Christmas Time: Debt

Gifts:


I dont know about you but those 10 dollar caps dont save me cash when im buying for 6 kids, 5 friends, a boyfriend, 2 parents, and about 7 other family members.

Plus, what can 10 bucks really get?  With such a low cap you may as well give gift cards so they can atleast get something nice at a discount!  How sucky of a gift is that?

Not to mention you put time into what they'd like verse the cost.  You cant even get a good book for 10 bucks and a used one is hardly a caring gift..


Personally, I shared with my friends a idea for next year, same with my family!



Dont waste all your cash, lets play a game instead.  Secret Santa and Naughty Santa are popular and easy, plus cash saving.

The idea is simply:  You use a higher cap (say 30-50 dollars) and get one person a gift.  My family is playing Secret Santa since we all have different interest.  But my friends and I are planning a game of Naughty Santa where we get gifts to fight over.  Being college students, were all interested in similar things so it wont leave any one person with something to feel cruddy about.

Upside?  These games allow a higher cap while saving each person 10-50% of what they usually spend depending on the amount of people.  Now the gifts can be bought with less pain and more thought.



Downside:  Kids.  These sort of games will not work for those under the age of 16.



The way to deal with kids?  Personally I like to buy Kids stuff throughout the year.  This saves me the pain towards Christmas and lets me take advantage of sales.





Food:


Another biggy.  But do you really need 12 dinners?

If your whole family is going to a big thing, do you personally need one?

Me and my boyfriend tend to just have a not so cheap dinner on Christmas and Thanksgiving with a couple friends.  Example?  2 pd burgers with loads of cheese and nacho cheese fries.

This sort of thing tends to cost us half of the amount of a turkey dinner if not less and we even split the cost with friends that join us by doing a pool and voting on the meal.

Again, college students.  Were close and cheap!  So this works great for us.  Plus we still get a traditional meal when we head home to see a large group of family.


But if you like those big dinners, just consider doing like us.  Pool money with friends, buy a turkey and fixings or everyone bring a dish.  That thirty dollar turkey wont be as painful when the other 50 dollars worth of sides is someone else's problem!



Decorations:

A small price but to others important none the less!

I learned from my granny though... You buy there AFTER christmas.  For 50-90% off.  I do this for EVERY holiday.  You pay 50, i'll pay 3 bucks.  Downside to this is that one ornament you REALLY want can sell out before you get it.

out of season will be cheaper but pick your battles.


Hope these help, join me next week for more!

Wolfe