ve given you some ideas for what to buy during the holidays for a big family, here are some ideas for staying on track financially.
Set a realistic budget and stick to it
This may seem to be an obvious bit of advice, but it is so easy to see something that makes you think, “Oh, this would be perfect for *insert child’s name here!*” Then you realize that one child has more gifts than another or that you spent more money on a different one, so the “evening out” of gifts begins. Before you know it, you’ve gone way over budget and you realize you’ll be paying for Christmas for months afterward. Use a planning sheet to keep track of your spending.
Don’t use debit or credit cards
It’s really easy to whip out the plastic when your shopping list is long, but try your best to reign in that desire. For years and years, our family didn’t even have credit cards. If you’ve followed the advice in the previous tip, you should be able to manage your gift shopping using cash you’ve saved. Having a visual of what you have to spend often helps you make more frugal and wise decisions when it comes time to decide on what to buy.
Start saving early
At the start of the new year, start setting aside a set amount of money on a weekly basis. Treat it as if it’s a monthly bill you have to pay so that when Christmas rolls around you won’t be stressing about how you’ll pay for gift. If you could save $20 a week, that would give you roughly $1000 by Christmas.
Let your kids learn along the way
I get that some of you are buying for your kids. However, if you are buying for other family members, let your kids in on the process. Let them know how you budget and how you decide what gift to buy each person.
Affording a large family over the holidays comes down to being wise about how your money is spent and getting creative. It also comes down to keeping it simple and realizing you can’t buy your children the moon and stars. Someday they’ll thank you for being wise about money and teaching them the ropes along the way.
It would bless our family because it will pay for food, maybe pay a bill or two, it would help financially.
This would help make up for some struggles we have been through these last months and help us get back on track.
This would help buy food , a tree and gifts
Our income was drastically reduced this year so we have a lot less money for Christmas. It would ease a burden.
This would be our Christmas money. Things are tight with the cross country move and an emergency trip to KY back in October. All of our money is going to pay off debt so we can hopefully buy a house in the Spring. Although it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. It would be a blessing to use this money to buy presents for our family of six.
This would be a huge blessing to our family because it would help with airline tickets to see our family for Christmas!
This would help my family with groceries and bills.
Winning this contest would be SUCH a blessing. I recently was let go from my job. It was the perfect job, it allowed me to make a steady income while still being at home to teach my children. It has been a serious struggle to make ends meet since I was made redundant. This would give us a truly Merry Christmas.
This money would bless my family by providing clothing and toys for my grandsons. I’m retired and on a fixed income and can’t buy them as much as I’d like to.
This would be a blessing in many ways for our family, food, clothing would be our go-tos
Help pay for tripping to see family
This would be a wonderful blessing! My husband works very long hours to provide and this will help him relax just a little bit.
Thank you for doing this. This money wouldn’t buy gifts but would buy food and bills for our family.
Tips for making Christmas affordable are always appreciated by this mom of 7!
Thank you for the opportunity to win this huge blessing. My husband just lost his job and we have no money for gifts or Christmas dinner so this would help us so very much. Thank you.
I would use this towards our vacation in February!
This would be a wonderful blessing for our family
My husband and I decided that we would rather I stay with our daughter rather than putting her in school for now. While it was a joint decision, my husband is having to work twice as hard to cover the loss of my income. Additionally, we have had to face a surprise remodel due to water damage. He tells me not to worry, but I feel guilty that I am not bringing in a paycheck. That may sound ridiculous because I know I am working hard, but it is the way I feel. This would take some pressure off my husband and I for the Holidays, and I feel that is the best gift I could give him.
It would be a huge blessing to win this! We have twin toddlers, my husband is in school, and I am earning our only current income with a very part-time job from home. This would help so much.
We have a lot of chronic health issues in our family taking a toll right now. Every little bit of money helps in some way!
This would be such a HUGE blessing for us this year! This has been the first year in over ten years that we have not been financially able to help others. We are blessed that our kids understand this will be a one gift per child kind of year, but of course I’d live to be able to give them more. If we won this, I would buy each of my children an extra gift, pay a bill or two, and with the rest, work on at least one of our community service projects to reach out and bless others less fortunate.
We would put it into savings for a house!
Missionary family with 4 kids + LOTS of cousins = many gifts to buy on limited budget! This would help so much with that!
This would help tremendously with buying gifts and food ❤️
It would allow me to fly to see my best friend!
This would be a huge on time gift! I am a first time home-school mom, as a way to bring home income I’ve been working on a in home business that has not picked up the sales that I envisioned it would. The month of December honestly doesn’t too promising as far as being able to have the Christmas we had the previous year. I feel a little nervous hearing my daughter constantly talk about hopeful Christmas presents, and seeing her so excited making paper chains and taping them to the wall not knowing that I literally don’t know about Christmas this year. I don’t believe that I would use a whole $500 on presents, but I would just like to be able to get her something. I would use part of the money for school supplies, and to pay for a drawing class for my daughter, she has a gift for drawing that I’m excited about! Even if I’m not a winner, my daughter knows that Christmas is about so much more than gifts, and there is always a later time to buy gifts.
What a generous giveaway! Thank you! I would spend it on needed homeschooling curriculum.
It would definitely be a blessing! And thanks for all the money saving ideas ?
This would allow us to be able to buy gifts for everyone in our family instead of just the kids.
This would be a wonderous gift for our family. I am single mom taking care of my two elder parents while trying to homeschool my teenage daughter.
we’re buying our first home next week and will be pretty much broke after that!
We’re a single income family, so this would feed our hungry boys for a couple months.
What an incredible giveaway!! $500 would be a wonderful blessing to receive!!
This would really bless my family of five!
This money would be so helpful. Our car broke and it is going to cost $1600 to fix which we cannot afford. My oldest has Autism and needs transportation to therapy multiple times a week.
