Adventurous Wench women tours

Christmas won’t be Christmas without the gifts.

I don’t just buy gifts for the sake of giving rather I make sure that the gift is of value to the receiver. Something that is is very useful but not necessarily expensive.

Recycle. Re-use. Repair. We just have to expand our creative minds to make Christmas spirit more meaningful.

Happy holidays!

Kathleen

I cut out Christmas gifts years ago. It wasn’t about money, though. It was primarily about not having enough time (although, time is money). A truly valuable gift takes hours to discover. I loathe receiving useless trinket junk as gifts, so I am not about to be one to give such a gift. They quickly add up through the many gift-giving holidays over the years, and either create unnecessary clutter or are junked.

A gift that comes from the heart is tremendously better than a gift received through a social requirement. All of my favourite and cherished gifts have been received out of the blue on a non-holiday simply because the person was thinking of me. So, that is what I do now: if I truly care for someone, I give them a gift when *I* want to, not because some date rushed me to pick something.

Andrea

Fine for family/friends/adults but the kiddos need to tear some paper.

Jennifer

I think I’ll be cutting back this Christmas, and shopping for highly discounted items to give. My mom’s birthday is coming up and I got her a very nice Vera Bradley tote bag at 60% off, so it was $36 instead of $70.

You can get nicer things for the people in your life if you get them on sale.

Becoming The Marshmallow

April

I have three young neices and nephews, and I truly enjoy shopping for kiddos. That said, we keep it very reasonable. We also only give gifts to our immediate family, which is small since I’m an only-child and my husband has just one sister.

This year, I’m thinking of giving the adults a gift basket of goods from our farmer’s market, which I shop at every week. We could do this fairly inexpensively, give consumables rather than “stuff,” and I’d be giving the money to the local vendors we’ve gotten to know so well instead of the giant, big box stores.

I know the point of this was to forgo the gifts, but we choose to limit the gifts, and give thoughtful, useful gifts instead.

Maria | Never the Same River Twice

Definitely cutting back this Christmas. Because I don’t have kids and my family and I all have enough “stuff” we’ve been more and more focused on experience gifts. For example, my sisters have asked for all 3 of us to take a jewelry making class.

That kind of stuff is great because a) it means more than another sweater and b) it may cost a little more than your usual night out, but let’s face it, you were going to go out anyway. So you get some substitution savings from that.

My anticipated Christmas savings this year: $200 versus last year.

Tania

I like the idea of no Christmas gifts – more so if you are not even Christian but exchange gifts because the rest of the crowd does!!
I have been buying gifts only for the kids in the family for the last two years. Turns out the others don’t mind at all, and my little cousins and nephews are thrilled to be special enough to get something from me.
The website is a great idea!
Money saved by not buying gifts for everyone: ~$200 (that’s a lot for me)

Todd

I think it’s a good idea not to go crazy with spending at Christmas. Just like any time of the year, you should have a budget. Having said that, Christmas time is the season of giving. It is times like this that it is nice to loosen your grip on your wallet and share some of your money with someone you love. This helps you become less attached to the money you have worked so hard to save. You can also make a big difference in someone’s life by brightening their Christmas which may have been otherwise been bleak. Don’t worry you have the rest of the year to save for yourself.

Susan

Here’s my strategy for Christmas 2008 – I opened a Chase Free Checking account last spring in order to score a $100 new account bonus. One of the requirements to get the bonus was to schedule a monthly direct deposit into the account. I decided to make this my “Christmas Club Account” (probably too old-fashioned a term for most of your readers – they can Google it.) My goal is to confine my Christmas spending to the current balance in that account, which is about equal to the amount I spent on my husband alone in 2007. (I have to shop for him, three teenagers, and a few extended family members.) I have started my shopping and am enjoying the challenge, and it will be great to have a very small credit card bill come January (hubby hasn’t started a Christmas club account of his own, but I’m asking to limit his spending on me to $100 or less.)

