No Money for Christmas

I don't know if I've ever met anyone who didn't wish they had more money to spend at Christmas! I could always use more money, and I also want to get more gifts for my family. But, it is what it is, and I have to live within my means, and I am very fortunate that everyone in my family understands that. Thankfully, neither of my kids are materialistic at all, and so small, thoughtful gifts mean more to them than if I went on a shopping spree at the mall and got them 20 gifts each!

My children are still young and it hurts me a lot but this year our church is having to be "Santa" for our kids because we just don't have it. =( It breaks my heart but I am praying next year will be better. That's all I can do.

Christmas has so many expectations to make us feel sad or inadequate. I often wonder if there is enough money in the world for what we want. I have mostly done my shopping with gift cards from Amazon. That is why I am so determined to do well and meet my goals on Swagbucks and here. I always want to spend more on gifts, year around.

I don't wish I had more money to buy Christmas gifts.

I would like to have more money to buy gifts for those I love, I do my best to please them with what I have.

Why is Christmas all about money and, material things? Christmas should be about spending time with the people that make you happy. As I have got older, I could care less about gifts. I would much rather have people over for drinks, munchies, laughter and, just a plain good time. Maybe do something simple like a big pot of chili on Christmas day for dinner. Keeping it simple has more meaning to me than, spending loads of money!

I wasn't full of money this year either. My kids got what they wanted but I went low on everyone else. After all, it is all about the kids.

You can space out the shopping to avoid getting overburdened in a month.

I think most people need more money for face big celebrations like Christmas. But, not all people have enough money to make a good gift in the big day. It is a good idea if you celebrate the day with simple thing that match with your budget.

I don't buy for many people - just one grandson and one niece and my husband (and the dog) I put limits on how much I spend (except for the dog)

I know exactly what you mean and how you feel. There have been a couple of years when I couldn't afford to buy anyone anything (my kids are grown). I felt so bad about it but my kids and grandkids were great and never made me feel any different.

As Jeff says, we'd probably all like a bit more to spend on Christmas gifts. I try not to get drawn into the big, expensive gift thing but find something that is really personal for each person.

I always wish I could give more. But I tend to get a lot of small things for each person and try to get creative with things on sale.

Brenda, It is no disgrace to not have a lot of money to spend on Christmas. Personally, I prefer to be cheap and spend $10 on materials to give a gift that can be passed down through generations of little ones. If I'm lucky, like this year, I can give one gift to 2 grandchildren, In this case, My 2 little Pirate Grandsons. This gift will put me out scrap wood I'd not use otherwise and perhaps $7 extra. Oh, It will be a Toybox in Pirate chest form, perhaps early next week and I'm done, Then I can procrastinate until the last minute again next year. haha

To me it's all about family but i like to give alot of gifts also if i can. I start shopping in october so then i know i have plenty of time to save and get the gifts i need.

We have had years like that so I know how it feels. This year we used our credit card so we were able to have the Christmas we want for the kids, though hubby and I still agreed not to get gifts for each other. We have 5 kids so no matter how much money there is it's still hard to get what we want for them and afford gifts for each other on top of that.

It is not necessary to give gifts in order to have a good time. Christmas should not be a commercial holiday anyway.

When I was a kid, I was overloaded with presents at every occasion. Christmas was particularly bad, because everyone seemed to feel that they had to one-up each other when it came to gifts. It got to be so bad that gift opening was almost an all-day affair. I felt kind of like a performing monkey, because as soon as I'd opened one gift someone else was shoving another brightly-wrapped present into my hands. I never got the chance to appreciate the gifts as I opened them, and then there was the fact that I never had room for any of that stuff... I try to limit what I get my kids because of that. The way we celebrate these days, it's more about the time with family than the commercialism. They're happy with whatever they get, for the most part, and the highlights tend to be things like baking together, decorating the tree, and sitting down to enjoy Christmas dinner as a family. As far as having more money to spend on gifts... not really. I buy throughout the year, and most of my finds are clearance items. Recent purchases aside, my grand total for spending was well under $100 the last time I calculated it. Even the recent items didn't cost me anything out of pocket, since I redeemed gift cards from a site to get those things.

Too many people make Christmas into something it is not. It is now a HUGE secular event, where merchants expect (and individuals too) tons of money to be spent.

why not save a small amount each week in a jar or bottle ... you would be surprised how it mounts up over the year.