This would be a tremendous blessing this year
This would help to cover basic expenses and allow me to purchase a couple fun educational items for my children for Christmas>
We have had some setbacks recently. This would be such a relief to our budget!
What a wonderful blessing!! God bless you and yours!, Merry Christmas!
Thank you for the great tips and the generous opportunity to find a iit more joy.
this money will bless our family because it will give us a Christmas we hardly get, food banks don’t give much to help at this time of year, we are struggling and this would put a smile on my kids faces on Christmas morning.
This would be such a blessing and help to my family for Christmas. Thank you for doing it!
This will help give 3 grandkids and 3 grown kids gifts. Money has been tight! This would be a true blessing. Thank you for the chance!
We celebrate Hannukah and have done the one big gift idea several times.
With this money, we’d be able to go on a small staycation and enjoy time as a family!
This would really help my family. My husband and I are currently teaching in Japan, but will be moving back to the states this summer. I will be staying home for a while to homeschool our boys. If I won this, I could go ahead and buy a few gifts for family as well as buy some supplies for homeschooling.
This would help with Christmas gift giving, holiday food, & pay down some bills. Might just splurge on grand kiddos a bit too!
This is our first year homeschooling, and there are many books and items I would like to get, but can’t afford it all. This would help out so much. Plus there is an awesome co-op I would like to sign my daughter’s up for a class or two, but it’s expensive! This would definitely help with their education. 🙂
I would definitely use most of this money to invest in more homeschooling supplies for my kids.
This giveaway would be a blessing to my family, as we have a small business which doesn’t make much. So it would provide a better Christmas for our 4 children, as well as keep us afloat on bills.
This money would help ease the burden of some bills we have!
What a generous giveaway! We would use this blessing to pay some over due bills and buy new math curriculum.
This gift would bless our family by providing a great Christmas dinner. This is the first year we are supposed to host and I want it to be perfect!
Groceries & Christmas
What a wonderful Christmas gift! There are so many struggling and we have cut way back but still try to bless others when we can. Trying to set a godly example for our kids…be a blessing when you are able to. Yes it would help buy Christmas, food, bills, school, etc but I want to help a single mom fighting cancer with 2 & 13 year old girls who just lost her mom in July and is facing surgery next week.
Love these ideas! I will definitely be implementing them soon.
I’d like to pay off bills and bless someone else in need with part of the $.
It would help me be able to get a different math curriculum for my kids. The one I chose is not working. I’d also use some for Christmas gifts.
After having a number of unexpected bills/things to fix around the house and just having baby #6, we really scaled back our already small Christmas budget…this would be tremendously helpful!
We would use it to go see my sister and her family in Arizona.
This would be amazing to help with Christmas photos!
This would definitely be a blessing!
This money would reimburse me for Christmas and help Christmas from being so painful money-wise.
This would bless our family of 9 to be able to afford gifts this year for others. I would use it to take our family shopping for other people. It’s true that its hard to pay for clothes, gifts, food, etc for our family alone, but we rarely get to bless others & its something we would love to do!
Such a wonderful giveaway! Any family to receive this will be blessed! Thanks for doing this. 🙂
We sure could could use could use a new well. The $500 would go a long way.
Winning this would help my family have some financial breathing room to have my husband’s extensive (and absolutely necessary) dental work done. Thanks for the opportunity!
$500 would help relieve stress for all the extra groceries and little extras with our 4 Christmas patries, 2 birthday parties and NYC celebration. I have 4 kids and a hubby
We could have an awesome Christmas and really enjoy spending time together.
I love your question because it will be a blessing to the one that wins. It would be a blessing to my family because I would use it for my daughters Christmas. Giving my daughters a Christmas they are content with is all I am truly concerned about as far as gift giving. The older they have gotten (both in college now) the less it takes for them to be appreciative of yet they still have needs that I want to provide. Thanks so very much for this opportunity. I sincerely appreciate it.
It’s a huge, huge amount where I live. It’s worth a little over half of my son’s annual school tuition fee, so I’ll probably use most of it for that.
This would be such a blessing to my family. We have such a tight budget this year, and 5 beautiful children to feed and buy for. Thank you for such a blessing.
We have seen our son & grandchildren in 4 years. Our grandson has Cystic Fibrosis and is in the hospital now. It would be such a blessing to be able to use this money for a trip from Florida to upper state New York so we could spend time with them. Thank you for a chance to make my Christmas Wish come true. It would truly be a Christmas Miracle. Merry Christmas to you & your family.
Winning this much money would bless my family so much that we could buy extra gifts and food for Christmas this year.
I would love to win the cash. We plan ahead each year to give money to a pregnancy center and this year our funds got a little eaten up by travel and expenses related to my Mom’s cancer diagnosis. I’d love to be able to give them more. Thank you for being a part of this giveaway, i know it will bless a family very much!
The money would go towards paying off Christmas presents for my teenage sons and maybe getting them some new winter clothes.
We are having a bunch of people who don’t have family near over for Christmas lunch so extra money would be great to provide a full yummy meal! And pay off debt!
Would get more stuff to donate to Toys for Tots and other charitable causes
I imagine this would go towards some Christmas gifts for the family or maybe I would just put it towards my business so that I can invest in myself and learn new ways to bring even more $ in to the biz. Sounds good to me!
Wow. Thanks for the opportunity! Very generous and much needed. My daughter has lots of medical bills and $500 would be a HUGE blessing!
This would help cover the cost of Christmas presents, a nice Christmas dinner and the rest would get sent to pay our bills.
Winning this would be such a huge blessing to my family!! We would are a missionary family and would use it to buy Christmas gifts for family and bless others as well as buy books for homeschooling. Thanks and blessings!
We follow the “something i want, something I need, something I’ll wear, something I’ll read” gift giving strategy but it’s still tough to know what to get each child.
