This
season has come and gone leaving us with warm thoughts and good memories. We
had a more modest holiday this year, as I decided beforehand not to overindulge
in spending. I went shopping for my wife only, and left the rest to her, she
does a much better job of it than I do with my once a year binge shopping
sprees.
I
purchased one of Dave Ramsey’s packages for my oldest son, which consisted of a
book and a couple of videos to try and show him some of the better ways to
handle his money, something which I so obviously failed to teach him as he was
growing up. It’s the American way, debt, promissory notes, and credit cards.
It’s a mistake that I truly regret as I see him follow in my footsteps,
borrowing to obtain the things he wants now, and little or no savings. When I
talk to him about how we have to pay over time for what we are getting on
credit anyway, only triple or quadruple the price for the added interest, sort
of like a backward savings account, he understands that it would just be wiser
to save up the money for the purchase.
I
bought myself a pair of work boots to replace the two-year-old ones that were
beginning to let the water in. Funny how you only notice when it’s wintertime.
All of the items I purchased this year were bought with cash, as I was blessed with monetary gifts this year from three different people. I did buy gift envelopes
though, and gave most of the money away in lieu of extravagant gifts to my
immediate family members. This coupled with their smaller, more humble, presents
that their Mama bought them seemed more appropriate than my usual way of doing
things. She is so much better at getting them what they need instead of
what may be a passing fancy.
Say
what you want about monetary gifts being the lazy persons way of avoiding
having to put thought, effort, and time into gift buying, I battled internally
with my own thoughts about gift giving, and the fact that I had already
verbally communicated the need to having a frugal, scaled down Christmas. I
struggled with the idea of putting the cash toward my goal of savings and
getting out of debt, but the words kept coming back to haunt me, “Give, and
it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over”.
So, I gave freely, with no stipulations on how they should use it. Mind you, I
put these money gifts under the tree, and I put bows on them, and I included them in
the gift packages that they already had, and then I took them out. I removed
the fancy bows, and I put them away. Not wanting this to be a part of
Christmas, or to take anything away from the customary gift exchange on
Christmas Eve, I gave them these gifts the next day, almost failing to give my
beautiful wife her envelope on Christmas day as it was almost midnight when I
handed it to her. Seems to me that there was a lot of thought and work going
into this. I’m not saying this is the best way, nor is it for everyone, but it
certainly relieved some of the pressure off of my family, as my oldest had
already expressed his desire to scale back this year on buying so many gifts,
and I echoed his protest, and fully intended to follow through with our
commitment to a smaller, simpler, and yes, cheaper, way of doing things.
The
actions that I took this year were reciprocal, and I relaxed in the knowledge
that poor people were not struggling to buy me several things, which they
really could not afford. I did not do the usual gift opening at the in-laws,
which requires pretty faces, and awkward hugs for sometimes novelty items that
are mostly useless, or hearty thanks for clothing that would fit Sasquatch.
They did send two gifts for me, both of which I’m wearing.
Kay
cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. My oldest and his
family came over and we enjoyed the opening of a few gifts for his babies, and
one each between us. My Mama was here,
and my benevolent sister Lotus, and in addition to her other gifts, she brought
us some really nice curtains which flatter my office much more than the ones
that I already had, but she had to stay late to sew some modifications on the
back to fit the curtain rod. With Lydia’s help from a well timed phone call,
the sewing machine that we thought was useless all these years was fixed
(another impulse buy), that was her gift to us, and the curtains are up, and
nice, if I may say so myself. There are no pictures this year, as I took a
total turnaround from the usual, and decided to forego the amateur photography
and backside profiles of gift giving, so, you folks have something to be
thankful for also.
We
have much to be thankful for, and we are blessed to have family that we love,
and we know what the true meaning of traditional Christmas is, it is about
caring. This is our Christmas.
May
God bless you all with a healthy and prosperous new year.
3 comments:
I really enjoyed your post.... You Cirilo's sure know how to word things and make reading fun :)
Love to all!!
Thanks. Sometimes we are long winded and can be slightly opinionated, but at least we're mildly entertaining when we do decide to share. I keep waiting on somebody else to post so I can have a few guffaws at them too. So write up already! :)
I ended up posting on the pics page at the url you included. But, I could add that I share Jenn's opinion. I enjoyed the post. (also the dinner!)
While I am a fan of building credit via credit cards, I don't believe in paying interest to the cc companies. I'm a pay-in-full kinda person who won't carry a balance except by necessity and then only if the APR is something like 0.0 or 1.9. I learned the hard way though.
I once had a sears account (actually still have it) that I could never pay off bec the interest ate me up every month. I finally had to pay five grand on it to make it go away. Even then, they burned me with more fees. Called and asked for pay off. Called the bank and had the money wired. By the time sears posted the pmt, they had added more interest. I didn't open the next billing bec I assumed it was going to say zero balance. Got hit with late fees on top of the interest.
Now, if I use the card (which I can use at kmart these days, comes in handy since we don't have a local sears and I like kmarts garden center), I PIF (pay in full) on or before the due date - sometimes on or before the billing date. I don't charge it if I can't pay. I prefer to charge to build my credit so if and when I ever do invest in a house, I can buy at decent rates based on a decent credit score. I've raised each of my three fico scores over 100 points each in the last year or so operating like this.
Must confess, it was out of necessity that I reevaluated and educated myself on credit. Having had a decent paying job for years, I used to charge and pay without thinking abt it. Decided to pay things off when I realized my life circumstances were changing. Took a small fortune to get out of debt, not to mention a lotta backbone to refrain from using my charge cards while I pd them down. Burned myself by making poor decisions in the process. Has taken me a while to dig myself out.
Nonetheless, I've learned some valuable lessons and helped others along the way. Besides, at least one of my cc companies keeps sending me $20 certificates good for gas, goods or cash at the local raceway and I kinda like getting paid to use that card. *grin* Now, guffaw away!
p.s. It's the savings side I haven't managed to get ahead on - yet. But, I'm plugging away at it, a few dollars at a time. As it stands, in cases of emergency, I'll have to fall back on my cards. Hopefully, that aspect will change, ever so gradually. It's harder, when you're "poor people" to manage savings, but not bec I don't understand the importance. Like I sd, plugging away at it.....
And, good for you on your transition in lifestyle vis-a-vis your credit and sharing with your kids. Smart moves. And, great christmas. Really enjoyed the time with yr family as well as the scaled back gift giving. As I stated on the pics page, it was more in line with our gift giving as well, and takes the pressure off. Hope this is just the first of many scaled back holidays to come. love and hugs.
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