It's that time of the year again when a lot of people get all
jumpy purchasing ornaments and yuletide decorations, as well as ponder on the
unequivocally perfect present to bestow. In fact, as far as stores are
concerned, Christmastide these days starts in September (the -ber months). Others would feel the
season’s lovely gift-giving vibe, while some may act grumpy not giving a damn
what a Christmas tree should even look like.
Companies usually offer a Christmas
bonus or a 13th month
bonus at least to their expectant employees an there’s a pretty obvious
reason for this: we spend a whole lot of cash during the said season. Personally,
just this year when I received my thirteenth month pay, I blew it all away
without even placing the digits into my passbook account. Yes, it was in a –ber
month as well, last late November to be exact. I spent it on shopping (because
there’s Christmas sale everywhere). I don’t want to miss on buying a gadget or
a guitar at their lowest price ever. I even started buying presents and stuff,
especially that I’m heading back to my hometown to celebrate Christmas (my
folks don’t read my stuff online, so I really don’t bother on the thought of spoiling a surprise). I also ordered glucose-rich and carbohydrate-filled goodies in advance, that we’ll feast on the
upcoming occasion. I totally went all out this last quarter of the year, I lost
track of budgeting (so much for practising what I preach).
 |
| Image by businesscartoonshop.com |
Well, in fairness to my impulsive expenditures, I did save money. Kind of think of it, it’s
indeed a plus to always remember to “spend
less than you earn”, it’s very self-explanatory. I actually bought a lot
more than I could in other days of the year. See, all the stuff that I bought was
on sale. There’s this usual pattern of stores cutting down prices during the
season to attract a larger volume of consumers. Another advantage on purchasing
way early for Christmas is that you’ll avoid the rush of panic buying. Besides,
usually when the main occasion gets closer, prices gradually get higher. I’m
not really a finance and marketing expert, but then this approach on
commercialism advertently goes along with the flow of potential buyers, such as
the law of supply and demand (sort of).
Let’s also assume that other people get all Grinch-like during the festive season
(except if they differ in belief and tradition) is because they can’t avoid but
disburse a certain amount of their savings. Well, nobody forces you to replace Santa. The act of giving should be from
the heart anyway, but in reality it all drains from your wallet (not if you
give blood as a present).
So, to help you have a stress free Christmas, and as we always
say here, free of monetary debt, here are some tips I’ve gathered. I also
divided four main factors that cause us to spend at Christmas.
DECORATIONS:
 |
| Image by cartoonstock.com |
1. The best solution to this is of course, to not decorate at
all. The community won’t persecute you for not contributing on the extravagant
showcase of glittery and flamboyant display of lanterns, histrionically adorned
trees, and abysmal consumption of electric supply from scintillating varieties
of vibrant lights. Mother Nature might even thank you for not participating
much.
2. If you can’t help it and just for the sake of having the
Christmas spirit, you can always use the ones that you already have. You can
make use of the stuff that you had last Christmas. Our family does this every
year. We just dust and make them look like brand new. We fix decors that are
broken, and if fixing’s not enough, then that’s the time we buy new ones to
include in the bunch.
3. Recycling is always an option. I have seen a lot of recycled
Christmas decorations from ornaments to Christmas trees and lanterns all made
of bottles, cans, plastic straw, etc. They are creatively put together, and
merchants sell them to make money. These are also created in school for craft
projects and artwork. You can totally learn how to make some on your own.
4. Buy things when they are not in season, for instance,
buying a winter coat in summer. This is a tip that is proven effective. Prices
drop double the original at this time. Buy your Christmas thingies way ahead of
time. It would also be possible to buy them after the season itself, you know
maybe during Valentine’s (oh, somebody ain’t so excited for Yuletide, huh).
5. Watch out for stores that go on holiday sales! This has
been like a trend in marketing, lately, I guess. I have noticed that there has
been a sale for every occasion. Of course, it’s pretty much impossible not to
have one for the most celebrated holiday of all. Just make sure that you don’t
only buy the cheapest but also the durable ones. There’s no use in buying
low-cost products if you’ll be forced to frequently replace them due to damage
or so.
PRESENTS:
 |
| Image by mividacontigo.com |
6. Well, of course, the season of giving, Christmas. