Cutting the Cost of Christmas
(Warning: this post is brought to you with a sense of tiredness, consumer fatigue and irony…)
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly!” I sing at this time of year. Well, I’m all for boughs of holly – after all, it costs considerably less than tinsel – wander off into the countryside (or loiter in a park with some garden shears) and there you go! It’s free, it’s environmentally friendly (particularly if you chip and mulch it later), it looks nice and you can claim to be returning to a Dickensian, traditional Christmas when people wonder where the streamers and silver-foiled-hanging-things-that-hit-you-in-the-face have gone.
Don’t bother with mistletoe, though. For one thing, it’s incredibly difficult to find growing naturally except in a few well-known areas, and for another, it’s meant to guarantee fertility. Who can afford more children in today’s economic climate? No, stay away from mistletoe unless you’re actively trying for a child and have some savings. Best to be sure, eh?
The vote appears to be split on Christmas cards. I’m assured that I’m a bit of a Scrooge because I don’t believe in giving them to people who I see every day. I send a *few* to people (mostly family members) who I don’t see very often, and I usually try to make those. I don’t think that card-making can be viewed as an economical measure by anyone who has ever set foot in a papercraft store, but on the whole, I tend not to give gifts to people for whom I have made cards. Those closest generally understand that New Year should not be the time for credit hangovers… However, there are people out there who seem to judge their popularity by how many cards they send and receive. Actually, that seems like another negative point. Skip cards – save a tree and give a donation to a charity instead. I reckon that a homelessness charity would probably be a good one this year. Make it well known that you are donating to charity instead, as it prevents people from thinking that you are mean. Frugal? Yes. Mean? No!
Christmas trees are a bit of a non-bargaining point, particularly if you have children, or expect to host any over the Christmas period. I do have child-free friends who make a point of ignoring the whole concept of trees as messy, expensive and taking up too much room, but I’m a sucker for them myself. My husband and I bought an artificial tree 12 years ago (when my son started to crawl and was eating pine needles…) . The joy of reusing Christmas decorations is that when they get a bit tatty, they are generally so laden with memories that you can’t bring yourself to replace them. My tree is starting to look a tad threadbare, but we laden it with so many baubles and trinkets that you don’t actually see much of the tree 
It’s frugal, but it’s memories, and that’s what Christmas is about for me.
Food – I’m probably going to make an unpopular statement here. The supermarkets on Christmas Eve look as though locusts have descended upon them. You’d think that people were stocking up for a months-worth of shopping! I’ve actually seen fights break out over sprouts. Of course, the irony wouldn’t be quite so bad if it weren’t for the fact that everyone goes out to the shops again on Boxing Day *anyway*! (Yeah, I know, they are in different kinds of shops, but still…) Buy less! Do more instead! Don’t vegetate in front of “The Great Escape” with a whole tin of Quality Street – you know that you’ll feel sick and have put on 5lbs by the end of the film alone. Why not go out for a walk? Try an energetic game of charades! Dance about a bit! Anything except slumping and eating. And for a really radical idea, try to plan out the *amounts* that you are going to eat and buy to that plan. Why get a 15lb turkey for three of you? You’ll hate turkey after four days, and end up throwing loads of it away. Plus you’ll have to be up at 5.15am on Christmas day to get it in the oven. Nope, try a smaller bird – maybe game, or a free-range chicken? There are lots of ways to have a special meal without eating bird so large that they named a COUNTRY after it!!!
Which brings us to the last point, and the one where we all fall down. Gifts. We might all *say*, “Don’t buy anything, we’re cutting back to traditional values and rediscovering the true meaning of Christmas!”, but what we really mean is “Oh go on, then. A Nintendo Wii and WiiFit would be great and could be classed as healthy!!!”. My huge failing is my family. I love them to bits, but I’m pretty much the poor relation. They can all afford lots more than me, but I don’t like to admit to it. I also adore my small relatives and want to provide them with something suitably cool come Dec. 25th a.m. I’d love to say that I know a good, frugal way to cut down on gifts (especially those for children), but I really don’t. I’ll be lining up to offer up my plastic to the Great God Geoffrey of Toys’r'Us once again, and promising not to worry about it until January. Maybe I need to go out and sing a bit more… When the going gets tough, the tough need to discover another income stream!
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Comment by The Magician
A chap on the radio two weeks ago commented that many people save up for their summer holidays, a little each month … but so many people get into debt over Christmas because it is a surprise every year that they are going to spend money.
His point is that if you plan to spend the national average of £600 on Xmas, that’s £50/month starting in January … the old days of savings stamps seems nostalgic and faraway to many, though there are still hamper companies and the supermarkets still sell savings stamps … but if you want to buy your free-range organic turkey, and your Nintendo Wii etc., then make a budget and start saving a little each month … if you don’t have the money to pay for Xmas next year, then putting it on interest-charging credit cards makes it no more affordable, it just puts you more into debt.
I get a company bonus in February, so my budget includes putting some stuff onto cards until they can be cleared in February, and buying some of the electronics etc. on the “buy now, pay withing six months and pay 0% interest” *but* you must be sure you can clear those, otherwise you could be paying 30% APR or more from the day you buy the item in the shop (they backdate the interest to the day of purchase if you don’t pay it *all* off within the 3-6 months allowed).
One good reason to buy some items on credit card is the insurance you get for the company supplying the item going out of business. Another is those credit cards that provide insurance on the item … but check whether you need to register each item when you buy it, or you may find you aren’t covered when your expensive new LCD TV falls off the wall …
Comment by Jane
A random thought, a year too late. You like this keeping chickens thing, right? How would you feel about geese? Have you seen the price a normal goose goes for, never mind a free-range organic one?
