It’s not easy today to shop for holiday or birthday presents when your budget is so tight. Every day you can find promises of good deals, but the truth is that most of these special priced options are limited to the first few customers or that there are only a limited amount. What works better for your budget is limiting your purchases and staying within a set parameter. If the next item on your list is drives you over budget, you simply don’t buy it.
For instance, if you pick up that black sport watch on your list but can’t afford the GPS accessories you were going to get, which do you put back? Keep the affordable one and replace the not so affordable one. That way you can get everyone a gift and not blow the budget on just one or two.
The same applies to the need to be ultimately fair to everyone. When you buy transformers for your child but you evaluate the way these packages make it seem like maybe they got more, you tend to want to buy so everything looks even. This type of competitive buying doesn’t usually work in one’s favor.
We don’t prove that we love everyone the same by making sure all of the holiday gifts match up. In fact, we can’t do anything more than apply guilt in order to make sure that all the gifts match up. When we measure our love through material things we tend to create a family dynamic that makes it very difficult to have a financially rough year. You could, instead, be enjoying each other rather than counting presents.
Holiday gifts are really supposed to be more like a token. They are supposed to be meaningful and special in the sense that they are given from the heart, not the price tag. There are many families this year that are facing holiday financial stress and aren’t really sure where to turn.
Make it a family agreement that nobody buys more than one gift or nobody spends more than an agreed amount on anyone. That way you remove the pressure from everyone in the family. There have been fantastic holidays that have been born from spending or less on each person’s present.
The seasonal difficulties that many families face this year are no doubt disappointing. But since we are all looking to save money, we can all focus a little harder on creating holidays around spending time together, loving one another, mending bridges, and sharing good food together.
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