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I usually do NOT buy into Christmas, per se. I usually buy VERY inexpensive practical things for family or friends as a 'token of appreciation' for having them in my life, and how they help me all year. And buy inexpensive I mean MAYBE $10.00 a person...sometimes 20.00
But this year, I have to admit, I've lost my mind....on average I'm going to spend a WHOPPING 25.00 per person!
I'm very frugal during the year. But being in stores has just tempted my beyond belief this year. If I see it, and LIKE it, I'm buying it. I'm just in and "I don't care, let's all just be happy" kind of mood. Now, deep down, maybe I'm compensating for being so frugal during the year. I figure If I can make someone's day and so a little appreciation for 10.00, why not. I'm blessed, to bless other people.
I've even bought things I know I can save for NEXT year. So the 25.00 person this year it just a guess, it's probably less, if you count stuff I'm buying and can use next year.
I will say that except for two more purchases that I'll be making on line...I'm done...all shopped out. Actually TIRED of shopping. Went to Dollartree, Tuesday Morning, Ross, TJ Maxx, CVS, Anthropolgie and bought everything I like that was in sight!
I'm already planning for 2013 to be an austerity -- no spending year. Even stocked for TP and other essentials for another two years.!
And, as I said, my 'gift closet for others' is already quite stocked. IF, IF I do xmas next year, I'm definitely going back to the 10.00 per person price range.
I limit my purchases to very few people - boyfriend, parents, brother. I can get all I need for them on Esty.com or at flea markets for very cheap - between $5-$10 a person - and I feel good about supporting a small business. Everyone else gets a handmade card with a note. I bought supplies years ago for $20 and it's still holding up.
Actually I buy certain gifts for certain people; all kids. That includes kids I do not know but buy for local charity to give. I also give a gift of cash each year to local food bank as well as cancer hospital that has serviced many where I live that I know. Gifts don't always have to be out of the Christmas meaning.But none of this is going to get me to heaven ;its what christians do because they are christians:IMO.
Well, Grandpa Pipes, this is one of those rare times when you and I are in agreement. The shopping frenzy connected with the Christmas holiday has always seemed rather insane to me, and I think most of us agree that overspending and the consumer debt which goes along with it was one factor in the economic meltdown of 2008, especially people using their homes as ATM's to fuel the shopping. I have been, and will continue to be, a very modest spender in general and at this time of the year in particular.
However, if everyone were to get on board and actually "boycott" Christmas spending it would be a real disaster for the economy. Too bad moderation in all things is not more prevalent.
Now that the kids are older, we have toned it down. Two or three things they REALLY want. We do not get together with my side of the family as they work all through the holidays and are too burned out to have a celebration. Spouse's side, everyone is out of state. So my splurge is to bake, I love to bake and do it usually once a year.
It is a religious holiday to me, I love going to church around Christmas time.
Why should I care what others buy or don't buy in the holidays? Why should others care what I buy?
1. It affects the economy and the job picture.
2. The whole issue is connected to values. It is interesting what other people value and what they don't value, so it is natural to comment on it. Note that this is not at all the same as your freedom to buy as little or as much as you want with your own money.
However, consider the big picture. Lifelong spenders who do not save for retirement end up costing all the rest of us in the long run. No man is an island, as John Donne so famously wrote about 400 years ago.
Lifelong spenders also tend to gamble heavily and are prime customers of the frivolous-lawsuit "industry".
The former "redistributes" wealth one step further away from those who actually produced a good or service someone is wiling to pay for.
The latter raises the cost of doing business for everyone engaged in productive enterprise.
Something to think about.
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