Like so many others who have posted, this would be a tremendous gift to our family this year! We would keep Christmas simple, and use it to pay some bills.
My two oldest sons recently started to drive and share a car together. Winning this would help with getting new tires for the car. It would help keep the boys safe and it’ll give me peace of mind. Thanks for this chance.
This will be great for one lucky family
This would be so helpful with Christmas for our five kids!
It would help finishing up my kids and grandkids Christmas gifts and would help a lot with Christmas dinner. Thank you for the chance to enter.
This would be an amazing Christmas blessing to use on buying gifts for my family, or I like the suggestion of a family get a way after the holidays since quality time as a family is difficult with my husband’s long hours during the week.
This would be a huge blessed got me and my family. My husband is an over-the-road truck driver, and he is gone 3 weeks out of the month so that he can provide for us. This money would go to buy my boys clothes and a gift for my husband to show my thanks and appreciation.
My life right now sounds like a novel. LOL!!! I was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year at the age of 33. Now I am going through a divorce (my husband was unfaithful) and Christmas will not be easy this year. This would be a blessing for my 4 children because I cannot afford Christmas and my soon to be ex-husband has not been very kind and says he is not getting them anything. This would be a major blessing in our lives. Thank you so much for the opportunity 🙂
Renee
I sure would love to win! There are 9 of us in our family and Christmas is expensive! This money would be a huge blessing!
This would bless our family tremendously and help pay for the extensive medical needs for my youngest who has a rare disease.
Great Tips. Over the years I have learned that picking up basics (candles, socks, scarves, journals, etc) all year long when you see sales helps. Not only do you save money, but the feeling of checking someone off your list in March is wonderful.
It would be such a blessing for us! The holidays can be hard but we try are buy gifts throughout Nov & Dec so its not a bunch of purchases at once. We are also trying to buy baby things for our newborn who’s due to arrive around the beginning of Feb. This could really help us out!
It would bless our family because both my son and I are laid off from work and my daughter in law is off on stress leave. My uncle had esophageal cancer and we have to travel there and we have 5 small kids in the family to bring gifts for
This would be such a huge blessing to our family! I keep a couple teacher’s kids in my home, so over break I don’t get paid. This would help us with travel expenses,as we go to be with family over Christmas.
This would go toward fixing my car, winter coats and Christmas gifts.
This is an awesome giveaway. Our family would be blessed by winning because it will help pay for Christmas gifts.
Winning this would actually buy Christmas for my family. Unfortunately medical bills have hit us really hard – with over a dozen multi day hospitalizations this year, even with good insurance we just can’t keep up with all of the bills, so extras are a luxury we simply can’t justify. If I win this, though, I would put it towards the holiday and get my daughters and grandsons gifts and make the cookie and candy trays for friends and family.
what a great giveaway. we would use the money towards food & bills and towards the toy giveaway my family does for a local church. thanks
We have medical bills to pay from over summer that just need to be taken care of. Thanks!
Out baby had major surgery this year. So this would help us financially, to pay toward medical bills. But, either way, win or not, we feel so blessed to have a healthy family.
This $500 would bless my family as I am disabled on a fixed income.
This money could make our Christmas awesome…
This would help us so much as we save to purchase a new home. It would be such a weight off of my shoulders. It would mean extra money to buy snacks, extra money to buy some food.
My oldest daughter and her family need new tires on her car.
This is such a generous giveaway! Wow! What a great way to bless someone this year. We are hoping to buy a house this year so we could put this money towards that! Thanks for the chance, I enjoy reading your blog!
It would help us with moving expenses next month, as we are having to move our family of 9 very unexpectedly next month.
I would be able to shop and provide fresh food and more variety for the family.
This would be a blessing! We would tithe on it and pay bills.
I would use this to buy gifts for extended family. They would be blessed with a nice something extra this year.
This would be a beautiful blessing to our family and allow us to spend the holidays with our family.
I would buy Christmas presents for my kids and my mom. I would also pay a bill.
What a blessing to the person who win the giveaway! I am definitely going to try the tip you gave of saving $20 a week for Christmas. It may be a challenge but it will be better than using credit cards!
Thank you for the chance to win. God bless and Merry Christmas!
This would help so much with some medical issues right now as well as Christmas for my kiddos – keeping it simple this year.
We have a large family, and have learned that we can’t give to everyone. Free options could include special cards offering a lawn mowing service or babysitting for our son so he and his wife can have a date night.
My seven children and I left an abusive husband/father 2 years ago. It’s a struggle being a single mom of so many kids, but its amazing seeing God’s hand working! I have a lot of legal debt and medical debt. I am very selective with my time, and found your blog/website are valuable and helpful. Merry Christmas!
It would help with our Christmas travel plans.
What a wonderful gift you are giving! You are such a blessing to others. I always enjoy your blogs and my family is trying to stick to many of the points made in this one. It’s just very hard when you have such a desire to give. I really hope you and your family have a wonderful, blessed Christmas.
This is such an amazing blog! I love reading your posts! Thank you for always being awesome! 🙂
Thanks for the chance to win! This would be such a blessing right now because we are about to welcome a new baby!
An extra $500 would be amazing ! We would spend it on clothing and other items we need but have put off.
Not worrying about the financial burden of gifts for the family!
Also this would bless us in so many ways! We are unable to afford a house right now, and also in desperate need for a new car! I’m pregnant right now, and have 2 kids, and there isn’t enough room in our current car to seat 3 kids!
Thank you so much for sharing all of these wonderful ideas! And thank you for the chance to enter your contest! Blessings!
These are such great tips! As a large family, we have to put these tips into practice.
I see others who would need this more than I do, but I would love the extra money so we could go see our kids and grandkids. We haven’t seen them for 3 years and I miss them so.
It will be a blessing to help out with Christmas expenses.
