Deck the Halls With....Lots of Savings!

For many of us, Christmas can be a very stressful time of year.  For some it's family stress, for others it's financial stress, and for the unluckiest of us, it's both. 

Christmas as a kid was always great - presents abound, lots of food, and a chance to see grandmas, grandpas, cousins, etc.  Boy how that changes when you're an adult, especially if you have kids of your own.  It took Jill and I several years before our attitude and philosophy about Christmas began to change.  First and foremost for us, we needed to refocus Christmas as the time to celebrate and acknowledge the birth of Christ and away from gifts, reindeer, and elves.  When we were intentional with our children about why we celebrate Christmas, it made our experience much more enjoyable.

Second, we didn't want money to be a reason to add stress to this season.  We decided to get creative.  I'll state upfront that, while we've implemented all of these ideas at some point, we don't necessarily do them all at once.  With that said, here are my top 3 best ideas to help make the holiday season less stressful and less expensive.

1) Re-think those Christmas cards.  This will be a highly controversial idea, I know, but worthy of serious consideration.  While spending evening after evening tediously addressing and licking envelopes is as much a tradition as pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, it's a tradition that you can do without.  We certainly don't mind receiving cards and notes, but if you quizzed me on who sent us a card last year, I would have no idea.  If you quizzed me on who didn't send us a card, I also would have no idea.  Would you?  There are enough stressful things going on this time of year.  Not sending our cards can not only save you $100 or more, but also free up a lot of extra time during this busy season.

2) Pay for all your gifts - without spending a dime.  For the second straight year, we are not spending a dime of our income on gifts.  We have raised more than enough money by selling things on Craigslist to cover all of our gift purchases.  This idea could have a whole post dedicated to itself, but for now, I'll just say that it's a great opportunity to clean out your storage room from things you don't need or will never use, and NEVER forget that people will buy anything, and I mean anything.  While we've been successful selling enough to cover our expenses the last two years, I'm not sure the idea would work every year.  However, once every two or three years would be well worth it.

3) One gift at a time.  One of the ways we've tried to simplify Christmas is by taking focus away from the quantity of gifts and put more focus on the quality of thoughtfulness of them.  We have a "one gift" policy that extends to not just us as parents, but also to grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc.  We've found that this eliminates what we call "The Gift Contest" - he who gives the most gifts wins type of mentality.  Buy less, stress less!

There are other smaller ideas as well, such as making your own wrapping paper instead of buying it.  Buy brown packaging paper and either decorate yourself with stamps, etc., or have your kids decorate however they choose.  Also little known is for $5 you can cut down your own Christmas tree anywhere in a National Forest.  Much cheaper that a tree lot, plus the adventure of hiking through the woods to find the perfect tree (Clark Griswold anyone?). 

Perhaps most importantly, what do you do to make Christmas less stressful or less costly?  I'd love to hear your ideas as well.  Please leave your comments for my benefit and the benefit of others.  


I'm completely new to blogs, but someone mentioned you can "follow" a blog.  If that's true, I encourage you to follow mine!  The next post I'm working on will likely be focused on setting realistic financial goals for next year, and reviewing some things that you may still want to consider before this year is out.  Here's to a great Christmas season!!

Until we meet again...

Well....let's see how this goes...

Greetings!

I have been interested in money saving ideas for many, many years.  Continuing my education and helping others manage their money wisely has been my career since my early college days.  While I'm not absolutely certain where I got this interest, I do have some theories.  Without boring you with too many details, I think my parents (inadvertently) ignited my interest.  I'm sure pieces of their inadvertent ignition will find its way into this blog over time, but suffice to say, I'm hooked. 

So, for a guy who is not linguistically gifted, hates to type, and has four children and a wife to occupy my "free" time, why would I take time to write about my interest?  I suppose there are a few reasons.  

1) The more people I've met with over the years, the more I realize that most people are severely undereducated about how to manage debt, money, and how to make wise financial decisions.  It's not necessarily their fault.  Managing finances is one of the few things you are never taught in school.  How are you supposed to learn?    

2) I love finding ways to get the best deal possible on, or in, everything I do.  I spend probably too much time analyzing every aspect of things to be sure I'm getting the best deal, or making the best decision. 

3) There are many decisions made simply because "that's what my parents did", or "that's what my friends did", or "that's what was recommended to me" which are simply bad decisions to make (think 30 yr fixed mortgage - which I'll write about sometime).

4) Finally, I hope I can help pass along these ideas and thoughts to use in your own lives,  But, most importantly, I hope you can share your own ideas and successes through this blog.

I suppose much of what will be shared here will be random thoughts and ideas, and if anyone chooses to read this, I'd be interested in theirs as well.  I'll try not to be too political (I hate politics) and pretty practical (though some of my ideas may challenge you).  By no means do I have a corner on any of the things I will write about, but after getting to know hundreds, if not thousands of clients over the years, maturing myself as an adult, being married with four kids, and doing a lot of study, I feel I've learned alot!

I'm starting to construct my first post and hope to have it up in a few days.  With the holiday season rapidly approaching, I thought I would explore some ways to save a few dollars doing many of the activities the holidays provide.  You may find some interesting, and you may think some are crazy, but either way, I hope they get you thinking.  I also hope you'll share your own in the comments area.

Until we meet again....