First off let me say that we don't do a lot of commercially bought gifting at the Holidays. I am on my 4th year as a member of The Compact Group(check them out on Yahoo Groups), so I don't do indiscriminate 'stuff buying' as a rule. Not even at thrift stores or yard sales either. I figure I spent the first 45 yrs. of my life acquiring 'things', so I'll spent the bulk of my time during the next 45 yrs. getting rid of stuff or using up the stuff I already have.
That's not to say that I don't buy things but it's only after a long and thoughtful process of figuring out it's really REALLY needed or wanted.
So anyway, since our kids are past the 'toy' stage, we don't buy much stuff anymore at the Holidays. Being teens they do constantly want more expensive things but we keep the amount we spend on them turned down a few notches on the expense knob and generally they receive a few articles of clothing(which THRILL them to no end...lol!), and either gift cards, cash or 1 big ticket item. So for the kids, I only usually buy/acquire 10 or so gift items total each Christmas. Hubs and I only exchange a token gift or two since there is not much we need that we don't have already and if there is something we really really want, we can just go out and buy it ourselves.
We have few relatives outside of our immediate family and we generally give food items to them. All of our friends live distances away so we send Christmas cards only if we get the energy and time.
That leaves the stocking stuffers. I enjoy hunting around for the stocking gifts. I don't care to just do generic stocking gifts(everyone gets the same thing kind of gifts-like a cheese log, socks, and candy canes). I try to tailor the stuffers to the recipient.
Our stockings do have some 'traditional for us' gift requirements.
Everyone gets either socks or undies in their stocking.
Everyone gets a couple of personal hygiene items(shampoo, deodorant, make-up for the gals, combs, toothbrush, etc.)
Everyone gets a candy treat.
The rest of the space in the stockings I try to fill with interesting items I find throughout the year. Mostly I try to find useful items but sometimes I do buy something totally wasteful, cheap and fun...gasp!
Here is what I picked up last Sunday for Christmas....
With the low price at Big Lots and my discount I spent a grand total of $9.60.
So I only have 2 more socks/undies gifts to acquire now for the stockings.(1 for #1 son and 1 for Hubs).
As for the personal hygiene stuffer items.....I have that MORE than covered with all my Rite-Aid free goodies!
I'll wait until closer to the Holidays to pick up their candy items(unless I see something uber cool before then that will store well).
So my stocking stuffers list is down to 2 socks/undies gifts, 3 candy/treat gifts and then the 4-8 'special' wacky gifts.
I'll be working on a list this week, of possible items to pick up in the coming months, to finish off what I need to gather for the Holiday gifting. I'll keep my eyes peeled and try to pick up meaning items on sale/clearance/ for cheap. Everything goes into a designated box hidden in the house so that when December rolls around I can find it all. There is nothing worse than buying throughout the year for the Holidays and then NOT being able to FIND IT when you need it!
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt as they say....
I always hope to be finished or at least have all my purchases planned out by Dec. 1.(Some gift cards I wait until then to purchase but I've decided on which/what by Dec. 1.)
That leaves me free from shopping stress in December so I can do other things during the Holiday Season besides fight someone in Macy's over who's going to buy that ugly sweater in our paws.
I usually spend around $850 total for the Holidays. That includes $200 per kid, $50 for spouse and $200 for all other items(cards, baking, meal, decorating, etc.) If I do mail gifts of food, this amount doesn't include postage/shipping. This amount also doesn't include what Hubs spends on me....he is the loose canon in this budget.lol
Now our family does spend about on par with what they say the typical American family spends at the Holidays. Let me say that we don't buy 'stuff' for our kids all year round like many parents do. No xboxes are purchases just because someone here whines that they are bored or such and I don't lay out big money for name branded jeans, shoes, 'fill in the blank', etc. Birthday presents are modest so Christmas is the ONE TIME in the year our kids get the neat stuff.
And since we have no debt at all, we can afford to spend this amount.
And since we budget for this expense all year($16.35 a week put away), we have the CASH and don't put any purchases on CREDIT!
And if you need to use credit for the Holidays, perhaps you should step back and consider what a bad idea that is before you pull out the Visa card again.....
Don't put your financial life in jeopardy for gifts that no one will remember a year from now and you'll still be paying for in 10 years!
Make this a CASH ONLY CHRISTMAS! You will be so glad you did.....
