Looking at My Checkbook

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Gifting Cycle
Work overtime to save it
Spend time to buy it
Find time to wrap it
Make time to give it
No time to enjoy it

I have finished my shopping for Christmas. I am under budget and ahead of schedule. However I haven’t said anything to my coworkers because I don’t want to rub it in. There is a pervasive attitude that to really celebrate you need to spend money – lots of money. More importantly, you must spend money you don’t have! I suppose I’m fortunate to have enough money that I can buy gifts and not go into debt. Then again I’m not using the holiday as an excuse to purchase a luxury item that normally I wouldn’t dream of spending money on. For instance, I would never buy a car as a gift. Nor would I enjoy getting a present that would require severe belt tightening over the course of 5 years! But that is just what some folks do.

As you all know, I’m frugal. My gift budget was $300 for about 30 people. I managed to really save a bundle on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I’d tell you what I bought but there are people reading this who just might be on my gifting list. I will tell you about my steal from Kohl’s. I needed to buy a gift for the work “dirty Santa” exchange (which I hadn’t budgeted for). The cost limit was set between $15- $20. You can’t get a really WOW gift for that amount unless… I had a $10 off a $25 purchase, 25% off when I used my Kohl’s charge card and an extra 15% off for shopping Cyber Monday. They had a Rice Cooker/Vegetable Steamer regularly $49.99 on sale for $35.99 (you can probably see where this is going). The sales clerk took my 15% off first then she took the $10 off and finally took the 25% off giving me a total cost of $16.45 including taxes! It is a much nicer steamer than what I currently own. I always wonder, is it bad form to try to get the gift you bring?

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55 thoughts on “Looking at My Checkbook”

    1. I did even better when shopping this last weekend! I bought $48 of groceries for $6.05! I took son#1 shopping for Christmas presents and he got something that was $25 for $3.02 and then bought me my present reg. $80 for a paltry $13.25… I think he actually enjoyed the experience! I was unable to snag my rice steamer but I did end up with a very nice crockpot!

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  2. Our budget is 200 to 300 dollars. I make so many of our gifts that the little things I buy to finish people out are between 5 to 10 dollars. I use Walmart savings catcher and ibotta and build it up all year to help buy gifts. I also start squirreling away a little money here and there in August for gifts. I am thankful for that this year where our truck being in the body shop two extra weeks totally messed with our cashflow.

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      1. I took 70 out yesterday for supplies for homemade gifts and a few gifts. I had to talk to my mom on one and ask my sister about another before I bought and they are both teachers. I have my brother and my mom left to buy for a small item for each. And our themed gifts for Christmas on Saturday but at the same time I am waiting to see if BIL comes.

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              1. I have one more hour long project to do then I should be done with my side. Than I have one sewing project, one set of glasses to etch, and 4 calanders to print. My tree is to the overfilling point now.

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  3. You are a shopper after my own heart! I cleaned up at Old Navy on black Friday with 50% off plus I had an extra 15% off coupon for my birthday. With three sons to buy for, it was a slam dunk! Plus, one needs a 36 inseam which they will order for me and honor the sale. 😁

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    1. Woot! Sounds like a real bargain! I made some great deals this weekend too. In the words of my husband, I was “stickin’ it to the man” all weekend! I got all my groceries for the week and the holiday for $6.05 which was a record!

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  4. We’ve no gift list. Daughter has a well paying job, her house is paid for, of course her taxes are horrible on it. Our gift will go in a check for the children of Malawi. Naturally my stroke has kept me from shopping for other charities.

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    1. Bonnie I’m sad to hear that your stoke has put so many limitations on you. My sister in law had a couple minor stokes. It was very scary and now with medication and a little physical therapy she is back up to speed -though I doubt she will be playing tennis any time soon…

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  5. My gift-giving is to one person, we all get only one name in the whole family. One person gets my name. Easy this way and everyone saves money. We also donated to Child Fund. Simple and everyone gets a gift.

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    1. We were going to do that with my husband’s family but no one could agree on the price range or the charity… My husband said that he didn’t need any gifts as long as the whole family could gather together!

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  6. I put aside a little for gifts every month — by making some and being careful about what I buy, I usually can do Christmas (with cards, too) within the budget.

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    1. I started shopping for this Christmas right after last Christmas! Looking for the perfect gift takes time and patience! I have some homemade item but they are too fragile to travel in a suitcase on a plane..

