I feel like I just ate a huge 4-course meal and now must atone for my gluttony. Our Amex bill was extremely high(for us) and not with gifts per se. It’s the other stuff - wrapping paper, tree, lights, etc. that gets us every year. We’ll-meaning extended family that wants to have a White te Elephant gift exchange instead of the usual thoughtful gift exchange. Those tacky presents cost money, too.
Our children are young adults now and don’t ask for much for Christmas and my husband and I don’t exchange presents as we already have everything we need. Seriously, if I need new underwear or a sweater, I’d rather purchase it myself.
As our kids get older I feel much more able to make holiday presents utilitarian and I feel really good about what we got them this year. Almost everything was off their lists, and almost everything was something they could wear or use in their daily lives. With teenagers, we are now past the endless toys, which is such a relief. I did do secret Santa at work this year, but I love how the person who organizes set it up, because they did a very thorough questionnaire which allowed people to say exactly what they liked and didn’t like and wanted and didn’t want, so I was able to shop thoughtfully for my recipient. I have a lot of thoughts about next holiday season, though, and hope that we can get to even fewer material goods for our kids, and more experiences. I did do a cookbook and some eating out gift cards, and movie gift cards for my son and his girlfriend, and I definitely want to do more of that kind of thing next year. Although I know you say we don’t need to quit Amazon, I did completely quit them last July, and made it through all of my Christmas shopping with zero Amazon purchases, which I’m very happy with ☺️ I was able to find everything on different online retailers, so while I did do a lot of my shopping online, it was all either on manufacturer sites or smaller companies.
I spent too much, as always. Grandchildren just make Christmas entirely too much fun. I've had a good January so far, curbing my spending! Thanks for posting your motivating newsletter.
I feel like I just ate a huge 4-course meal and now must atone for my gluttony. Our Amex bill was extremely high(for us) and not with gifts per se. It’s the other stuff - wrapping paper, tree, lights, etc. that gets us every year. We’ll-meaning extended family that wants to have a White te Elephant gift exchange instead of the usual thoughtful gift exchange. Those tacky presents cost money, too.
Our children are young adults now and don’t ask for much for Christmas and my husband and I don’t exchange presents as we already have everything we need. Seriously, if I need new underwear or a sweater, I’d rather purchase it myself.
As our kids get older I feel much more able to make holiday presents utilitarian and I feel really good about what we got them this year. Almost everything was off their lists, and almost everything was something they could wear or use in their daily lives. With teenagers, we are now past the endless toys, which is such a relief. I did do secret Santa at work this year, but I love how the person who organizes set it up, because they did a very thorough questionnaire which allowed people to say exactly what they liked and didn’t like and wanted and didn’t want, so I was able to shop thoughtfully for my recipient. I have a lot of thoughts about next holiday season, though, and hope that we can get to even fewer material goods for our kids, and more experiences. I did do a cookbook and some eating out gift cards, and movie gift cards for my son and his girlfriend, and I definitely want to do more of that kind of thing next year. Although I know you say we don’t need to quit Amazon, I did completely quit them last July, and made it through all of my Christmas shopping with zero Amazon purchases, which I’m very happy with ☺️ I was able to find everything on different online retailers, so while I did do a lot of my shopping online, it was all either on manufacturer sites or smaller companies.
I spent too much, as always. Grandchildren just make Christmas entirely too much fun. I've had a good January so far, curbing my spending! Thanks for posting your motivating newsletter.