Comments on: A New Christmas Gift Rule In Our Household

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 16:26:40 +0000

In reply to Revanche. I like the book idea :) And after you read it (or if you've already read it/don't like it) it's a great gift to keep being passed around too! Or donated to the library!

By: Revanche

Revanche — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 18:56:48 +0000

Catching up on my reading now that we’re home (home, blessed home!!) and I love that you’ve achieve No Gifting status. My side has been No Gifting (except maybe the odd $15 thing) for years, and PiC’s side has simmered down to kids and 1 adult, so I’m really hoping that maybe in a few years it’ll get down to just kids+pets. (Yes, the pets get gifts. I’m more cool with that than gifting to the humans, heh.)

I have friends in this stage still: “I buy everyone + their significant other + their kid a gift (late 20’s –> early 30’s)” and I’m quietly not getting sucked into the jet engines of gifting back unnecessary and unthoughtful things.

My rule for gifts for our kiddo: books only. No toys, no clothes. That means ze ends up with one or two outfits and a toy anyway, but keeps it from being an outrageous pile. I saw pictures of people’s trees on Twitter on Christmas, with HUGE piles of packages, and I just shuddered. That’s just not how we’re gonna do things.

My rule for gifts between me and PiC: None. Except I buy us dividend stocks once a year. Merry We’ll Have a (maybe Early) Retirement Christmas!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:41:43 +0000

In reply to Crystal.

Hey, if y’all are enjoying the hell out of it all it sounds like it’s working :) Smart to go shopping so early too – I admire that about people as I suck at it!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:37:49 +0000

In reply to COD. Ooooooh beautiful!!! But I think my invite was lost in the mail somewhere? :)

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 06:22:25 +0000

Way to go!

Yeah, we don’t really minimize. We buy for my immediate family (6 people – parents, 2 sisters, a spouse, and a kid), 4-6 people in hubby’s family (Secret Santas on both sides is 4 people + his parents if we didn’t draw them), and then we both usually buy presents for our 10-12 friends (our weekly hangout group). So that’s 30 gifts minimum. I think we spent about $600-$750 on gifts this year but I haven’t added it up. We enjoy the gift hunt. I work on it the whole year and hubby starts in October for our friends.

No regrets here. We’re spoiled on Christmas and enjoy the hell out of it. We love spoiling the people above. Win-win. :-)

By: COD

COD — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 21:41:02 +0000

We too are on the kids only plan with family (exception for my mother), and thankfully both sides of the family have not been particularly proficient in the procreation department :) We just got back from the Caribbean – our first “experience” Christmas. No presents for the kids or for me and my wife – the trip was our collective present. Probably more expensive than our usual Christmas, but also far more rewarding, and not worrying about what to buy my wife has made the season so stress free. One interesting aspect – since I booked the airline tickets and rental house (AirBnB FTW!) way back in early summer the trip didn’t seem that expensive because the biggest chuck of the cost was paid 6 months ago.

I think we’ve decided this is the new normal for us. No more crap we don’t really need under a fake tree- instead we’ll go somewhere warm and beachy every December.

By: Alison

Alison — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 17:36:47 +0000

I’m a proponent of just spending quality time with my family and loved ones – much more important than any gift I could ever receive!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 19:00:53 +0000

In reply to Stingy Stacy. Stingy Stacy - hah! Killer blog name!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 19:00:00 +0000

In reply to Mark@BareBudgetGuy. Hahaa.... you caught me!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 18:58:17 +0000

In reply to Sharon. That's one thing I keep saying I want to try every year myself and continually fail to do :( I have no doubts it puts things in perspective much more!