Everything is difficult when you're faced with a budget, but the holidays are a special kind of difficult—filled with good cheer and expectations of Christmas miracles.
It's this time of year, as we religiously watch our bank balances and cash-on-hand, that we're forced to make the hard choices, do I buy the drone with the spy camera or do I pay my rent (+utilities, +groceries, etc.). Do I donate my loose change to the red bucket or do I buy myself a sorely needed cup of coffee?
Do I donate my loose change to the red bucket or do I buy myself a sorely needed cup of coffee?
Okay, so maybe you talk yourself out of the spy drone, because basic necessities do have a tendency to win out (eventually). And I make no judgments about choosing coffee over the Salvation Army (but, truth be told, I like most coffee establishments' equal opportunity employment policies over those of the SA).
And then there's every parents' salvation—
The Dollar Store. Where you can find all manner of cheap, colorful plastic baubles that will last just long enough to appease the kiddos before they end up in the landfill of life.
The flip-side of that coin is the "homemade Christmas." Which seems like a practical idea until you realize how much work is involved and how much money you end up spending anyway because that cute idea you saw for a knitted / sewn / baked / grown / built / whatever gift costs more than that drone in materials.
It's like that gardener who decided he was going to save money by growing his own food. By the time he built the raised beds, amended the soil, bought the seeds and all the supplies, and paid for the watering bill—he'd spent $1,000 and was rewarded with one tomato.
Yeah, we're not gonna' do that.
Instead, we're going to place some parameters on the process.
The rules are fairly simple:
1. Use What You Have
This applies to not just the supplies you have on hand, but your knowledge and skill set as well. You're a smart cookie. You have "skillz." You know how to do stuff and things and other stuff... and even if you don't, you have the ability to learn. It's what makes you so fabulous.
We also call this "Shopping at Home." Re-gifting can fit into this category as well. (Just be careful you're not re-gifting something back to the person from whence it originated, 'cuz—awkward.)
All you have is a newspaper? Great! We're going to make a newspaper-themed Christmas. (You'd be amazed at
the stuff you can make with paper).
2. Get Creative
For a lot of people, me included, this can be hard. It's hard to look at the ingredients or materials you have on hand and envision an end product. That's why we have recipes and patterns and instruction manuals. It's also why we have Google and Pinterest searches. You don't have to rely solely on your own creative machinations. Other people have thought up creative stuff and posted it to the inter webs. You just need to find it.
3. Make Even the Smallest Thing an Event
It's super easy to buy stuff then just throw it in a stocking. But with a little extra paper, tape, and string (it doesn't have to be fancy), you can wrap that tube of chapstick. Not only does unwrapping a present make it feel more special, but it also takes longer to unwrap a gift (vs. just pulling it out of the stocking). The longer we spend with the unveiling of a gift, the more special it feels.
