How to Have a Merry Frugal Christmas

Tired of destroying your budget, your mind and your health keeping up with an overscale Christmas? Here are some tips on how to save time, save money and enjoy Christmas more than if you did it the usual way!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A good attitude
• Planning time
• Patience with other people

1. Number one -- give yourself a few minutes to build a positive attitude. Saving money is not about deprivation. It's about saving money and time by eliminating what you don't need, want or enjoy and putting your resources toward what you do need, want and enjoy. This article is an outline for a planning process that will give You-Tailored Results -- a budget plan and flexible schedule that's exactly right for you, your family and friends.

2. Look at your gift list and shorten it to the people you really care about and the people you have genuine social obligations to. Rate them in two lists -- $ for Obligations and hearts for feeling. Think about who they are, why you give them gifts and what those gifts mean. Wealthier relations can get very small gifts that are top-quality -- the gold-plated toothpick sort of whimsy that does not break your budget. The top people on your hearts list get things that cost time and attention -- the handmade sweater or the coupon for a day free of chores which will make time commitments in the future but do not hit your budget now or in January. People who have both hearts and money, choose something small and personal-favorite to them -- this is where finding a remaindered book on their favorite hobby or something they always wanted on eBay cheap is a combination $ and hearts. Budget a reasonable amount for total gift-giving and for kids, get one very personal toy or a good book rather than a lot of different toys. If they are your kids, you know them well enough to know what would go to the heart -- your goth teenager would probably be shocked if you bought him a black t-shirt with skeletons on it instead of a $100 electronics toy. Personal attention can count much more than money spent when you know the people and deliberately get something that is not to your taste and very much is one of their favorite things.

3. We've dealt with gifts. Ideally the time to do this is right after Thanksgiving where you can put the spending money for two months into Christmas goodies. But let's say you left it to the last minute -- eBay to the rescue. Don't worry about whether shipping will arrive in time. Print out a picture of the item you bought and put it on a card in a shiny envelope except for little-little kids, where a visit to a used bookstore for all of them is a good last-ditch choice. Little-littles do enjoy books -- most of all if read to. And they don't even understand price tags as long as the used book isn't in "destroyed" condition.

4. Now discuss everything with your closest family members, the ones you'll spend the holiday with. The biggest thing to establish is that the birthday of the Prince of Peace is a time for a personal truce -- ask for a Holiday Truce. Set some ground rules like no shouting, no insults, no fighting at all on the holiday itself. Then observe those ground rules yourself even when others break them.

5. Toss some ideas for Christmas -- including these. An "Old Tyme" Christmas can be frugal with both money and time -- if you read Dickens aloud every evening the way they would during Dickens's time, it could be more entertaining than television. If this idea catches on, then don't even do lights. Just put out candles on the tables, put some pine branches and holly around that you cut from real bushes, decorate a tree with cutout Victoriana from magazines pasted on cards, tinfoil and paper snowflakes, ribbons, bows, paper chains and popcorn strings. Doing everything Old Fashioned will cut your costs to the bone and still be a fun dip into history for the special day.

6. Read the Christmas Story aloud from the Bible on Christmas Eve itself. Sing the old songs from memory and play real instruments. Don't expect genius from family, just let them do what they want. Maybe get together and go caroling as a family. Many of the holiday customs and traditions we're familiar with and wish we had time for -- we'd have time for them if we weren't rushing around shopping or doing tons of overtime to pay for the added electric bills and bills for expensive presents.

7. Keep the holiday meal simple but cater it to the tastes of the eaters. Make sure something simple that's a top favorite for each person at the table is included. Easy recipes like sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies and heated cider stirred with a cinnamon stick are better -- and cause less stress for the cook than trying to do an exotic stuffing that may not be to everyone's tastes.

8. If the Christmas stories like A Christmas Carol or the Little Match Girl and other old chestnuts start stirring family members to think of helping others, then encourage that. Bundle up things you no longer want or need and make it a family outing to bring them to a shelter. Bring a package of food to a soup kitchen. This can be combined with cleaning up for the holiday and gives it an extra warmth of knowing you're prosperous enough to be generous, that your family is more like the Fezziwigs or the Cratchetts.

9. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't expect House Perfect, don't expect anyone but yourself (and maybe not even you) to keep the Holiday Truce perfect, don't be surprised if someone is bored and would rather watch television. Roll with what really happens but pay attention to and savor all the good moments.

10. For a surprise, especially if no one else in your family is familiar with Terry Pratchett, hunt down a paper back or hardcover version of "The Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett. This comedy is so sidesplitting that if you already know it -- then drag it out for the holiday. That too could become a theme for a frugal Christmas! Serve ham and pork for the Hogfather, put up Pratchett ornaments, swap Pratchett quotes and gags all evening and enjoy it as much as Nanny Ogg would. If it's new to you, get the book and find out why Pratchett will make you laugh no matter what's going on.

Tips & Warnings

• Start the holiday truce as early as you possibly can, discuss it with everyone and set ground rules for disagreements like "no insults" and "no shouting." Observe those ground rules yourself whether they break them or not.
• Hold a discussion on "what to theme Christmas" and find out what everyone else in the family wants to do. Be creative about trying to merge those ideas into one fun block of time off and make sure everyone gets at least one thing they really want in it.
• Include yourself among the people who ought to have a good time and enjoy the things they're doing for the holiday.
• Resolve major conflicts with civility even if they happen on the holiday and even if they are a shock. Take the time to cool off if a major conflict happens rather than jumping right in.
• Do not volunteer any gifts, holiday tasks or celebration ideas that you hate doing. If you loathe cooking the holiday meal, call for volunteers or discuss whether it's feasible to eat out or get a takeout meal. Time may be worth that money, and it's only once in the year.
• Do not neglect your need for sleep or overestimate the time you have available. All projects and plans take three times as long as a generous plan would give for it -- this is to deal with interruptions, unexpected snags and just life happening. Anything that gets done sooner or better than the Three Times estimate makes you look like a star.
• Be realistic about money, time and housecleaning. Getting it presentable is one thing, getting everything hotel-spotless in a lived in house that isn't a hotel is not practical without sacrificing everything unless you maintain it that way all the time. Christmas is not the time to Stop Being A Slob. It's better to clear up only a little and make it nicer than usual than to bully everyone into nervous spotlessness and get shocked when it turns into normal wreckage in half an hour or less.
• Divide chores fairly between working adults and kids capable of them, but don't expect anyone else to get theirs done the way you would or as well as you would. If it matters to you, do it yourself.
• Don't hold grudges over anything anyone does over the holidays, blow off the small stuff at least till after the holiday.

[cat804]

on 9/3/2009 This is great, with things tight this year I'm definitely taking your advice! 5* and rec!

[robertsloan2]

on 8/7/2009 Wow, thank you both! Now is the time to get started, especially for homemade ornaments, cards and gifts. It's amazing the cool stuff you can create when you give time over months to building it up -- and still have something glorious, memorable and splendid.

[jenbeth]

on 8/7/2009 This information will come in very handy this year. Thanks!

[trvlarrngr]

on 8/7/2009 Great tips for having a frugal Christmas. I have a feeling this year will be a tight one for us. 5 stars

[robertsloan2]

on 12/24/2008 Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed it. We're planning on doing a lot more of these things next year -- the ones we did have been a major hit this year. Our feast was wonderful, the decorations are great, and next year ours will be themed "Steampunk" with little tea candle and copper pipe steam demonstrators in bowls on the table.