Tom

I like this tip a lot. It’s true that a lot of people have a mentality that without gifts, it’s not Christmas. My father was laid off a year ago, and my mother works only part-time. I’ve spent weeks trying to convince my mom that my sister and I don’t need gifts (I’m 25 and she’s 20). She’s really having a hard time letting go of that need to buy.

I also was laid off this past summer, and while I’m working again now, I’ve only had 2 paychecks, so my savings is not padded yet, and the credit cards took a smal hit during that time. I plan to think of a way to make gifts for the family, because frankly I don’t think my family really wants me to go into debt for the sake of a few moments Christmas Day and a full junk drawer/jewelry box/china cabinet/closet/wherever these things end up.

A few months ago, I saw a movie in Blockbuster that you might appreciate. It’s called “Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.” The film is very tongue-in-cheeck, and this guy impersonates an evangelical pastor to make his point, but the message is great: let’s reclaim Christmas to be a holiday about family, not trinkets. Plus it’s good for a few laughs (the man storms Walmart headquarters and invades Disneyland on Christmas day ).

jon

i understand the sentiment…i guess some need to be snarky about it–i sent one, but choose not to be snarky about it (i.e. the odd santa).

there are gifts that are far more valuable than something new from the store.

good to see the change in our thinking.

j.

sdb

No gifts is a terrible idea. Way to ruin Christmas! You don’t have to buy something to give a gift, you can make something. You can do something. To just not give gifts at all? Shame on you. Its not about the expense, its about giving something away, even when you can’t afford to.

sdb

Actually I did, those are all things you should be doing anyways, and the fill in your own box doesn’t really cover what I was talking about, but thanks

Joan Southwick

One other thought,, and idea…. I am the Queen of a Red hat lady group, and have several elderly ladies in the group (my mother in law and her friends) who are on a fixed income. I was stressing about a way to get a little something for each of them,, without making them feel like they needed to do something back,, and spending money they didn’t have,, or having them feel like they needed to “gift” each other.
I started looking for chickens at thrift stores and second hand stores a few months back,, ( we are the little red hens,,, hence the chicken theme ). I was discouraged, because even at thrift store prices, to buy something for everyone was going to cost me at least $100.

I got on a few websites for estate sales, and hit the jackpot,, an estate sale at the home of someone who “collected” chickens. I waited till the sale was nearly over, went and told them that I was doing this for a group of elderly ladies, and he let me have 20 chicken items for $40. Thats $2 per gift! The ladies pass around a piggy bank at each get together and put their change purse money in it,, and I get around $10-20 per month,, so I didn’t spend ANY money for November,, and won’t for January either, then the chickens are paid for. I enlisted the help of my grandchildren to wrap them and decorate the packages with leftover paper and some plain packing paper with glitter and crayon. We will play a game to distribute the chickens, and let the ladies steal from each other for rolling doubles,, or whatever,, I think it will be a lovely party,, cheap, with fun CHEAP presents. think creativity rather than $$$$$

just for your info,, I got chicken prints in frames all matted, chicken trays, chicken roasting pans, chicken vases, chicken candy dishes, wooden chickens, chicken pull toys, chickens for your yard,, it will be a hilarious party at nearly NO cost…

AND NONE OF MY LADIES HAS TO BUY A GIFT FOR AND EXCHANGE!!!!!

Jolene

What a great idea! My husband is laid off right now, so definitely no Christmas presents this year…

Thanks

Kiran

Any of these tips are suggestions, so people should quit complaining. I wouldn’t worry about killing the economy by not buying gifts since most Americans wouldn’t have the discipline to actually follow through on that. What I applaud this post for is pointing out that we can often give more meaningful gifts that don’t necessarily cost a lot of money. Paying for you and a friend to take a class and learn something new is a wonderful idea because you’ll spend time together and the class may even be an investment. Nonetheless I think we all have realized that our economy was dependent on people living beyond their means and living by the mantra “Consume, Consume, Consume”. We already had a negative savings rate as a country before the current economic situation; I wonder what it will be like now.

