Doing Christmas in a wealthier way

I have personally always found Christmas to be a stressful time of year.

For me, it represents the end of a busy year.

Normally, by the time Christmas comes around, I’m either approaching serious fatigue or complete burn out.

The heat gets turned up at this time of year and the batteries run dry.

There’s normally more social activities, carparks become scarce and you tend to be over-eating as well.

Then, as you approach the light at the end of the tunnel, the world throws on the extra stress of having to find the perfect gift for your family.

You may also partake in Secret Santa at work, trying to find the perfect gift for someone you don’t know that well.

For many, there is also travel to see family and children on holidays to entertain.

It really is the silly season.

And for many, there is the financial pressure of ‘how am I going to afford this?’

When you’re a child, Christmas is all about the presents. But as you get older, Christmas becomes more about presence.

Presence with family and friends. This is infinitely more valuable and one of the great gifts of ageing is a growing appreciation of this truism.

So as a frugal person, I’ve developed a list of strategies to help you deal with this time of year.

• Never go into debt for Christmas presents.
  

• If you can’t afford to buy gifts, be honest with those you love. They’ll appreciate your honesty and if they really love you, they won’t expect you to financially compromise yourself.
  

• A thoughtful gift is oftentimes better than an expensive gift.
  

• If you are buying for family, set a limit on the dollar value of gifts. That way everyone knows what to spend and doesn’t feel guilty. Encourage people not to spend more than the limit as it can lead to guilt. This is something we have done as a family as the spending was starting to get out of hand and was increasing every year.
  

• Sometimes family members don’t want to exchange gifts and that’s okay. Identify those family members and make sure they are happy with that approach.
  

• Cards are ridiculously expensive. Think about where else you can write a message. Inside the cover of a book, within the present itself, on the wrapping paper.
  

• Buying presents during the boxing day sales is one of the best ways to save money. As most retailers are keen to offload their excessive stock, the discounts can be well worth waiting one extra day to take advantage of. I have known of friends that will do a shopping date on Boxing Day as their gifts to each other.
  

• Experiences are more memorable than products.
  

• As a general rule, everyone has enough stuff. When buying more ‘stuff’, be mindful to check that their old stuff needs replacing. We have often received pots and pans, knife sets, cutting boards etc, only to put them aside and continue to use our existing products that had absolutely nothing wrong with them.
  

• Regifting is okay and I would encourage it. There’s no point hanging on to gifts you won’t use when you genuinely think someone else will appreciate it. Regift with thought though, don’t just offload your shitty presents to someone else.
  

• If the gift is a novelty and not usable day-to-day, don’t buy it. The world doesn’t need more production of useless gifts consuming our limited resources, and the ocean doesn’t need more crap to store.
  

• Remember to keep receipts
  

• Preloaded debit cards are better than store gift cars and can be spent much more freely than store gift cards.

So there are my tips for saving money at Christmas. I’d love to hear yours in the comments below.