Due to some knee surgery my husband just had and we had to pay a lot out of pocket it has been a less Christmas as far as gifts. This would greatly help our Holiday season to win this awesome giveaway.
What a blessing this will be to someone! If I were to win it I would love to use it to bless a family in our church that is fastering to adopt a sibling group of 4 sweet kiddos.
I subscribe emails to coupons and Freebies Mom
Hubby and I both work in ministry. Budget is always tight. This would help us give without breaking bank.
This would definitely help us catch up on bills
Thank you for a wonderful giveaway! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Winning the $500 give-away would bless our family by allowing us to buy a new washing machine before ours is completely unusable (it’s barely hanging on right now!)
It would help take the stress of money out of the holidays. It would also allow for me to give to others in need.
This would bless my family so much! We just took our first vacation in 13 years, to Gatlinburg,TN and had to evacuate immediately due to the wild fire. This blessing would be amazing!
This would greatly help with bills
This would lift a heavy financial burden. Christmas can be expensive. It is a time for giving. I would love to give more. Thank you for this opportunity to win extra cash for the holiday season.
Great ideas int his post. and what an amazing giveaway! This would be a blessing to us for sure… Christmas costs really start to add up when you multiply over several children!
It would allow me to get something for each of our very large family
It would be an amazing blessing for our family if we were to win. At the moment, due to 2 years of layoffs for DH we are thankful to be able to be blessed with ‘All homemade Christmas’, but it would be amazing to be able to buy the kids a gift they could each choose. Thanks for the giveaway.
We just had to replace our heating unit, so that took a big hunk out of our account. Winning this would be a blessing to help with Christmas.
With five children to buy for, this would surely be a blessing!
we could sure use this right now. we have no heat, our hot water heater just had to be replaced, and the roof is leaking. I swear it is one thing after another and my ex hasn’t paid child support since July. This would go towards groceries.
We just moved across country after Hubby was unemployed for 6 months. The money would help us make ends meet & make Christmas a little less stressful for me.
WE have a lot of new house expenses as well as Christmas expenses righ now, so it would certainly help give a little breathing space. Thanks.
Our family raises missionary support. Support is really down this year and this money would be used to pay bills and buy groceries!
This would be a blessing. My husband is disabled right now and trying to do Christmas and pay bills on one income is a strain. Thanks for the chance to win.
This would be a great help for this holiday season. We could use it to catch up on bills and get clothes for the kids
We need new math books and still need to buy some Christmas gifts.
Thank you for doing this giveaway and for all your blogs. Your life is an encouragement.
My family would love to win this giveaway. It would bless us as we havent had much lately amd trying to find more work to pay all the bills. We have been blessed by Gods grace so far; God has allowed every bill to be paid. We would love to have each member of the family pick out something for Christmas, so splitting the $500 between all of us would be such a blessing.
This would help with our new baby!
Wow! This will be a huge blessing to someone!
I’ve read a couple of your blog always like the great info. I’m a youth leader and if I win this money I would do something special for them. Thank you for your generosity! God bless!
What a great giveaway! Extra cash would bless anyone this time of year. Of course I would love to win but how fun to bless someone. It would be so fun to tell someone they won.
We been on hard times lately and just when my husband gets another customer in this business, they decide that they don’t want to pay their December bill. This December bill will give us extra cash in order to buy Christmas presents. So right now we are are praying and waiting.
This would be a great blessing to our family. We could us it to get a few presents and also bless our angel tree babies!
This would be a huge blessing as we have a big transition in life right now with my husband being medically retired from the military.
Thanks!
It would be awesome to win the Christmas Blessings Giveaway of $500.00 Paypal Cash. 🙂 It would help/bless our family with the ability to pay more bills, buy food, buy gifts, and put an extra smile on our faces. Thanks for the chance. Merry Christmas!
I’d use this toward heating oil for our old coal-converted furnace,,,or a new furnace.
$500 would be SUCH a blessing for our family! With my husband and I both disabled veterans, our income just barely meets our basic and homeschooling needs, but at the same time is also just barely over the level to be eligible for programs like food stamps, which in the same cutoff for programs like Angel Tree. While our adult children understand that Christmas is tight and don’t expect much (In fact they enjoy the special gifts we make for them more than purchased gifts we could get them.), our youngest autistic son and our adult special needs son don’t quite understand. Unfortunately, this year is even harder for us because our son, who is married with children, wasn’t approved for Angel Tree like last year, probably because our daughter in law may have filled out the application incorrectly and they won’t allow them to reapply, so we also have three young grandchildren we must find a way help more than usual with for Christmas. $500 would also allow us to help a family from our church, who’s father lost his job a couple months ago. They also have three young children and I would love to be able to help them this Christmas season. Right now, we don’t have much to help them though, because of our financial issues. So yes, this would be quite a blessing for us this year. It’s just wonderful that you and your friends are so thoughtful this time of the year, to think to help others, who need it.
This would truly be a blessing as we have had unforeseen medical bills and have 2 kids in college. I try to save what I can throughout the year but it goes so quickly! Thank you.
I would be able to buy chrismtas dinner and all of the presents
It is hard when you have a large family and they begin straddling different age groups! I’m a fan of one big gift and we try themes….like camping, everyone gets a flashlight, sleeping bag, one family tent…etc. but what to do this year??????
I could get the gifts that i can not afford at this moment,,it would make for a very merry Christmas winning this sweep
What great ideas. Next year I am definitely going to have my kiddos draw names rather than each buying for everyone. It adds up quick when they do.
This would be a tremendous blessing to Our Family! ?
Saving for an adoption so this would be a big blessing!
This would be such a blessing to help keep our family going as I pursue my unpaid internship toward getting my doula certification.
We would be able to take a vacation
This would greatly help financially. It would go towards food and bills.
It would bless our family since my husbands company closes just after Christmas.
