The Upcoming Holidays

I'm going to be a curmudgeon here...I hate the holiday season. The time between November 1st and January 1st feels like a huge marketing scam, and no matter how hard I try, I'm always caught somewhere in the middle of it. I understand how good it feels to give gifts, and receive them too...but 2 months of preparation and basically every TV, radio and print ad just screaming at me to buy, buy, buy...I don't want any part of it. But, I will give in and celebrate a little, if for nothing else than to give my daughter some memories of family togetherness and happiness during the holidays. (We're not Christian, but just about everyone around us is, so we celebrate secularly, if that's possible).

We don't travel during the holidays, and I try to avoid the shopping centers. If we do any shopping, it is usually online or an off-hours trip to Target. The past 2 years, we've been on a strict budget for Christmas, and we've still spent about $500 each year. That includes all gifts, a tree, decorations, wrapping paper, cards, stamps, etc. This year, we don't have ANY savings for Christmas, and I don't want to go deeper into debt.

We've told relatives that we can't afford gifts, and ask them not to give us any. They still give gifts to our daugther, and then we feel she has to give them "a little something"...and a bunch of a little somethings add up to a lot. And we do like to buy one big present for our daughter each year and an ornament and stocking stuffers. This year, it will be her first bike.

The holidays in debt are just no fun. It is rather embarassing or hard to explain. My husband and I have a budget of $20 for gifts for each other. Then, after the holidays friends and co-workers will ask, "what did you get?" and I have to reply "a DVD"...when everyone around me is getting these extravagant gifts. And don't get me wrong, 1 DVD is more than enough for me, but the rest of the world seems to think that we all should be showered with gifts, and there must be something wrong with my family, if that's all they got me. I just hate consumerism. I think Christmas trees are pretty, I'm all for the togetherness of the season, but just because it is November and December doesn't mean we all have to go into more debt just to regret it in January.

November Update

I apologize for not writing last month. I had planned to post in this blog more frequently, but my debt reduction hasn't been moving as quickly as I had hoped. In the past 2 months, I've been able to reduce my debt by less than $500, and my savings account is still only $25.

Murphy's Law has come in to play, and we've had some unexpected expenses arise- such as medical expenses, plumbing, pest control, and our car insurance doubling due to a speeding ticket from last year. But, I can't be blameless in all of this- we went out to eat a few too many times, spent a lot on a Halloween party, and just didn't stick to the budget. My family is really trying to stick to that budget, but I think the budget is unrealistic...but, we don't have any money leftover after bills to make the budget any larger.

My husband's side business hasn't brought in any extra income yet...but hopefully that will change soon. The only extra income I made last month was from Craigslist- $50 from selling an old mower and car seat. I am listing my daughter's stroller, infant car seat, crib, and toddler bed for sale...maybe someone will want to buy those. Of course, my daughter has grown a lot, and we had to purchase a twin mattress set for her. We'd love to get her a whole bedroom set, but can't afford that yet.

I have other excuses- but really "life happens" and it costs money. Our debt hasn't gotten any larger since I started this blog...that is a very good thing. We're going to keep plugging away at this, and I hope to make much faster progress in 2008.