Lisa

I love this idea. Over the last few years, my family members and I have stopped buying presents for each other. Instead, we write a story according to a prescribed theme set in advance.

For example, one year we each wrote about our favorite house we lived in (my family lived all over the world and in a lot of different houses). My parents have written stories about their childhood. We learned some amazing things.

The gifts are priceless. On Christmas we read them out loud. It doesn’t matter how you write, everyone has something to say!
Lisa http://www.resumepie.com

Kat

This year after much,much arguing on price($400 doesn’t save me a dime), we decided to do a name exchange with a limit. It is helping out a lot since there were about 15 people to shop for. Plus it saves me from getting gift cards that I wont use.

My boyfriend and I are planning a day to do something new together. It should be fun.

Mary

Year after year we don’t remember what we got from someone last year, but we DO remember what a great time we all had doing one thing or another. We’re all about making gifts any more- it means something more, is more thoughtful and fun, and the REAL joy comes from spending time with each other.

WWoolsey

I am also cutting back on Christmas gifts this year, instead of shopping, wrapping, mailing, etc…I just made an umbrella donation to my favorite charity. I am planning on putting a note in everyone’s holiday card stating that instead of a gift, they will be helping others. I know it’s lame, but it saves alot of money and time and also helps others which can be a gift in itself.

Green Eggs and Ham

Honestly, I love the C.E.O. approach. I haven’t visited your site for a while and I honestly regret missing the start of this month’s challenge. Personally though I still think that the simple $1/day savings could still also be implied but then I do agree with you that in general it won’t be followed!

However, look at our investments, if we’re completely risk-adverse and put it into GICs at rates like 3%, you’d make more money saving $1/day on drinking cheaper orange juice. Plus $1/day is only one item, do it on 5 items and that’s $5/day, $150/month.

When you’re about to put your quarters into the soda machine, go to the tap and drink some water, then ask yourself if you’re still thirsty. Those drinks you’re buying don’t quench your thirst anyway!

Lol yes I’m a cheap @ss. But it works, and then just like Ramit was suggesting, write up a list of “what you want to buy” and prioritize it. Then you’ll realize that maybe if you quit one or two habits, you’d be able to remove it from yoru wish list and put it in your living room (like the big screen TV).

One big tip for those it applies to, stop smoking…not only is it killing you, it’s like rolling up a dollar bill and smoking it every time. There you go, $5/day saved! + future value of your health that you never thought about =).

Love your website, keep it up!

Juggernaut

Since we’re atheists, saving money at Xmas is easy for us. We usually spend the forced time off work by taking a mini-family vacation.

This year we’re going to Vegas. Hotel rates are dirt cheap in Vegas during the holidays (we’re talking $40/night for a 3.5 star hotel on the Strip), and the place is much less crowded. We’re doing lots of family-friendly (we have a 11 year old), inexpensive activities while we’re there like visiting the Pinball Museum and the Ethel M chocolate factory tour.

All in all, we’ll be having a lovely, secular 4 day family vacation in Vegas for around $600. Much less than many families spend in one day for Xmas!

neelam

I am drastically cutting down on spending this year. I hope this saving turns into a permanent habit.
I love what you are doing. Making people aware that spending because of commercial reasons is wrong.

susan

If you must buy stuff…

Why not buy it on the 26th? Prices bottom out and you still have a few days off work. Ask yourself what the 25th really means.

Some people’s families (especially those who are recent transplants from other, non-Christian countries) don’t celebrate Christmas. My family, a trio of the most unsentimental Chinese people you’ll ever meet, used to exchange some money and cards, and generally go through the motions.

Then we realized, that makes absolutely no sense!

To Ramit and to all readers:

Does your family really celebrate this originally Christian religious holiday? Why? How?

Is it meaningful to spend $50 on a Christmas tree if you are a Ramit or a Susan? WWAID?