This would be such a blessing to our famiky because my husband had an unexpected surgery in Oct and was off work for over a month. This put quite the strain on us financially. Thanks so much for the opportunity.
Winning this money would be a blessing to my family because after working over 8 years for a company, I was recently laid off due to my job being sent overseas to India. My husband is a full-time student and I am a part-time student and we are currently living off of $425 a week on unemployment and trying to make ends meet, until I am able to find a job. My 5-year old was recently diagnosed with ADHD in November, which was a big blow. And of course whenever it rains, it pours . . . our microwave broke, our storage unit was broken into and our only vehicle broke down and needed over $1200 of repairs in which I had to take out a high interest loan in order to have the vehicle repaired, which is another financial burden on top of what we already have.
Vacation w/ our family. Thanks!
The extra money would be a huge blessing. With all this rain we have had our roof is leaking. Of course there is never a good time for a leak – but here at Christmas it will really but us in a bind. Thank you for being in the giveaway.
We have a limited income, and this money would help us make Christmas extra special for our family.
This would be lovely for the holidays!
This would be a huge blessing, the last couple of years we have been taking our 4 on a trip, but this year we will have car repairs for one of our sons cars!!! So this could help make both happen!!! Thanks
This would take so much pressure and stress off the Christmas holiday. I would also like to use some of the money to donate to my local community.
This would mean so much to my family! We have really been struggling this year and this would help to catch up on some things like our house payment and things for school for the kids.
This money would be a blessing to help with birthdays that come right after Christmas. Five back to back can get crazy 🙂 God bless.
Winning would bless us by allowing me to purchase some groceries and catch up on bills. I was making $20/hr but then went on disability and barely make ends meet.
God is a great provider, even when times feel financially tight. If we win, I will pray that God shows me what to do with it. If I don’t win, I know it was meant for someone else, and I love that.
The $500 would be such a blessing to me and my family! Income has been so strained this year. I would use it to pay bills, buy my four children some new clothes, and on groceries! Thank you so much for the opportunity!
Winning this giveaway would bless our family because like a lot of proplr we struggle everyday. We always have very little for Christmas.
It would help out family of 7 to celebrate Christmas and to give back to others.
There are obviously many who could benefit from your generous giveaway. Thank you for sharing your joy with so many. May God continue to richly bless you and your family as you glorify Him!
My husband recently lost his job and, thankfully, found a different job. This money would go a long way to bridging that gap that we experienced when he was out of work.
This would bless us immensely. My husband is a 100% Disabled Vet with PTS and had also an abdominal aneurysm rupture this fall, we almost lost him. We are provided for, but things are tight. God has blessed us by letting us keep him a bit longer and all of the great support received from friends.
Thank you for your generosity! Merry Christmas and God bless you!
I would be able to fulfill the bigger gifts on the list for my kids such as xbox one and a guitar.
This would enable me to buy a decent fitness tracker for my husband so he will be around as long as possible as well as help with bills until he finds a job.
This would be a blessing by helping buy some gifts for extended family and providing toward some financial needs.
Like many have said…it has been a tighter year …being out of work for several months. If we won…we would certainly like to share the blessing with those who are struggling even ore than we are.
We were blessed with twins, but with 5 under 6 money is ridiculously tight. This money would help towards the NICU bill & car payment (since we needed a larger vehicle), taking a strain off of us. Thanks for being so gracious with your blessings to bless others!
It will be a blessing to keep our electric and internet on for the next 3 months and we might possibly be able to keep up then.
If I won the giveaway, I would use some for Christmas presents and the rest for my new baby. We just moved cross-country and we’re expecting another baby! Every little bit helps.
It would allow us to pay some bills we can’t seem to touch and get our kids some needed things like shoes.
Winning this giveaway would bless my family by allowing me to pay off some debt.
This would be a huge blessing for our large family b/c we have a handful of teenage boys and cash seems to be spread thinner the older they get 😉
This would be a blessing to our family and a chance for us to bless others.
This would definitely be a blessing!
I would use this to get everyone warm coats, gloves and boots for the winter! I would also like to use some of it to help others at Christmas, too. Thank you!
This money would bless our family with the ability to purchase groceries and pay bills as income is reduced with higher insurance costs as I am sure many other families are facing in the new year.
Thanks for giving opportunities to bless others! This give away would be helpful to our family as we are homeschooling 2 in high school, have one in college and another overseas as a missionary. It is expensive just to live these days and then add medical and dental expenses. God always finds a way to provide however. Blessings on you this holiday seasons and Merry Christmas!
It will help us maintain our bills and not go over credit balances and pay off some of this debt. It is a true blessing and I am hoping that me and my family will be blessed. Many thanks. Happy Holidays!
My husband took extra time off for family leave when our son was born in Sept. This would help us be able to pay off some bills and get ahead again!
We could buy some clothing and get my daughter a mattress.
It will be 5 years on Christmas Eve that my Dad passed away…It has been a long journey. This money would help us to help provide help to someone and a little to help us.
If I was blessed enough to win this I could actually buy my Grandson Christmas presents and be able to buy food to eat. I am disabled and trying to live off disability which doesn’t pay well and most months I have decided wether to buy food or medicine. So this would be a real blessing. Coming back to do the Facebook entries once Facebook lets go of my accounts. Was doing a FB hop last night and they froze my accounts because I liked to many FB pages.
I help out a mission church and this money could really help with the neighborhood Christmas.
If I win this I would be able to buy my Grandkids Christmas for the first time in 4 yrs, my husband and I are on SS and we are on a fixed income and I don’t have any money to spare once the bills, Groc, are done, This would be a most amazing Blessing if I won
Winning this giveaway would bless our family with the ability to buy new winter and spring clothing/shoes for my son, as well as food/necessities for the two of us.
Merry Christmas!
My husband has been traveling a lot for business lately. He likes to take me and our daughters with him, but it’s not always possible financially. This would definitely make that possible. Thank you for having this giveaway! Merry Christmas!
