Slacker Method for Christmas Gift Budgeting (revised)

Posted by Jacques - December 18, 2008

Since Christmas is almost here, I thought I’d share a tip about how to budget for friends and family using an extremely simple math strategy. Often near the Holidays, we want to keep to a budget but it tends to creep upwards more often than not. Especially in these economic times, it is tougher than ever to break our budgets and give just a little bit more to loved ones. Taking an emotional problem and applying a partially objective solution definitely will ease the anxiety and decision making process when it comes down to a simple method of crunching the numbers.

Step 1: Grade
To start this, take a napkin or paper towel (slacker’s don’t use real paper) and write down the names of everyone who you plan giving a gift to. Then, give them a score between 1 and 10 of how important they are to you (If it’s 0, then why are you even bothering?).

For example, my list would look something like this:

Wife - 10
Mom - 9
Best Friend - 7
Coworker - 5

Step 2: Adjust
The problem with my list is that there is that I like everyone too much. Just kidding, but in truthfulness, we need to exaggerate the scores so they’re not so close to each other. We need to ensure that there is at least someone with a score of 1. The best way to do that, is to take the difference between the lowest score and 1, and then subtract that from everyone. So, since my coworker is a 5, I will subtract 4 from every score. If you don’t do this step, everyone will get pretty much the same amount of money.

Wife - 6
Mom - 5
Best Friend - 3
Coworker - 1

Step 3: Convert
For the next step, you will need your divisor. Simply add up all the scores together 6+5+3+1 = 15. Now we’ll take that number, and divide everyone’s score by that number.

Wife - 6/15 = .4 or 40%
Mom - 5/15 = .33 or 33%
Best Friend - 3/15 = .2 or 20%
Coworker - 1/15 = .07 or 7%

Step 4: Budget
You’ll notice that if you add everyone’s new score it will add up to 1, that’s because they’re now in percentage format. Now you have to figure out your budget, and multiply each percentage by your budget. I think for me it will be $325 because that’s how much I sold my WII for.

Wife - .4 * 325 = $130.00
Mom - .33 * 325 = $107.25
Best Friend - .2 * 325 = $65.00
Coworker - .07 * 325 = $22.75

130 + 107.25 + 65 + 22.75 = $325.00

I think my coworker is getting too much, but hey, you can always tweak it. It’s just a guide…

Grade - Adjust - Convert - Budget

Anything you like? Please share!

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December 18, 2008 | In All Slacker Methods, Slackers and Money |

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Looks like you got it all figured out. Well Done.

Comment by Jason — December 19, 2008 #

The Slacker Method