Making It About the Money

  We are going to  make it through Christmas...and here's how.

  1. Clean out a space in your closet or your spare room for a HUGE empty box.Cut the top off of the box. Wrap said empty box is colorful, happy paper.

2. Cut up your credit cards and sprinkle them like fairy dust into colorful happy box. Consider this your first Christmas present to your family.

3. Get a notebook. Write down on the first page in big bold type what year it is. Then make a list of everyone that you want to give presents to. (If this list is over 25 people, skip to #4 immediately.)

4. Inventory the adults in your life who talk about what they want for Christmas..not about what they are giving but about what they want. Pick 2 that you don't love and mark them off your Christmas list. If you are one of those adults.....give this blog to your significant other and learn your lesson.

5. Go shopping. But not for "fun" stuff. You will be going to the dollar store and buying 10 dollars worth of tape, wrapping paper, scissors, and a pen. Also buy yourself a cute little storage basket to keep these things in. You may not ever loan them out to children, especially teenagers. Ever.

6. Your goal is to put back at least 20 dollars a week for Christmas. The higher your income, the more you can put back. This starts the first week of January, no kidding. If you cannot trust yourself with cash, then go to your favorite store and start collecting gift cards. Every week. You are not giving gift cards for Christmas. What you are doing is hoarding some serious money for a rainy day when you need out of the house and need retail therapy. Except, you aren't using the credit card, and you aren't shopping for YOU. If you cannot do this, we need to talk. As in, you need to be yelled at by me.

7. Don't buy random gifts. Buy for the specific person. If you go to Target and buy the pre-wrapped gifts, then you have wasted money on gifts and you'll wind up giving those gifts to people you don't like or neighbors you never see, just to get rid of the gifts..not cool. Wasted money is not cool. You should feel guilty. Christmas gifts jump out at you throughout the year. You have to be prepared to have money and KNOW who you are buying for.

8. Buy for their hobbies. I collect stuff. Most people do. Taa-daa. Now you know what to get me. The antique store is actually the greatest place to shop for Christmas. It becomes personal. You have to put thought into it. No more lotion, no more gloves, no more cheap perfume from the drug store. This is Christmas, put some love into it.  If you don't know what to get them, then you don't know them enough to share Christmas with them. (the end).

8. Create your own gift baskets for the gardener, the teacher, the artist. You can have tons of fun with retail therapy if you are shopping at Lowe's, Bed Bath or Michael's if you push yourself to get creative.

9. Your kids may want big ticket items. That's fine. You may want to give those to your kids...just make sure you aren't seeing these wishes as demands. If it's not FUN to watch them open the presents, then your whole family loses. (The same could be said for you.)

10. As soon as you bring your gifts into the house, take a few minutes. Pat yourself on the back, and wrap them!! You have everything you need: wrapping paper, tape, a big box to put the presents in, and a notebook so you know what you have bought. You are Christmas. You have a little Christmas each and every month! Unless you just saved up allll those 20 dollar bills for one gigantic shopping spree in December! Wow is all I can say! Have FUN!

Now for the hard part.
11. Make sure you stop by the local elementary school the week before Christmas and drop off a new coat. The principal will know who needs it. Stop in at the local soup kitchen and offer a gift card to a grocery store or food from your own garden. Stop by the local prison and drop off stamps, greeting cards, books and magazines.  Go by the local school and give money to the principal for a field trip, there are always kids who cannot pay for field trips and the teacher usually pays out of pocket. Tell the school secretary that you want to buy a yearbook for a kid that cannot afford one. Feed the teachers breakfast one morning. There are nursing homes in your community that don't have corporate help, they may need blankets.  If you don't like people, then drop off old blankets to the animal shelter or give them a cash donation to help poorer families be able to get rabies shots for their pet. And if you have the extra money, then buy real presents for a family you know  who needs a Christmas hug. There are opportunities in your neighborhood. Be Santa!

So now you have shopped all year for Christmas and you have nothing else to stress over. Enjoy your Christmas bonus. Enjoy your time off. And maybe go out on Black Friday just to mock people. After all, you did get  that Strawberry Shortcake Doll back in October when it was 25 percent off.  HA!! You are so cool.