There are so many bills to pay, I couldn’t even decide which one to start with! :-0
I would share with my mother, who is also having a rough year. Laid off at 70 ad not sure how going to pay her rent. Would help immensely!
Great money saving tips. I struggle with thinking ahead and tend to do last minute year after year?
Blessings on your family!!!
This would be such a blessing to us, as we have a huge car repair bill we are trying to pay.
It would be such a blessing because we live pay check to pay check and it’s really hard to budget for Christmas presents and I have 3 boys!
This would be a huge blessing for our family. Last week a man ran a red light and totaled my 12 passenger van with my husband and 5 kids inside. This will help with essentials we need so we can put a bigger down payment on a car.
It would be a blessing to my family because it would relieve some of the financial burden that accompanies the holidays.
I haven’t had insurance for over 20 years. Now I’m getting everything done that has needed done in the last two decades. This would help with co-pays.
I will be able to provide a better Christmas to my seven grand children.
Money towards Christmas is always a blessing! Thanks for the giveaway!
Lack of a steady income this year has made things tough this Christmas season. Winning this would help us purchase gifts for the kids and other things we need in the household.
It would allow me and my kids to have a stress free Christmas as the landlord has sold our house and we have to move at Christmas.
What a blessing this would be! It would help take care of some debt we would like to get rid of.
This give away would be a wonderful blessing to my family. It would help with our huge family get together and help fill the stockings of our 7 kids!!!!! ????
Your blog was super helpful. I think the do not use credit cards may be the thing that caught me. It just gets worse that way. Thanks!
This would definitely be a blessing! We’ve had several car repairs that cost more than we would have liked, so this would help pay for those.
We are in a temporary home trying to find a permanent one and this would help and be a great blessing! Thank you for the chance! Merry Christmas!
What a wonderful opportunity to bless my family! Winning this giveaway would help me bless my sister as well as my sister in law this year. They have both struggled financially and have been out of a job. One needs help with house repairs and the other is having major surgery (the 4th this year). Everything makes a difference!
It would relieve the stress that my husband feels about getting some work done around our home. Thanks for the giveaway!
It will help with the wedding we have after the holidays
This would bless our family by allowing us to celebrate Chirstmas with our family and not having to worry about how to pay for it.
Praying for blessings.
this would be such a wonderful blessing for our family !!!! money will be handy to keep on working on our house, so our boys won’t have to share their room anymore !!!
This is quite the blessing! We know that Christmas is not about presents, but it would be nice to get the kids something. As of now, we have no tree or any gifts. My kids are 11, 9, 6 & 3. We have another due in March.
Thank you so much for the chance! This would be a wonderful windfall for my family.
This would help with our debt.
Winning this would give my 5 children a Christmas. We have zero money and live in my in-laws’ basement; life has been tough for a while. Thanks for offering the chance to win. Good luck to everyone!
I recently got hit with a car repair bill of more then $400 so that has put a big dent in my savings and this would allow me to replace that money plus a little extra for other bills.
Bless you all for putting this giveaway together!
Winning such a giveaway would bless my family so much.
Honestly, we would use it to pay some bills and also do some fun and enjoyable things we may not be able to do otherwise as a family.
An extra $500 would help us out so much!
We are in the process of buying a house so there really isn’t extra money for Christmas. This really wouldbe wonderful to get Christmas gifts for our three kids this year!!!
I love how giving some people are at this time of the year. It surely makes the world a better place.
Winning this would bless us by helping to pay for our trip to spend Christmas with our family. It would also allow us to bless more people this holiday season.
This would be a huge blessing as my family and I have been trying to move into our mobile home we bought 2 yrs ago, its been a long drawn out process. It would bless us tremendously to know we could afford Christmas gifts And moving expenses! Win or lose this is a fabulous giveaway. ?
Being a disable vet, this would be a great boon in helping me catch up with my electric and internet bill that got out of hand when I tried to help out a friend for a couple of months who used everything like it was free and ran my bills up higher than expected, then moved out without any warning.
It would be a blessing for us to put it towards groceries and other household expenses.
Winning this $500 PayPal cash would help us buy groceries, pay bills and pay for some Christmas presents.
This would be helpful for Christmas.
Winning this would help toward getting my son the medical help he needs.
Winning would allow us to buy groceries and gifts for the family. It would be a huge blessing to all of us!
Thanks for all the great ideas… We have 6 children and they usually do t give gifts to each other, but I’m thinking about doing a secret Santa thing with them…
My husband just got a permanent job for the first time in 18 months, so this would be a blessing at Christmas time.
Christmas will be very tight this year. This money would help to make my childrens Christmas a happy one
Winning this would ease the burden of year-end expenses 🙂
I am a missionary in Mexico and the money would be such a blessing! I would be able to pay off my credit card and be able to put the rest toward holiday travel.
It would bless my chosen family immensely. My best friend has three little ones under the age of 6 and is due with a new arrival in March. They’re the most incredible hard working people I know, she’s even going to school in the midst of their crazy busy household and they’re about to start homeschooling the oldest! I would absolutely love to be able to help them out financially, I can’t think of a more deserving family and I wish I had the resources myself to help them more than I do.
I would be Able to help my pet family, my rescues who go through food, litter, and pet meds and flea treatments like crazy, costs a small fortune to keep this many kitties but we have to as my husband and I are people with big hearts
Simply, we would have more to give for others.
This is a great blessing you and the rest of the bloggers are doing. Our family of 7 can be blessed in so many ways, food or a bill paid and or a little Christmas cheer gifts for our kids.
thanks
This is such a wonderful blessing for whoever wins! Our family could use this towards repairs around the house and those pesky endless medical bills.
with my son being out of work and living with me nowand the only income there is comes from my disability pension this would help out with day to day expenses
If I won this, I would give it to my sister in law. My brother has been in critical condition in the ICU for over 3 weeks and they could really use the support.
