Santa was very scary for me when I was unemployed during the Great Recession. Every jolly figure was turned in my mind’s eye to the grim reaper. I had several years of January hangovers where I would vow to start saving in January for the following December. But that year it was even worse. How was I supposed to come up with presents for all those whom I loved in my life? It was especially difficult as my “love language” is definitely gift giving and more importantly receiving!
Each day that I made the “wise” financial decision to get another $3 coffee over saving up money to buy those gifts, the stress would build. I personally wanted to give a stern talking to the financial guru telling me to give up my daily coffee habit. Whoever came up with that advice was simply someone for whom coffee had not touched their lives like it has touched mine. I was seriously thinking of changing my love language from gifts to simply coffee. Maybe that could be the only gift I would give this year…coffee? My family members with young kids might have a problem with Aunt Kim giving the gift of caffeine……. probably should go back to the drawing board.
Becoming A Great Gift Giver on a Budget
Fast forward to 2010, the first year being employed after the Great Recession. I had spent that year getting on a plan for my money and was slowly digging out of debt. Also, I picked up a friend for the journey (my now husband) who was super supportive AND not a spender! Where my love language was gifts, his was spending quality time. Hmmmm… quality time is cheap and I don’t have to give up my coffee…maybe that is an idea!! I ran with it and even now, when we have been debt free for so long, pretty much every year my family gets some sort of experience. In fact, last year (and I suspect this year too!) my sister and brother-in-law sent out a text to only give their kids experiences for gifts.
Experience Gift Ideas: annual memberships to museums, comedy show tickets, aquariums, organized camping trips, photography classes, custom wine making events, birdhouse building workshops, family game night, hot chocolate and snowshoeing, sledding, wine tasting events local swimming pool summer passes and made diabetes friendly hot cocoa mix. One year I combined a bike ride and wine tasting. Purchased tickets to a local outdoor treasure hunt where there was real treasure involved.
Tips for spending less this Holiday Season
Planning an experience just seems like too much work? Here are some tips to rein in spending this holiday season:
- Come up with a plan for how much you want to spend on each person.
- Ask family to do just “kids” gifts this year or draw names.
- Take out cash – My clients save an average of 38% by using cash at physical retail locations for purchases. The typical response after going one month with cash- unbelief that they saved so much money. You can also do this with online purchases. Take out the cash at the beginning of the season and as you purchase online, move the money from that envelope to an envelope that you deposit back into the bank. Seems a bit extreme but you will spend less. Lowest savings experienced by my clients was 8%. The highest savings was 58%.
- Do not bring any credit cards with you. My clients report that they always spend more with credit cards. I have seen people spend 50% more than they would have otherwise. Credit cards cause the least amount of pain in the brain according to Carnegie Melon, Stanford and MIT.[1] Which means one is not aware of how much is being spent.
- If single ask a friend who is good with money to hold you accountable. Reporting to someone else helps to avoid overspending.
- This year since we are trying to save money to build our dream home my siblings will be receiving a tin of homemade Sourghum Popcorn Balls. (Special from my husband’s grandfathers re-created recipe.) Tasty and takes time to make but is not high on the cost.
[1] https://www.cmu.edu/homepage/practical/2007/winter/spending-til-it-hurts.shtml