Better to take advantage of Western society’s obligatory few days off to relax with people (or furries) you love or check out the awesome sales for things you really DO need for the rest of the winter / year.

Jessica

I have already come to this realization about no money = no gifts. Six months ago, my boyfriend and I agreed that we are only going to buy ONE gift for each other and it can’t cost more than $50. In past years, I have spent as much as $800 on buying a past boyfriend a computer. Big mistake, but it was under good intensions. Never doing that again though… And I have already told my family that I can’t afford to buy any Christmas gifts for them this year. But at least they have been understanding because they know the financial troubles I’ve been going through. So overall, this tip is going to save me hundreds.

Tip: hundreds?
This month: Don’t even know anymore. Packed lunches, no eating dinners out or drinking, no x-mas gifts, buying generics… I’ve been doing them for the past couple months already, but I have noticed a change in the money going out. I used to put 1/3 of my monthly expenses on a credit card and knew that needed to come to an end fast. Now I am close to living within my income, but still not much for savings. I have been using ING savings account for 2 years now and have always set aside $50/month for emergencies. Every little bit helps though.

Battra92

Tommy, I agree. Honestly, it’s one thing for us to want to be frugal but you need to be realistic about life.

That and Thomas Friedman is an ass who has an answer for everything.

Magical Realist

It took years, but my immediate family finally broke themselves of the Christmas shopping habit. If there were any kids to buy gifts for, we definitely would, but for the adults? Hell, we all have everything we really need, and what we want? We’ve probably got that, too. If there’s anything we actually need, it’s less clutter, not more.

Old habits died hard, though, and occasionally they still pop up among some of us. But most of us have ended up embracing the radical idea of not going batshit insane over holiday shopping. It’s come as a relief, even to the ones who still “backslide.”

That doesn’t mean not giving gifts; it just means not going out and doing the Christmas shopping thing. Homemade cookies, jams, candy, and other edibles are fine. Passing along books you’ve read and enjoyed to family members who would also like them is okay. So is making mix CDs, or swapping prints and CDs of family photos. Honestly, it’s made the holiday so much easier and more relaxed–hanging out with relatives on Christmas is finally fun, these days.

Since I’m the artsy-craftsy one, I do handmade stuff or small paintings; this year, I’m redecorating ugly but inexpensive (~$5 each) wooden photo frames to suit each recipient, and including appropriate family photos. Ten people are getting them, and if I manage to spend the entire $100 I’ve budgeted for the frames, supplies, and mailing costs, I’ll be surprised. Last year, I sewed simple stuffed and beaded Christmas ornaments from the big bag of silk and velvet scraps in my sewing room. Cost? Whatever a spool of thread and a hank of gold beads go for (less than $10) and mailing costs. I spent maybe $40 total, and a couple of weekend afternoons doing pleasant, brainless work while listening to an audiobook. Not bad at all. Beats the hell out of looking for a parking spot at the mall and fighting the crowds.

What motivated this shift had little to do with economics (though I was ass-out poor at the time I initially proposed it). In fact, the more affluent my family became over the years, the more they embraced it. For us, it was simply a matter of breaking old habits and questioning certain expectations and obligations that no longer worked. It was about being able to relax and genuinely enjoy each other’s company, rather than adding more stress (and unwanted clutter) to each other’s lives.

Last year, we started another radical shift in how we do Christmas by deciding to celebrate it at other times, rather than on December 25th. Our Christmas last year was actually on December 11, and it worked out brilliantly. Not only were airfares significantly cheaper (I saved $271), but the airports and flights were much less crowded and my fellow travelers less stressed. It was also easier for some relatives to get that week off instead of Christmas Week. So we’re doing this coming “Christmas” in late January, in conjunction with a relative’s 90th birthday. Admittedly, that move isn’t for everyone, but it’s yet another way we’ve found to bypass the collective holiday insanity.