This would be awesome! I could possibly be able to take my family to visit my mom and grandfather who I have not seen in respectively 3 and 7 years!!
This would bless our family,it would help with the bills and groceries.
It would help put oil in our tank so we can stay warm this winter. Thanks for the chance.
What a great post! This would bless our family because we are a pastoral family of seven that just recently inherited a teen from the church who needed a fresh start. This could help make ends meet!
With two chronically ill daughters, we have a lot of medical expenses. Any money would help a ton!
Money is tight. We’re a family of 8, soon to be 9, and one of our children has Epilepsy w/ global delays. We’ve just had to purchase a large van w/ wheelchair lift and it’s already in for repairs for the 3rd time – but we knew this upfront – it was what we could afford.
Medicine isn’t helping our daughter, but we found a doctor that IS helping her – it’s just that the things he has her on isn’t covered by insurance, and we have no choice but to keep her on them as she has gone from nearly 30 seizures a day to 1-3 a day! Let’s give a little more perspective – about an hour and a half a day to 30 seconds – 5 min. a day. Yeah… she needs these things her body is starving for!
This would be such a blessing to our family with some bills that we have! Maybe even an extra special gift for my kids!
It would be a blessing for us, because we would be able to buy some homeschool curriculum.
Thank you for doing this contest!
What a wonderful gift this would be. Thank you for the chance to win. :oD
We are in process of adopting 4 siblings, and already have 2 we adopted. So this would go towards buy Christmas for our 6 children. Thank you for the chance.
It would bless our family by actually allowing us to have a Christmas with gifts. I know gifts are not the most important part but I would love to be able to bless my kids with some things they need and give my husband something to show my appreciation for all he does for us.
It would ease the financial strain that many of us are too familiar with
to buy gifts for family
My boyfriend is having to replace his roof and to save up for a surgery that his beloved dog will need. This would indeed be a blessing.
Winning this money would help our family greatly with Christmas gifts, and it would also provide the funds for us to throw a party for our neighbor children and our kids’ friends who desperately need to hear what Christmas is about.
I LOVE your Secret Santa idea! I definitely need to get my kids much more involved in the gift-giving. Winning this would make that a little easier, and a lot more fun to take our 6 out to shop for one another! Thank you getting together to make this a possibility ❤.
it would help pay a winter power bill and buy some food
My husband was out of work for 8 months in the last year and a half. We have a college senior and an autistic 24 year old, both daughters. This money would truly bless us and help us to pay part of it forward to another family who could use a little extra help right now.
This would be such an amazing blessing to me and my family! I had 3 surgeries on my knee recently so I am unemployed and my amazing mother has been taking care of me and letting me stay with her. If I won I would give her the money for being such a sweetheart.
This would allow us to lavishly bring Christmas to a couple of families in need around us.
We are a family of 12, so this would help in many ways this Christmas season!
It would give me the opportunity to pay back my parents with a nice gift
This is awesome! Thanks for giving families the opportunity to win this money just in time for Christmas! This would help my family so much! With 3 girls and another girl on the way, every little bit helps! 🙂 Thanks!
My husband lost his job at the end of July and we are hardly making ends meet. This would help us catch up on bills and give us money to buy our kids Christmas presents! It would be a huge blessing!
Wow! With my husband layed off this would be so helpful.
Great tips & generous giveaway
This is wonderful this time of year. This would go towards Christmas presents
We would use this money to bless others that we know–what a great giveaway!
This would end up going for groceries and a couple birthday gifts that are coming up.
We would use the money for bills and traveling home for Christmas. It would be a huge blessing. It cost a lot to live!
it help my family with groceries,presents and bills
Wow…this would bless my family in SO many ways! I am not working right now, and I am staying with my Mom after my divorce. I have severe depression and panic attacks, so working has been hard…enough of my sob story! Sorry! Anyway, it would help with my groceries and it would certainly help me be able to get the kids some gifts!!! God bless and Happy Holidays everyone!
Good reminders here! We used to pick secret Santa names at Thanksgiving to get ready for Christmas. Thanks!
we just moved a few days ago and this would help us with getting some things for our new home.
We are living in Guatemala for a year volunteering with my parent’s mission. We have 5 kids and I just started homeschooling. So this could help us out in many ways, for instance paying for some needed maintenance of the retreat center where we are working, and buying some of next years school books!
We had to use my husband’s Christmas bonus on dental work, so this would help with our Christmas budget.
This would be a big blessing. I haven’t been able to work much, so Christmas and bills are tough this year.
This would bless by family by letting us enjoy the holidays and not having to stress over all the expenses, no matter how small they are! I can plan for the big ones, but the small ones really add up and get us under water when it comes to the holidays!
This would be SUCH a blessing to my family this year! Our budget for Christmas this year is the tightest it has ever been since having my first child, and this would GREATLY help us out!
This has been a stressful year with many health expenses for life with a chronic disease. Money has been tight and we are trying our best.
I would love to be able to help my mom out! She always wants to give us a great Christmas but worries that she’ll have the money for it every year. It’s such a source of stress for her.
I just lost my job, so it would help pay bills and I would buy a couple presents for the kids!
I have 10 children, 8 at home, and my husband was out of work for 3 months!!! We are catching up on house note but with Christmas it will be hard. This giveaway would be a true blessing.
Wow! What a blessing this would be! Gifts for family, our children, the angel tree at church for children whose parents are not able to buy gifts! Thank you!!
I’d love to win! 🙂 I’d spend it on presents and a fancy Christmas meal.
This would help tremendously right now with our bills. I am trying to start a home-based business and am feeling overwhelmed, so this would be wonderful!
It would bless our family by allowing us to be extra generous with birthday presents for next year or go toward a family vacation.