Then there’s the people who imagine boning and stuffing is impossibly difficult, and pay extortionate sums to have it done for them. There’s a sucker born every minute, and it’s your moral duty to take advantage of them.
Comment by Talis
Good points all. But you missed two: homemade biscuits and fudge go a long way, maybe adding the recipe on a little card? – and secondly, what about craft kits/supplies for kids? Possibly including a workshop ‘voucher’ with you? EG, three small balls of Annie-wound wool from stash, needles, a funky easy pattern, and a voucher for a knitting session?
Bah humbug. What does give me serious unease is the degree to which many children expect so much that they value nothing. I was saddened recently at a birthday party at a friend’s house (classic, games, tea, making things – she’d worked hard to make a lovely event with real things) where the girls, nice girls, most of them, no sooner had one new thing in hand than they flung it down and were off demanding the next. Keeping the games orderly and getting them taking turns and so on was a real task. They barely looked at each little prize they acquired before focussing on the next potential acquisition. I found it painful to watch.
Read Laura Ingalls’ books and wonder at how thrilled she was at Christmas with a piece of candy, a new pair of mittens her mum knitted, and her own tin cup.
Hm. Wandered off topic there, didn’t I? Am I Scroogeish? I don’t think so… I like to share, and the sort of ‘less’ I advocate doesn’t condemn anyone to hunger or poverty, which was Ebenezer’s problem. But I find this riot of MORE increasingly uncomfortable.
There has to be an alternative to sacrificing your esteemed frugality on the alter of credit cards because other peoples’ expectations don’t match your resources. The problem is not in you.
And don’t tell her, but I’ve already knitted my lass some more mitts. Bah humbug.
Comment by Jessica
I still love Christmas; I loathe winter but the few weeks running up to Christmas are probably my favourite time of year. I rejoice in Advent services and carols, and I love crib services and Christingles and nativity scenes. The sheer commercialism of it annoys me though. After years of wanting to say to parents “please buy me less” but not wanting to sound ungrateful, they’ve come round to saying that’s what we should be doing. It’s just my previous MiL I need to train in that now, who still sends me a Christmas box, often with things she can’t afford and I don’t want or like.
With Talis’ comment about making things – last year/a couple of years ago I spent ages making preserves and sloe gin to do gift boxes for in-laws, grandparents and mother, and knitting a scarf for my grandfather. My in-laws were delighted with a box of handmade goodies. My mother said I really ought to give my grandparents “a real present too” as a few jars of jam made from windfall fruit didn’t really count as it hadn’t cost me anything. I was quite put out, as the cost in time was a lot higher than clicking a few buttons on amazon. I haven’t bothered with hand made things again; for me time is a harder resource to pinch out extras of than finding a few quid for a book is.
Comment by Annie
Magician: Very true. When you bear in mind that Christmas comes *every* year, it is rather astonishing that so many people get so surprised by it time after time! I should take this to heart and try to put away a small amount of something every month…
I am also giving CDs (homemade) and edibles 
But it’s so difficult giving others homemade when they have specifically requested other things. Which is a problem for me anyway – “asking” for things. People always look surprised when you don’t have ideas for gifts because you’ve made or bought the things you need already. I can only surmise that many people think Christmas is about things that one doesn’t need or even want that much. *sigh* I’m with you! (I shall be knitting whilst watching “Survivors” tonight!)
Jane: A good point. One slight problem – ever faced a goose? They’re *terrifying*!!! Chickens are stupid and placid. Geese are clever and violent. Eeeep! My chicken friend did have a try at hatching goslings this year, but they are quite difficult to incubate (apparently replicating the warmth and moisture of a waterfowl mother is tricky). She was prepared to face the geese, but the concept scared me!
Talis: I am knitting socks for many people this year
Jess: That’s *shocking*. The comment about “hasn’t cost you anything” would seem to insinuate that gift-giving is all about self-denial and inconvenience. Which, taken to an OTT conclusion means that you could just fail to eat and sleep for two days and tell them about it. I think jam made with time and love would be a *lovely* present. I knew you were a member of our tribe
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Comment by Jenny
“Skip cards – save a tree and give a donation to a charity instead.”
Brilliant idea – have a look at Everyclick’s charity Christmas e-cards though.
You can save a few trees because they’re e-cards, and in return for a donation to your favourite charity (over 200,000 UK charities to choose from) you can send as many personalised e-cards as you like on the date to choose and up to 121% of your donation goes to charity!
See http://www.everyclick.com/charity-christmas
Comment by Janet M
I’m boggled (and saddened) by the reaction Jessica got. I’d have been tempted to start probing – “Would it count if I paid for the fruit? What if I’d paid someone to make it? What if we say I hired myself to collect the fruit and to make it? Or would I have needed to go to some fancy boutique and paid for a ‘handmade’ selection of jams?”
Comment by Laura
I am also boggled/saddened by the response Jessica got. That sounds like an absolutely lovely gift, far better than much of what people get in the store!
Another way to save money on gifts IF your recipient is on the ‘net and is fond of it and is into such things, is to give virtual stuff. There’s also the old “home-written” gift. I have been gifted with user pictures for my LiveJournal account (little graphics manipulated and with text added by the giver), poems tailored to me or my life, drawings, elaborate “e-card” type graphics made by the sender, etc. None of which are necessary but all of which are really, really cool.
And for those you know who are parents, if you live near them, a coupon for a free night of baby-sitting can work wonders, when the kids are in a certain age group…. I’ve also seen offers of help with various other chores (large or small) tailored to the recipient.
Though all of those have a time cost, which as Jessica notes, can sometimes be the harder one to meet.