Gearing Up for the Holidays Series- Gift Ideas

We're getting close to the holidays.  Can you feel it?  Do you have your decorations up already?  Yeah, me neither.  Still, I'm trying to be happy and cheerful despite the challenges of this past year.

As I said in my earlier post, Caleb and I have committed to a (mostly) debt-free Christmas.  To do this means I have to get creative with my gifts.  I will be making some of my gifts as well as giving experiential gifts.  For instance, I gave my grandmother a certificate for a meal out with me for her birthday.  I ended up taking out both of my grandparents, who no longer drive and miss eating out which they used to do a lot.  We went to Applebee's, which was pretty inexpensive, and we had a blast.  I don't see my grandparents as much as I'd like, so this was a real treat for all of us.  So, I will be giving both of grandparents a gift certificate for a meal out with me for Christmas.  I am sure all 3 of us will be looking forward to the dinners.  The added bonus of these gifts?  I don't have to put out any money right now.  We'll probably go once in January and once in February, which will be much easier to absorb into my regular budget.

Other great, inexpensive experiential gifts that you can give as gift certificates:
1. A homemade meal, delivered to your door step
2. A lesson on applying makeup ('ll probably be giving this to my young cousin)
3. A free night of babysitting
4. A night out- dinner and a movie
5. Yard work (raking leaves, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, etc.)
6. A batch of brownies, cookies, salsa, or anything else you're good at making
7. A free lesson at something you're good at (baking, cooking, drawing, crocheting, etc.)
8. A mani/pedi

That leads me to the topic of homemade gifts.  Sadly, most of my family does not appreciate homemade gifts.  I once gave a basket with homemade pasta sauce, breadsticks, and dried pasta to my aunt for Christmas.  I thought this was great since she doesn't like to cook very much.  I went over to her house over a YEAR later and saw the basket in their kitchen.  They hadn't even used the dried pasta.  My mom is no better- I made her a beautiful, hand-knotted, grey pearl necklace.  I've never seen her wear it.

Then again, there are a couple of gems.  I made a fleece hat with ears and a matching scarf for my young cousin last year and she loved it.  I usually give my in-laws homemade pasta sauce but I didn't last year.  My mother-in-law looked at me and said, "Where is our spaghetti sauce and salsa?"  I'll never again disregard how much some people appreciate homemade gifts!

Needless to say, homemade gifts are something I have to thing long and hard about.  There are a ton of homemade food gifts out there but they just don't work for my family.  Crafts and random bits are worthless as well.  My dad doesn't want a tie made out of old fabric and my mother doesn't want spoons dipped in chocolate that she can use as coffee stirrers.  While making gifts is an inexpensive way to gift, I still want the gifts to be thoughtful and enjoyed by the recipient.  Here's what I've decided to make this year:

1.  For all of the ladies in my family- a pack of 12 homemade cards that they can use later on.  The cards will include 1 card for each of the following holidays: Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, wedding anniversary.  There will also be 3 female birthday cards and 3 male birthday cards.
2.  Homemade canned salsa for my father, uncle, and father-in-law.  I'm known by all who know me for my salsa and these guys love it.
3.  Homemade canned spaghetti sauce for my mother-in-law.
4.  Root beer samplers for my father-in-law and Caleb (okay, this isn't exactly homemade).
5.  Makeup brush holder like the ones at Sephora (filled with lip gloss and lotion) for my cousin

That's all I've got so far.  I'd love to hear your favorite homemade gifts are and what you intend to give this year.

Gearing Up for the Holidays Series- Go Debt Free

I don't know about you, but I have the holidays on the brain.  I always start thinking about the holidays in August because I have to in order to be ready in time.  I have a small extended family that always celebrates the holidays together.  This means I need to buy Christmas presents for all 14 of them, not including my husband and friends.  In previous years, we have opted to use credit cards to pay for gifts.  Caleb and I have hated doing this and 2 years ago we decided to stop using credit cards.  As on now, the only 2 cards we use are my Kohls card and our Chase credit card.  I use my Kohls card during my infrequent runs to Kohls and the Chase card is only used for emergencies.  We've haven't charged a dime on it in over 18 months, but we're still a ways from paying it off.  Once we do, the only card we'll use is my Kohls (because I like getting 15% off when I use it).

Last year I committed to a debt-free Christmas.  I didn't have any money saved up so this was especially hard.  Our only saving grace was that we both had a 3rd pay check in December which almost completely went towards Christmas.  Going debt-free was incredibly challenging but it was the best decision we could have made.  There were no regrets come December 26th.  We didn't add to our debts, which we've been working towards paying off for several years.  We still have a couple of years to go and incurring more debt would only have prolonged our struggle.

Needless to say, we'll be doing another debt-free Christmas this year (well, mostly, which I'll explain).  Let me outline some of the ways I am going to accomplish this:

1.  Evaluate what items I already have to give as gifts.  I typically purchase items throughout the year for my in-laws since they are easy to buy for.  I keep my eye out for gifts for others, but I don't purchase a lot.
2.  Start figuring out gift ideas in August.  Most of my gift ideas are already set.
3.  Start purchasing gift certificates slowly.  Spend a portion of each pay check on gifts (we have lots of birthdays in the fall so most of this up until November has been focused on birthdays).  We're only giving out a couple of gift certificates, so this works well.
4.  Start making homemade gifts.
5.  Start purchasing gifts and/or dry food stuffs for parties as they go on sale over the next several months.
6.  Go to stores like Marshalls and pick up fancy hand lotions and other nice gifts that could be used as filler gifts for family members and friends.
7.  NOT set an amount of money on each person, but set an overall budget.  I like to have roughly the same amount of gifts per person instead of spending a set amount on each person.  This gives me some flexibility when gifting.  For instance, I found an unopenned item at my local Goodwill that was PERFECT for my father-in-law.  He loved it and still keeps it on his living room table to look at.  It cost me $4.99.  I also picked him up some gourmet coffees at Aldi's and made a root beer sampler for him.  I spend more on my mother-in-law, but I still gave her 3 presents.  Despite the difference in how much we spend, I think they equally enjoyed their presents.
8. Use my Kohls card to purchase several select items as Kohls.  Since Kohls carries nice baby clothes and they are often on sale, I'll use my Kohls card to purchase those.  Other items I may purchase there: jewelry for my sister-in-law and/or grandmother, slippers for Caleb, and a nice top or sweater for my other grandmother.  While we won't pay these off immediately, I'll will be able to pay off the card within a couple of months.
9.  Tell our families proudly that we intend to have another debt-free Christmas- right before I ask them what they would like.

I hope this post helps you have a debt-free Christmas.  The holidays are supposed to be a time for sharing time with your family and friends, not stressing about bills but it so often ends up being that.  By being realistic and truthful with your family and friends you can mitigate some of the worrying and focus on spending time with your loved ones.  Even if you have a lot of people to buy gifts for and don't have a cent already saved up, you can still have a great holiday season.