Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

If you find Christmas depressing you are not doing it right. (You spent money you don't have on people you don't like - stop that.)

Make spreading JOY your Christmas Tradition and you will find yourself and your family feeling . . . well, Joyous.

Don't believe the ads and marketing - spreading Cheer costs virtually nothing, though it is priceless.

There's still plenty of time to spread some Jolly around.

Have you been to a nursing home lately?

It's a sad, depressing place. Until YOU brought your children with their smiling faces and did a little dance or sang a sweet song. You don't need an invitation or a reservation - any nursing home in the country will welcome a smiling family with 30 minutes to say Merry Christmas or sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

My mother-in-law produces a Grandkid Christmas Pageant every year. Every kid gets to learn a part and participate. We took the show to a Nursing Home to spread some Christmas Joy this year.

Making your neighborhood safer with Christmas Cheer is a wise investment.

We let Ainsley play outside with her friends unsupervised. I know it's a very old-fashioned thing to do. But, we do it for 4 great reasons -
1. We believe she can handle herself and every little bit of experience in handling herself in the neighborhood without supervision makes her better at handling herself.
2. We do not parent out of fear. We teach courage and parents have to go first.
3. We still believe in the overall goodness of human beings like our neighbors.
4. It makes her happy.

To make our neighborhood safer we go out into it and knock on doors and introduce ourselves. We delivered Christmas candles to spread Christmas Cheer. Zack, to his eternal remorse is not allowed out alone yet, but within the next few years he will be and twice this year the neighbors have brought him back after he escaped.

Knock. Knock. Hi, we're Tracee and Jeremy and these are our children. Perhaps you see them playing in the street, riding their bikes, hanging out with their friends. We sure do appreciate you looking out for them and helping them stay out of trouble. We're so happy we live in a safe neighborhood where people look out for each other's children.

This actually cost me nothing. See, my mother's neighborhood does this and she has been saving up the Christmas Candles delivered to her house for years. She's allergic to the scents and could not use them. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Very frugal neighborhood gifts that you might try include Christmas cookies, cocoa, fresh baked bread, banana bread, candy canes, ornaments from thrift stores, etc. Do whatever is easiest for you.

Christmas Caroling to the town's shut-ins.

Anonymously leave money for someone (in front of your kids).

Clear out toys and clothes we've outgrown to give to a family whose house burned down.

Light the Advent Candles as a family at church. Ainsley read a very long recitation and prayer perfectly.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

If you do these types of Holiday Traditions with a smile on your face and Merry in your heart . . .

**How could your children possibly think Christmas is about getting stuff?**

Monday, December 22, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Ainsley's two grandmothers, eh hem I mean two sets of grandparents, pooled their Christmas dollar to get Ainsley a real American Girl Doll.

Doesn't Kit Kittridge look just like her?

It might just be an absurd amount of money to spend on a doll.

But, its like when my husband was researching our next phone plan and he kept trying to tell my father-in-law and I about other phones and all the "even better" deals and features.

But we want IPhones. We said.

It would be just like the time when we got a new computer that we could afford and it was a small PC. I hated it every time I used it. It was frustrating and annoying.

Yet, my used Macbook Pro makes my heart sing every single time I touch its keys.

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The American Girl Doll is like that. It makes her happy every time she looks at it, holds it and thinks about it. Are there cheaper dolls? Sure. Dolls that pee and some you can take in the tub? Yeah. Could we get a knock off that look exactly the same for 1/2 the price? You bet. But, it is not the same. It's not. No, it's really not. You can say it is. You can try to convince her and yourself that it is. But, it's still not.

She got it early. So NaNa could be there to see her face when she opened it. Unfortunately, my mother lives in Utah.

It's a big deal - they don't indulge her like this every year.

If you pop out an early gift it's a bigger deal than one which gets swamped under the avalanche of other gifts from everyone on Christmas Day.

Also, I didn't want that American Girl upstaging us and Santa.

The moral of the story?

* Sometimes the brand matters. Even a used or reconditioned one of exactly what we want is better than another brand on certain items. Factor in resell value.

* Pool money between relatives for THE thing.

* Don't upstage each other's gifts. Sometimes that means an early present is appropriate. The child really gets a lot more enjoyment out of an early present.

Oh, and if you're sucking in anxiety this year sit down and count out all the other people who will be giving to your children. I count this as a frugal tip because it costs me nothing but mediation between two sets of grandparents.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Come back until Christmas for more Frugal Christmas Tips. Ho Ho Ho I'm feeling Jolly!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Your community has free Christmas stuff. I've never lived in a community that didn't. Do it. Participate. Don't grumble. Put a smile on your face and sing Jingle Bells while doing it.

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Ainsley was in the parade with her Brownie troop - we watched.

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Look! Santa!

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Our church did a Christmas Tree Forest and invited the town. It was beautiful.

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Our Sunday School Class did a "Joy to the World" Tree. We had a potluck and decorated our tree together.

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There was Living Nativity and they gave us free punch and cookies.

It was a really fun Christmas family-time weekend.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

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Deck the Halls.

Make a family day of it. We went out for Chinese Food after Church, hit Walmart for the tree, had a hop on Santa's lap (bye bye memory of Mall Santa - Santa's at Walmart now and gives you a free photo in an hour). It's always exciting to see what we've collected and decide where to put it. Playing Christmas Carols in the background.

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Hint #1 - There's nothing Joyful or Merry about hissing "don't touch!" Put the breakable decorations up high and keep plenty of plush Santas and Frostie, wooden Manger Scenes, fabric decorations, cheap
Nutcrackers and Santa Hats down low - meant for playing.

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Hint #2 - Hit the Thrift Stores and Garage Sales. You'll find all sorts of ornaments and decorations that bring back warm and fuzzy feelings for you.

My mom handed down some ornaments and I realized how much I'm carrying on my childhood family traditions. I was especially happy to hang the 30 year old plastic mistletoe on the entry chandelier.

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Dude, plastic lighted Santa was only $20 at Walmart. I could not resist the simple pleasure.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in November.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip#3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6
Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Over the last several years I've been "opting out" of Christmas obligations and reducing the spending while increasing the fun. Have you noticed it is NO FUN to get a second job or charge up your credit cards to buy unappreciated gifts.

That's the anti-thesis of fun.

When my friends and family complain about the endless gifting and the lack of equitable gifting or lack of gratitude expressed by others for their gifts, I tell them, "Just stop doing it."

One of my friends took my advice this year and I suspect a few more will as well. She's given me permission to publish her email to her friends and family.

Dear Friends and Family,

In the interest of making the holidays less stressful and expensive for everyone, we have decided the best gift we can give our friends and family is not to participate in gift exchanges this year. Please use any money you would have spent on us for your own family or to help someone in need.

We are still looking forward to spending time together celebrating the season and enjoying each other’s company. With that in mind, we would like to invite you to a Holiday Party at our home on Saturday, December 13 at 4 p.m. We'll send more details as the date gets closer.

Love,

Your Name Here

The response from their friends and family?

Relief.

Her current feelings when she sees all the Christmas Marketing now?

Peace.

Copy and paste the note and forward it to your extraneous Christmas list. This will leave plenty of money for the really important people in your life: your spouse, your children, your parents and your children's teachers.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in November.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip 2 <

Christmas Tip #1