Jennifer

We have a policy of only giving people food for Christmas. Everyone we know has too much junk, but some sort of home-cook’n is always appreciated. It started with the idea that people used to only hand out sweets during the winter solstice. Back then, the idea was simply to put your neighbors in a good mood so that they’d be nice to you for the rest of the year.

This year we’ve made a hot sauce out of our own home grown scotch bonnet, habaneros and Thai bird’s eye chillies. It only cost us vinegar, salt, garlic and refrigeration.

Next year, we want to brew our own barley wines, red ales and sodas. We plan to get everything off Craigslist.

Jennifer

Ramit,
About the website, not to be a complete blog troll, but what mental state were you in when you came up with this? I mean, going to the library and playing board games for Christmas? Going to the park when it’s like -3 degrees outside? Unless you’re about seven years old, let’s not even talk about the magic trick idea. And then, you list a bunch of things that could be much more expensive than just buying a simple gift. A decent home-cooked meal including appetizers, deserts, alcohol could run quite high as well as going to some local attractions (amusement parks? zoos? even a decent museum can run $12/adult.) Lessons to learn any type of new skill or indiscriminately acquiring a new hobby can be quite outrageous.

Also, as you can see, telling people to eliminate holiday gifts is never going to go over well. That’s because people have been doing this sort of thing even before Christmas existed. Also despite what you are trying to convey, Christmas-related debt isn’t 100% attributable to shopping for gifts for other people. People often buy ridiculous gifts for themselves, they travel, they entertain and because they have so much time off, they spend a lot of money just trying to find something to do. Many of these other things can be drastically cut back with much less pain than cutting out gifts. If you are trying to get people to modify their holiday spending behavior, I suggest that you do it less gimicky/sensationalistically and with greater respect to the larger picture. You could:

A.) Suggest that people spend less and save time by making gifts in bulk or buying used. Another good suggestion would be to look into gifting magazine subscriptions. You can do this on Ebay for very, very little.
B.) Promote potlucks or cookie exchanges at someone’s home instead of lavish holiday parties at restaurants. If you must gift at these holiday parties, consider gifting good, inexpensive wine, craft micro-brews or other high quality, inexpensive grown-up alcohol because if there is enough good alcohol at the party you may not have to have an “after party” later.
C.) Usually you can’t get away with not having concrete, non-consumable gifts for small children. So, advise people to consider gifting art and craft supplies or school supplies instead of toys. Parents have to buy these things anyway. The stores that sell these sort of things aren’t as busy as toy stores during the holidays. If you do it just right, you’ll be able to keep them busy for hours and they’ll think of these things as toys anyway.
D.) Mock the “kids” who don’t want to grow up. Tell them to forget about Rock Band or Guitar Hero. They don’t need to buy a Wii or an XBox just because their friends have them. An old iPod is good enough, as is an old phone. They need to be grown-ups, and they probably didn’t grow up to be James Bond.
E.) Plug Entertainment Books or similar. People have a lot of free time during the holidays. They eat out a lot. They watch a lot of movies. They are at the mall whether they want to be there or not. Entertainment Books offer discounted movie tickets and BOGOs at local restaurants. Many of them also offer free restaurant.com gift certificates.
F.) Talk about economical holiday travel. This is important for people traveling home, people going to Vegas for New Years and for snowboards and skiers. There are many discount bus lines now that allow travel between major cities for $1. Train travel may also be coming back.
G.) Advise against costly New Years resolutions. Nobody needs to join a gym on January 2nd. A three mile walk in -3 degree weather or a snowball fight would be much more effective than joining a gym early on.
H.) Advise people to consider the total cost of a gift before purchasing. Unless you’ve talked about it for months in advance, purchasing a puppy or any pet (beyond an ant farm) as a Christmas gift is a bad idea. Puppies can cost their owners several thousand dollars over their lifetime. Also, advise that people look closely at gift cards before purchasing. Certain credit card based gift cards carry monthly fees or other hidden fees. Gift cards also come with an opportunity cost. They are the same as cash but they can not earn interest. Essentially, they are an interest free loan to your store or restaurant of choice. Avoid purchasing gift cards without proper incentive to do so.
I.) Suggest methods of coping when getting together with well-to-do relatives or friends that enjoy showing off because they are stuck in the 1980’s. Extensive time spent with these people can kill your self-esteem and derail good saving habits you worked hard to establish. More so than a few well-chosen gifts.
J.) Encourage people to be proactive, and even entrepreneurial, in returning and exchanging unwanted gifts. Sometimes unwanted gifts do sell on Ebay for more than the giver paid for the gift retail. (Think discontinued Bratz Dolls). There’s also way too much opportunity cost involved in storing unwanted gifts.
K.) If Christmas is a time for giving, then it is also the best time for readers to be entrepreneurial. Baked goods, car detailing, snow shoveling, renting out extra rooms, gift basket services, hosting poker parties, rent a Santa, etc. You should be able to do it all via Craigslist.

