Buying Christmas on a Teenager’s Budget…

Students at Arrowhead are in full-blown Christmas mode as snow hits the ground, lights cover the trees, and Christmas music plays over the radio.

As Christmas approaches, high school students begin to feel the obligation of getting everyone they care about a fantastic gift. We have friends, family, boyfriends, girlfriends, siblings, and even teachers to keep in mind during the holidays.

However, our hearts are bigger than our wallets. As our busy schedules along with child labor laws allow a maximum 20 hour work week at an average wage of $7.25. This leaves us with about $290 on our bi-weekly paychecks.

Many of us spend money on gas, food, coffee, and other leisure activities.

According to tiaa.org, it’s recommended to save 20% of our income. So if you take 20% out of the average $290 paycheck, that leaves us with $232.

An average size gas tank can hold 12 gallons, costing about $47 to fill. With this subtraction, we have $185 remaining.

Next, we consider food and clothing expenses. According to a study done by investment firm Piper Jeffray, 42% of a teens budget is spent on retail and dining. So if we assume that this statistic is true for students at Arrowhead, after spending 42% of our $185 on food and clothing, we are left with $105.56 to spend on Christmas gifts. This is assuming that the normal teen, is not a financing genius who has been saving in increments for months in preparation for the holidays.

In a hypothetical situation, where a teen would want to buy a gift for one sibling, four friends, one teacher, and perhaps one gift for their parents this adds up to be seven total gifts.

Using the remaining money this allows for a $15.08 budget per gift.

This is leaving out any additional team or work related ‘Secret Santa’ festivities.

So after these calculations of everyday expenses, you can see the frustration that teenagers have when they wish to buy extravagant gifts for our friends and family. Most high school students simply cannot fund their dreams to give large gifts to everyone who deserves them.

Some inexpensive, yet thoughtful, gift ideas could include personal photos in frames (photo print $0.19 at Walmart, frame $6.30 at Walmart), giftcards, holiday scented shower gels and lotions ($12.95 at Bath and Body Works), or even fuzzy socks to keep warm through the winter ($8.50 at Bath and Body Works).

We may be scraping the edges to pay for our everyday habits, and gifts for our friends all at once. It is completely possible to show someone you’re thinking of them this holiday, without breaking the bank.