I just realized that it's December. *blink blink*
Holy crap, it's December 2nd already?
I'm not ready for Christmas yet! No!! Not yet!!!
I'm not actually panicked about it, the teens know that they are each getting one gift with a value of just $80 bucks or less, and then all kinds of stocking stuffers from me.
They know that I cannot afford to go crazy shopping for Christmas even if stuff is on sale.
The teens are really easy to shop for though, they either want Xbox 360 games like Assassin's Creed II or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, or they want a couple of characters moved around in their WoW account.
Doing stuff in Wow is just as expensive as an in-hand video game purchase, and I will be leaving it up to them to decide exactly what they want, but they have to stay within the price range of $80 each.
That's just all that I can afford to do this year, things have been super tight with having to replace the AC twice just since February, and then having to pay a lot of out of pocket for Mark's doctor visits and meds, and transportation to and from both of our appointments, pay a lot of cash out of pocket for some of my meds not covered by my insurance, things are what they are.
But I know that I'm not the only family that is struggling this year to try and provide a half-way decent Christmas for our kids, everybody is feeling the pinch of the economy.
The teens are really great about it though, they know what's what and they are ok with it, plus they know that they will get cash from relatives so they can go buy what they want to buy themselves.
You ask them what they want from a relative for Christmas because that relative asked, both of the teens say cash. haha
They just like money, hey, who doesn't right?
They like to get cash because they then can spend it on what they want or save it for awhile.
Last year, they both managed to save the majority of the money they got all of the way into spring, I was impressed by their ability to not go crazy and spend it.
But when they do want to buy something like a video game, they hand over their money to me and I purchase it from Buy.com or wherever with my debit card.
That works out really well because I don't have to go over to teh video game store where they are just looking at everything and can't make up their minds.
Shopping online makes them have to make a decision with no dilly-dallying at all, it's definitely my preferred way to shop.
Comments
Perhaps this bad economy does have some sort of silver lining - maybe more people will realize that Christmas isn't just about buying stuff. In all of the buying frenzy, people have forgotten what Christmas really is about - family, friends, and spending time with them. It's like in the Dr. Seuss story of the Grinch...he stole all the Whos' stuff, but the Whos still came down to the town square on Christmas and sang their Who-Christmas song.
Not that I'm against Christmas presents, I just think that people shouldn't feel that they have to spend more than they can afford. And I agree about shopping online; not only can you find better deals (thanks, Buy.com for a great price on my early gift, a mew monitor!), but you avoid all of the madness in regular stores.
So maybe people will see that not being able to buy carloads of stuff for Christmas is not so bad after all It's time for people to see what is really important.
Posted by: Christine | December 3, 2009 5:12 AM
Hey Kat,
When I read your post about video games it got me to thinking....my lil brother (if almost 21 is little) still lives at home and so he can afford to buy the newest games which he always does. He plays them in about one or two days then takes them in for in store credit which is next to nothing. The store turns around and sells them for only $5.00 less then brand new. I could ask my brother if he would be willing to sell them to your sons for cheap but slightly more than in store credit and shipping would be cheap for something so light even with insurance. If you are interested I could ask him. It isn't about the money it is just about games being so expensive and I feel like to stores rip people off as it is by charging so much for used games that just came out and were traded back. If you are interested e-mail me and I will talk to him.
Posted by: alisha | December 3, 2009 10:26 AM