Boris

I love your ideas, and this one is great. I’ve long avoided even the birthday gifts. I tell my friends I don’t want them – I want their company on the mandatory-celebration day, not the material stuff.

Awesome idea Lane (Kiva.org) is a wonderful place. Also consider http://www.oxfam.org/ and http://www.unicef.org/ … though you don’t get your money back -you know you’ve likely saved about as many lives as the dollars you’ve contributed.

How Am I Doing With Ramit’s Save $1,000 Challenge? Part 2 — Green Panda Treehouse

[...] #18: No Christmas gifts this year & Tip #20: Change the date of [...]

Cathy

I’m trying something different this year. My boyfriend and I are meeting his brother and wife in Mexico for New Years – they live in the UK and we live in the US. I’d like to get his wife a nice casual necklace she can wear while we’re there. I did a lot of browsing, but couldn’t find what I wanted for the price I wanted to pay (less than $20). I just went to the crafts store and found a very high quality semi precious stone that was EXACTLY what I was looking for. So I bought some rope, clasps, and the gemstone for $13. I haven’t made my own jewelry since 3rd grade – I hope it goes well!

sheila

HELP we had agreed no gifts but my brothers still buy for the girls in the family. What can I get them I was thinking no more than fifteen dollars each.

Express Bank Loan » Blog Archive » A buy-nothing Christmas?

[...] ecards  provide. Or you can send a special note to tell them you’d like to give them something more meaningful  as an [...]

Lauren Burns

My family is doing a starter version of the “No Xmas Gifts”… we are giving small gifts to each other, but are focusing on donating to charity with the money that we would have otherwise spent. There are a lot of great organizations that help a lot of people that are not getting the support they normally would and need. Here are some tips that I’ve found to make donation gifts more charitable:
1. Tailor the donation to the recipient. I am looking for a literacy-based charity as this is a cause near and dear to my mother.
2. For kids, the Heifer project can be a great intro to charitable giving. We are giving cousin/children some chickens or goats through the Heifer project. The $$ donated toward these animals goes to families in other parts of the world, but there is the thought of something tangible that the kids can think about.

Sara Makinen

I totally agree with Vessa above me. My husband and I both work in the restaurant industry and it is so bad this year that we can’t buy presents even though we want to. Also, I think it is very selfish of people not to buy gifts when you can afford them. It is a way to show loved ones you care about them. Right now I am trying to figure out how I can get something for my husband without spending money.

Maegan

One suggestion I read about recently was limiting the gifts. The writer had stated his family had established a custom of giving only 3 gifts to each person, group-gifts I am assuming. The writer stated they came up with this idea as baby Jesus received 3 gifts and they were trying to keep in the true spirit of Christmas.

I do like this idea, and realistically, if you go in with someone else, a sibling, parent, etc. for a gift for someone, together you can come up with a better gift than your budget/brainstorming skills might allow alone.

» Learning to be rich, Day 12-20 schuss.net

[...] 18: No Christmas gifts this year. That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think? I mean, why are we saving money all year if [...]