$700 is what I spent this year on Christmas. I know realistically, this is a low budget compared to most other households. But $700 is a lot of money. It would be enough to buy groceries for a family for three months. And this is one of the things I am starting to really take issues with when it comes materialism. The value exchange we placis tipping the scales in a way I don't agree with. And it is one of the things I want to change in my life.
Christmas is probably one of the worst times to become a minimalist. But it can also be the best time too. The worst time because, every year there are certain people I buy for no matter what. Fortunately, the number of people is fairly low thanks to one year we made the rule "kids only". And it gets easier because each family only buys one gift for each kid. Which means on Christmas my daughter will only get four gifts from outside family members. Doable. Livable. Not overwhelming. And even better, is that nearly all the family members checked in with me before buying the gifts as they know many of the items get tossed out if they don't meet a certain criteria. The best time, because it has kept me from going over board. I likely would have spent closer to $1200.
So here is where the scales sort of tip unfairly. I only have one child. Everyone else has two kids or more. So while every other family is only buying one gift for my daughter. I am buying two or more gifts for each family. Easily adds up to a quite a bit more. Each year, I'm fairly strict with my budget. I won't go over $20 per kid. I refuse to. But even with that, I end up spending about $160 on gifts for other people's kids and honestly... I rather spend the money on my own family. Then I always buy for my mom and her husband. And they are impossible to buy for because they have everything. So normally, I buy them a gift card to a really nice restaurant. Usually spend about $100 on them.
Then there's my husband and daughter. The good news is that it is all mostly functional items. This year I'm buying them both electric toothbrushes, that comes to $80. I also bought matching memory foam pillows for my husband and I, another $100 Miscellaneous books and art supplies for my daughter, another $50. Socks, $50. And some toys for her current collection, another $50. Add in wrapping paper and miscellaneous and that comes to to about $700 including the above. Had I not recently decided to officially become a minimalist, I likely would have spent closer to $1200.
Recently a friend of mine told me she normally feels very guilty, angry and let down after Christmas. She often frantically buys a lot of presents to "top" what she did the year before for her kids. But after all the presents are opened and everyone's off to their rooms, there s a big let down that happens. All that frenzied shopping and anticipation and the results: disappointing. Than you feel guilty because now you're slightly broke or the money could have gone towards replacing the hot water heater or something else. Something you all really needed. Now you're angry. Because you know that much shopping and spending doesn't align with your moral compass. But you did it anyway. So really,you're angry at yourself. Combine being broke and feeling guilty and you have the biggest let down in all of history happening every single year.
Next year, I'm going to skip Christmas. This year I did not have enough time to implement that with my family and relatives. By the time I realized I wanted to skip Christmas this year, it was too late. Everything had already been set in motion. Fortunately, I was able to keep it in check. But skipping Christmas will not be easy. There's a lot of people who won't understand. And some will object. Including those who live under my roof.
This is something I will work on this year. It might be that we go on a family vacation for three days. The money that would normally be spent on gifts. We spend on time together as a family instead at the beach or at a ski lodge. And we just let everyone know that in 2015, we won't be home. Who knows, maybe everyone will actually be relieved to have one less person to spend money on.
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