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        1. No fear – I plan on having a wonderful time! There will be the whole of the family gathered (my side) ~14 people. I’m sure that with ping-pong, billiards, air hockey, a pool, the ocean and beach, video games, card games, TV (with streaming movies), bicycles, geocaching, and conversation our days and nights will be chock full of activities. And when we get together there will be laughter!!!

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      4. It was a pretty quiet year, compared to some I’ve done — and I didn’t even take enough photos to make a calendar this year! More to come next year, I hope!

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      5. Once I decide whether to move, I’ll be able to settle in and do the things I enjoy — I haven’t sewn a quilt since my 3-year-old great nephew was born; I want to get out and do some more travels, even if only day-trips, I want to do more photography, etc. I’m looking forward to that!

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      6. For a while after I retired, I did a lot of quilting. Then I ran out of new babies to make quilts for, and I turned to photography instead. I may try to get back into the quilting with lap-quilts, but the good fabric stores have disappeared too, so that may not work well!

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        1. Sparky’s grandmother made quilts (he still has his) but she used old clothes… It was fun to see a patch with part of his grandfather’s shirt or one of her old dresses.

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  8. You got a wonderful deal on the rice cooker/ vegetable steamer! I know if you really watch Kohl’s that can happen. I shop for very few people – with my sons getting the bulk of my holiday budget! I’ll be honest – it’s during the holidays I really miss when the kids were little. Those were fun, special years. peace & smiles

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    1. Little kids do make the holiday special… But my sons are still kids at heart and so we have a lot of fun and there is plenty of laughter – I can’t wait for them to unwrap the “lame” tee shirts this year!

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  9. Something there is in a bargain that warms the cockles of our mid-western raised hearts! I shop at a grocery store (not a chain store) frequented by lower income folks. They often have specials like: 6 cucumbers/$1 (99 cents each at the chain supermarket); 4 bunches of cilantro/$1 (regularly 2 but still half of the chains’); pasilla chilies 79 cents/lb (These are big, firm shiny, mild peppers that cost twice as much and are half as nice at other stores). I make dog food from their chicken thighs, priced as low as 89 cents/lb and they are the only store in town where one can buy organ meats (among other things like chicken feet, tripe, beef tongue). And there’s a bonus too…I get to learn and practice my Spanish on people who are paid to be nice and not laugh at me.

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  10. I think angling to get your own gift at the work exchange is fine… it’s anonymous, right? So nobody would know it was yours. I don’t spend a lot on store-bought stuff. What I do buy comes from Gabriel’s, TJ Maxx, the Dollar Store, you get the idea. But I’ve never come close to getting a bargain as good as yours. I make a lot of gifts, including cookies and fudge, and package them creatively (repurposed plastic containers). I splurge on charitable donations, and give some of them as gifts (A certificate that reads: $50 has been donated in your name to ______.) It kills two birds with one stone, I don’t have to shop for it, and the recipient can use it as a tax deduction. I’ve been reusing the same gift bags for myself, hubby, and the fur-babies for many years. Our gifts are everyday things we would buy anyway: shoes, a cutting board, potholders, renewal subscription to the local newspaper. I guess I’d describe our Christmas celebration as “simple.” 🙂

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    1. I have some gift bags that are over 35 years old! Hehe! I have a ribbon that reappears every year. It was my mother’s and she would reuse it until finally I got it on a gift and kept it. Now it can be found on a gift under my tree! We went shopping for a few last minute things with son#1 and I managed to get a gift from him (best kind where I pick it out and he pays for it so it is exactly what I want) – a pair of $80 boots marked down to $25 and then I had a coupon for 50% off! The final cost was $13.38! He also bought another gift that was marked $24.99 but when he as at the cashier, she informed him that it was on sale and with my other coupon $10 off a $10+ purchase he ended up paying $3.02!! This year there aren’t any big items as we are remodeling the boys’ bathroom – sounds extravagant but was to the point of necessity…

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  11. You are right Val . I agree with you . I regret Christmas tends to become the “gifts ‘ feast” . The business make disappear the meaning of Christmas .
    I regret my childhood in France during and after the war II There were not any gifts at Christmas which was only a familial and religious celebration. In the families the children got a gift at St Nicolas’s Day( December 6th )
    Love ❤
    Michel

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    1. The over commercialization of this religious holy day has spread across the globe. There is no turning back the clock to simpler times. We have to figure a way forward that reclaims the joy in the singular event of Christ’s birth!

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