My Christmas Spending

I didn't do too bad on my Christmas spending but I did go over my $200 budget. Before shopping, I put $200 on a Visa gift card as a safeguard to overspending but I still ended going over budget by about $150. In hindsight, I should have put $100 on the Visa card and then used cash for the rest of my gifts. I live near a great outdoor market that has vendors, artwork, food, and jewelry among other things. Many of the vendors don't use debit or credit cards like Visa, so I still had to go to the ATM and use cash for a few gifts. I like buying gifts like original art work, or hand made items because they are so much more personal than gift cards or items from large retail stores. I thought using a Visa gift card to track my Christmas spending would be easier, but it proved to be a bit of a pain in the neck overall. The card took 24 hours to activate and I was not aware of this until I was in line to purchase some gifts from Target, so I ended up using my debit card for those purchases also. Oh well, you live and you learn. I still had a nice Christmas and I think the gifts I gave were appreciated and will be enjoyed.