Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Simplifying Christmas & Staying Debt-Free

Simplifying Christmas and maintaining that debt-free progress? Yes, it can be done!

#1. Remember what Christmas is all about. Is about making sure you get everyone the perfect gift? Is it rushing around to every Christmas party, event, or program? Is it about spending money or eating too much or exhausting yourself? No! Christmas is the time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus by sharing His love with those you love. That’s really it. Jesus didn’t say we had to lose our minds and our control, retailers told us that.

#2. Identify your family’s Christmas mission & set priorities. We discussed and got buy-in from our kids that we wanted Christmas to revolve around Jesus’ birth and life and our family. We emphasized that it is not about how many presents we get. Set your priorities as a family. Determine how many parties, events, and programs you will attend. Which ones are most important to you as a family? Life is busy enough as it is so set your boundaries. 

#3 Set your Christmas budget. This year was the first time we actually saved all year in preparation for Christmas gifts. You already have your own personal family financial budget, right? (I hope so otherwise you may find yourself in big trouble down the road! Please google “budgeting”, visit a reputable website like Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial, or ask me to get the tools you need to get your budget on track.) So in reviewing your budget, how much do you have left over to spend on Christmas? It is not worth going into debt for folks. Let me repeat, IT IS NOT WORTH GOING INTO DEBT FOR. Jesus would not want you to do that. Last year, we set an amount and divided that by 12 months and began putting that amount away each month so that we would have a specific, ear-marked fund to spend on Christmas gifts, decorations, and foods. We stuck to that budget. We know Christmas is going to come every year whether we are ready or not, don’t be surprised by holiday gift giving – be on top of it all year.

For Christmas decorations, ornaments, and wrapping paper stock up on that in the week following Christmas for 50 to 90% deals! We bought plain brown craft paper in a huge roll that was 10x more paper for the same price as one or two wimpy rolls of Christmas-themed wrapping paper. You can use this all year round and decorate it for Christmas, Valentine’s, birthdays, or other occasions.

#4 Make your list and check it twice. As part of our budget, we had to determine what amount would go to our kids, ourselves, family members, friends, neighbors, and others. Our list is rather small because our focus is not on gift giving but it is on our family. Our kids reap the majority of our Christmas budget and a couple of other close family members. It’d be great to buy shiny expensive gifts for everybody we know, but I’m sorry, I love you, but I’m not willing to go into debt or sacrifice my future for it.

We do plan time to bake cookies or other tasty treats to share with friends, neighbors, as hostess gifts, and for others in our lives. I think a gift you made with your own hands is one that comes straight from the heart, people generally love it, and it’s an expensive way to share the love (and stay in budget).

#5 Jesus was born in a barn and slept in a feeding trough. Period. That was the perfect Christmas. I’m not sure how, during the past 2014 years or so Santa, trees, decorations, excessive gifts, and losing our minds with a flurry of activity is what it seems to have evolved into the quest for the “perfect Christmas”. I am not opposed to Santa, Christmas trees and decorations, gifts, or parties and events, but I just say no to the over excessiveness of it all and the energy-zapping, endless running for the sake of what should be a sacred holiday.

This year we did have to buy a small, inexpensive artificial tree after many years of having a beautiful real North Carolina Frazier fir from Uncle Jimmy. The rest of our décor came from the woods – fresh pine boughs, cedar, evergreens, holly, and even some mistletoe decorated our mantle, living room, and dining room. We have been blessed with the inheritance and gift of so many wonderful Christmas ornaments which we use to decorate our tree along with ornaments the kids have made throughout the years. Two days after Christmas I ran into Walmart and bought several 100-bulb light strands for barely $1 each, so we’ll have more / improved tree lights in 2015! I refused to buy them beforehand!


For my part, except for the absence of my dearest family members, we had a perfect Christmas. We ate, we drank, we sang, we decorated, we baked, we danced, we gave gifts, we made cards, we gathered with friends and neighbors, and we celebrated the birthday of Jesus. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

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