Oh My,,,,This would help fix my vehicle….Thanks so much for the tips & the chance to win…
Our tires on our mini van are shot and we need to replace them. This would be used for replacing our tires!
There are many so deserving of this gift and many with needs greater than ours. It truly will be a blessing for someone. Thank you for doing this. Merry Christmas and God bless you.
Great post! Great giveaway! Would be a blessing this holiday season, praying the family who could use it the most, receives such a gift!
It would definitely help to pay bills and also to buy presents for my family.
My husband is taking a sabbatical this year so we are on 1/2 salary. As a homeschooling family, we’d use this money to take an educational field trip!
I have a very close friend who is a single parent on disability with five children and grandchildren. She needs help this Christmas because she is helping a close family member in need and she can barely support herself and her children that are still living with her. She barely has enough money for food right now let alone Christmas presents for her family.
We are moving and this would help tremendously with moving expenses
Winning money for Christmas would be a huge blessing to help out with the gift giving. I know we ALL could use it. I would be very thankful to receive such a thoughtful gift! God bless you all and Please pray for peace!
I would use this for some much needed self-care in the form of physical therapy for some issues I have been having.
Winning some extra cash this season would help my family greatly. I have three littles and while their gifts are all taken care of, thanks to God, I would like to give back to my family who have helped me out so much throughout the year. I hardly can afford giving back to them before I have to ask for help again and they always come through for me. It would be nice to get them Christmas gifts this year instead of always receiving.
I’d love to have this to buy curriculum!
To win this giveaway would be a huge blessing to my family.. you see my husband works hard but everything he brings in goes towards bills and what little food we buy.. there is no extra money for things that are desperately needed (like clothes)… with three teenagers in the family… we are constantly having to find ways to make sure they have what they need but here we lately we have fallen so short it is not funny.
This would help relieve some of the stress from our current bills and debts.
This would indeed be a blessing and a dream come true. I could get my car fixed, buy some Christmas, get some groceries AND I would definitely have to pass it on and be a blessing to someone else in need.
I would use the money to pay off a credit card.
Thanks for the great tips!!
What an amazing giveaway! If I won, it would help us pay our high winter electric bills and some car expenses we have.
I’m a single homeschooling mom, and $500 would allow me to catch up on utilities.
If I won this money would bless my family by being able to get my husband something special for Christmas. Usually my husband and I don’t typically get each other much, if anything, for Christmas. I’ve been bedridden for 3 years and my husband has had to do it all. He has not complained once because he has such a giving heart. It would truly be a blessing to be able to give back to him.
This would be a blessing to our large family…?
This would be go toward fixing our leaking pipe and toward repairing all the water damage. We have multiple people in our family who have disabilities, and there never seems to be enough to do more than pay our bills and keep us fed, but of course things keep coming up.
This would be a huge blessing to our family by allowing us to catch up on bills and really breathe easier! Once you get behind it can be hard to catch back up again.
This would be a great blessing to our family. We have had a hard year between medical bills and major house repair there is no money this year for gifts.
Any extra money would be a blessing from the Lord. Like most people stretching every penny from 2 in college and still buying diapers….this would be a tremendous help!
This would help my family with groceries and bills this season!
What a blessing this will be to someone! Thank you for the giveaway. God bless!
This gift would bless our family as we could pay off some debt, save a little, and use some to bless others through random acts of kindness.
We would use this to either help with bills or save towards our upcoming move to a new state. 🙂
This would be an amazing blessing that would not help provide Christmas goodies for my kids, but help me send some blessings to a family I know that isn’t going to be able to even celebrate Christmas this year due to joy layoffs.
*job layoffs
This money would bless our family by helping to pay for a trip my son would like to take next summer.
This could bless my family because we had unexpected travel expenses this year when my dad passed away suddenly. We always live check to check and this year of grief has been hard on me mentally, physically and spiritually. This cash could lift the burden on some bills as well as pay for some help around the house with maintenance and chores that we had to let slide given health priorities.
This would help my family pay some bills and get our kids a gift for Christmas.
Were I to win, I would put the money aside for a trip overseas to see my family with my children.
We are a one income homeschooling family and it would mean so much to us because we don’t often get much for our kids for Christmas. Just one gift each.
This giveaway would make our Christmas so much nicer. I’ve gone through cancer treatments this year and it’s been financially hard to manage. Christmas is going to be slim in our house this year. I’m thankful to be alive and able to celebrate the holidays with my family though.
It would bless my family to catch up on the electric bill and maybe get one or two gifts.
This was a tough year as my husband developed a heart condition which forced him out of work for several months but he also had to change careers because of the condition. He was our only income so this would be a blessing to help meet some needs that we have had this year.
This money would be greatly appreciated by my family! My husband is currently between jobs after our move across the country and I’m the only one bringing in a paycheck. It would be used for groceries and a bill or two. Can’t wait until spring and we can start homesteading here in Tennessee! Have a very Merry Christmas!
This would be amazing! We’re having an austerity Christmas. It’d be so fun to turn that around!
In lots of fun and interesting ways.
This would help with groceries.
I would be such a blessing to win this giveaway because it will help us pay a couple of bills and help us towards starting our own business.
It would help cover expenses while I am in the hospital welcoming our 5th sweet little one next month.
This would bless our family of 5 by helping to get our car up and running again, and for the gas money needed to go back home for Christmas.
This would be a huge blessing for us to pay for Christmas gifts for our son and pay down a few bills. We are a one income, homeschooling family and money is always tight. Your tips in this blog post are awesome and thank you for offering this giveaway!
December always seems to be crunch time for us. We are a farm family of 9 and homeschool. Some bills are a month behind so Christmas looks bleak. I did buy a few gifts earlier when able, I am planning on spending about $30 on each and I know they do not need much, but a little bit would be nice. thanks for the giveaway it would certainly be a blessing to relieve a bit of financial stress right now.