Since my family doesn't read my blog, I'll post here in the coming months what I buy and keep a running tab on what I've spent.
2010 Christmas Spending Total....$9.60
Here is an interesting article on Skipping the Holidays Expenses HERE. Let me know what you think about it.
Have you started your Holiday spending yet?
Do you have family stocking traditions?
Do you have a budgeted amount for it or do you just buy and buy?
Do you put your Holidays on credit cards?
Sluggy
Sounds like we handle Christmas in just about the same manner.
ReplyDeleteI set back an amount each week for Christmas. Ours is only $5 a week right now (down from $14 a week last year), partly because I didn't spend our entire Christmas budget last year and rolled the balance into this years budget, and also because I have an Amazon balance from Swagbucks that I plan to use for Christmas gifts.
We buy a few gifts and stuff a stocking for Kat, buy a gift for her teacher, buy a gift for Shane's boss and that's just about it. Sometimes Shane and I do stocking for each other, but usually not. Neither of our extended families exchange gifts anymore, and whether or not we exchange gifts with my daughter and SIL depends more on their financial situation than our own. Last year we decided not to exchange gifts and none of us seemed to miss it at all.
Yes, I've already started shopping. I have a few games in the closet set back for Kat. No, we don't ever put holiday gifts on a credit card.
We aren't a religious family, but we strive to keep the holiday more about family togetherness, special foods and fun activities than about gifts. It's much less stressful this way, and shopping/wrapping gifts is a breeze.
Oh how I only wish to be more organized like you! Yes, I've started but, my 2 oldest are grown, 22 and 24. The 22 yr old daughter now lives in Fla so everything will need shipped and the oldest really needs nothing. However I won a contest and had the prize shipped to her, tricky huh? My Christm,as budget is slim about $400 for all!
ReplyDeleteI hate the fact that you feel like you have to defend yourself for spending just a little bit at Christmas! I often feel like that when I post about it.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe you could give all the gifts that you got a Big Lots to one person. That would be a fun little gift basket! Ahhh, my wheels are spinning!
Interesting post. I don't keep track of how much I spend at Christmas, though it is way less than it used to be. For the last several years, we give each of our 3 kids $100 cash, then maybe a small token gift. (Last year, the "token gift" was a bag of HBA from my stockpile.) We buy a toy and book for each grandson. And everyone else gets jam and cranberry almond bread. All the supplies for my food gifts are in my grocery budget, so I never count that into Christmas spending.
ReplyDeleteHubby and I do spend on each other, but we never set an amount. We just get whatever the other wants. Heck, the rest of the year, we just buy it for ourselves, but we stop in the fall and save wants for Christmas.
We DO put any purchase on a credit card to get the points, but we never carry a balance on the card. We have not had any debt from Christmas in many, many years.
I think I will track this year and see what we spend. (I guess I could look at last yea's cc statements and figure it out, but I am too lazy.)
One area where shopping is actually way too easy for me is Christmas gifts for DH. Anyone who's glanced at my blog probably picked up on how much he loves STUFF, specifically TOYS. I remember one Christmas where afterwards he actually whined about how he didn't get any toys. *sigh* Now that our son is grown and no longer interested in toys, just money, our gift buying has been pretty radically reduced, and that's just fine!
ReplyDeleteI've been amassing a nice little wad in my amazon.com account, adding in every $5 credit I get from Swagbucks and some surveys I've answered. So that will probably be what I use for DH (that and my geekpoints at ThinkGeek.com). For our son, who is moving one of these days to a state far away, I see no point in buying anything larger than a gift card :) So that should be pretty easy, too. And the biggest gift DH could give me? Not bringing more stuff into the house - LOL! Maybe if I can just find a "toy" that can only be played with outside. Oh wait-- that would be the motorcycle he already bought himself....
Great post, Sluggy!!
You guys are all awesome Christmas shoppers!
ReplyDeleteI use to think I didn't spend that much on our Holiday but then I saw what the media says is average and yep!....we are average I guess.lol
But I don't spend on the kids all year long too like alot of parents so that makes us more frugal I suppose.
And I use prize winnings for gifts too Marilyn...If I see something one of the kids might like I enter. Hey, that's one more gift I don't have to buy, right?lol
The above discussion is quite interesting. But if when ever i got a chance for spending holidays so i must go in the mountain places..:)
ReplyDelete