Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

No, my calendar is not screwed up; I do realize that it’s the middle of July. But, the fact remains, in less than six months, you may have to fork out a lot of money for holiday presents. And it’s never too early to stop planning for that eventuality. Here are a couple of ideas to help you get through the “best time of the year” without ending the year in the poor house.

Holidays are for children

Some people opt for gift giving only to the kids in the family, and let the parents stand by to oooh and aaah and provide gentle reminders (“Now, what do you say? You say, ‘thank you’ that’s what you say”). Set a fixed price that you plan to spend, per child, and keep to it; most importantly, don’t cheat. Really. Kids know when they’ve been gypped, and they’re not too shy to point it out, clearly and loudly (“How come he got a PS3 and all I got was a pair of socks?”). Avoid the mortification, stick to the plan.

The family gift

If you’ve got a large family, however, such as the one my poor sister married into (12 siblings and at least 2 kids per, so figure 24+ nieces and nephews… on that side of the family alone!), you might want to consider a “communal” gift per family. As a kid, I hated when that happened, but as an adult, I say, “tough noogies, you’re lucky you’re getting anything, at all.” I know, I’m so mature.

Holiday savings plan

Remember the days of the Christmas club accounts you signed up with at the bank, and every week you deposited $5. It’s a little late for signing up (if banks even still offer such things), but it’s not too late for you to put a little away every week. There’s still about 22 weeks left till Christmas, so put aside what you can each week, and use that for gift buying. You can also save online at www.smartypig.com, which allows you to make regular deposits until you’ve met your savings goal; deposits are FDIC insured.

Lay away

Given how the U.S. economy is in the toilet, retailers are offering all kinds of bargains and sales, so now is the time to take advantage. Don’t have the money for an outright purchase? Try the lay away option, this way you can take advantage of a good sales price, and pay for the gift with regular payments. Believe it or not, you can also shop online and put an item on layaway, if you use an online service such as www.elayaway.com or www.lay-away.com. It works the same way as the B&M stores; you find what you like through their linked merchandisers, put the item in your basket and make the first monthly payment on it. When you’ve paid in full, the item is sent to you.

Sorry, no gifts this year, I’ve converted…

My DH (dear husband, for those of you not familiar with cyber-speak), back in the days long before he became my DH, used to tell people that he was agnostic or atheist or some such thing, so that he could entirely avoid the hassle and expense of holiday gift exchanges. Unfortunately, that excuse won’t work on your family, who know you better, so you’d best make other plans. And as for my DH, that “line” only worked the first year, and he’s been paying for it ever since.

Happy Holidays!


--Debt Diva for DebtStoppers