How to have a sane Christmas

Having a sane and economical Christmas takes planning and preparation. However, you can still enjoy a fun holiday season even if you didn't start planning in January like I did. The following tips have been gleaned over the years from friends and magazines.

KEEP YOUR MONEY:
#1 Follow the "wise men" plan. Each child gets three gifts, no matter what. Once you have bought three gifts - stop shopping. (Now, for dollar-store items, I do wrap 3 or 4 together and call it one gift.)

#2 Pre-fill stockings. Once the stocking is full - stop shopping.
Many of us like to pick up one or two cute things at every store and we innocently think, "I'll just put that in the stocking". As we all know, this practice adds up to a large chunk of money by December 25th. When you know very well there is a full stocking hidden in your closet, it becomes easy to look at those cute doodads, murmur to the devil on your shoulder "it's full", and save yourself a bunch of bucks.

Don't worry, whenever it's time to hang up the decorations on the mantel, simply empty the goodies and rehide them. You will still know there is no more room!

#3 If you have young children, consider shopping at the Goodwill store on their 50%-off Saturdays. Yesterday, I left there with 6 bags of stuff for $28 dollars. My three-year-old does not care if a Hot Wheels car comes in a box or not. He thinks they "zoom" better our of the box, in fact. :-) My 2nd-grader will not notice that some of the pages of his "new" Star Wars book are a tiny bit creased. He will be too busy ooohing and aaahhhing over the ships and weapons.

For clothes, shop on Thursdays. That day, the store randomly chooses a color and all items with that color tag are only $1. Last week, I bought my older boy 4 brand-new-looking shirts for $4. I simply went to the kids' rack, looked for the color of the day and checked to see if they were his size. The Goodwill store was on my way home and the whole visit took less than 20 minutes.

KEEP YOUR SANITY:
In January, I choose wrapping paper from the Target 90%-off sale racks and buy it for about 25 cents a roll. At wrapping time (usually early October), I choose one pattern for each kid (my two boys and my two nieces). I wrap all three of the person's gifts in the same pattern and then make note of what pattern is theirs. That way, I do not have to put name tags on the gifts and there is no reason for my sons to whine, "He got more than me..." when I set everything under the tree the day after Thanksgiving.

To keep things straight, I keep a list on the back of my closet door. It tells what I have bought for each kid so I can stop at three.

"Wrapping presents in October? When did you buy everything?" The answer: all year, a little at a time, from January to late September. The way I do this is the check clearance racks each and every time I am in a store with clothes, toys, or books (the stuff our young children enjoy). No kidding, I got the cutest stuff this year from Fry's Marketplace out in Buckeye. A side benefit to that is that the purchase price is included in my weekly grocery budget, so Christmas does not really affect our bottom line.

"But I don't want to be so rigid, then I won't enjoy the holidays." I strongly disagree. By getting out of the way early all of the stuff that causes Christmas to be so hectic, I am free to enjoy the season and teach my sons the true meaning of it. We spend time making cookies for neighbors, homemade projects for teachers, videos and photo albums for grandparents; we're not running from store to store trying to find the best deal or that perfect gift. Let's face it, there is no "perfect" present and do you really think you're getting the "best" price any time after Labor Day? No. The best time to buy is when the stores don't want their stuff anymore and they have marked it down 75 - 90%. [Remember my definition of "clearance", ladies.]

In closing, just so you know, I do still have a bit of fun wrapping on Christmas eve. This is when I add all of the ribbons, bows, and tags. In the morning, everything has transformed and I love to watch the little faces light up.

Amish

I had someone ask me the other day how our "Amish" living is going. Some of you may remember how we started off the year with a vow not to buy anything we didn't "need". I was blogging about what I was NOT buying, but it just got so negative and brought me down. So, I changed the name from "Nothing New..." to "Everything New...". That doesn't mean we're out there buying up the town, but rather that we are in the same situation and choosing to look at it in a positive way.

Originally, I replied to this person, "Oh, that went out the window a long time ago." However, the conversation remained on my mind. Have we truly thrown away that vow? I don't think so. Our back patio is not graced with furniture, despite some great sales recently. Our kitchen does not boast 4 new barstools as I would like. After a trip to a resale shop, my son received 4 shirt-and-shorts sets from his Nana, to start the new school year. I bought C one little blue shirt from WalMart so that he wouldn't feel left out. For my birthday each year, I usually buy some fancy food item from the grocery store - a luxury not otherwise indulged - like Pepperidge Farms cookies, brie cheese and schnazzy crackers. This year, due to budget constraints, all I purchased was a quart of whole milk. Mmm, that frothy creaminess tasted so good.

So, I don't think that we have lapsed into typical American spending habits, I just don't care to blog about it anymore. :-) I'm finally happy to be content with the stuff I have and not talk about stuff I don't. In closing, I would like to quote my current favorite cartoon character, Pinky Dinky Doo. "And that's exactly how it happened, pretty much."

Where's the punchline?

You've been on my mind, but I have avoided the blog for a week now because I haven't felt very funny. In fact, as I sit here and contemplate what to write about, my mind is completely blank.

I think I am so overwhelmed with trying to contact 110 students each week, grade 110 essays, respond to dozens of messages and emails from various people related to education that I am numb. However, at the same time, I'm aware that this isn't some special circumstance, it's my everyday job and it's no more difficult that anyone else's. But this thought just came to me - Is this why the entire population of America seems not to care about our current economic or political situation? Are we so busy working that we can't see 5 feet in front of our face?

Sure, we talk about how tough it is, but what are we really doing? We talk about how disatisfied we are, but what are we really doing about it? Nothing.

I can cut corners and cut expenses time and time again, but if I see a cute shirt in WalMart, just like the rest of America, I'll still buy it. Why? Because I want it, it's only $5, it won't make that much of a difference in my budget anyway. This is the wrong attitude. We are in a crisis right now - the status quo is not in our favor. Every cent, every minute, every word counts.

Sometimes my stomach knots up and my pulse surges and I want to scream. There is no reaction from the average Joe to anything that is going on. What good is some guy squawking on the radio or the T.V. when businesses are closing, neighborhoods are withering? Is he going to save them? No. He's just going to talk about the problem, like the rest of us. But, what can we really do?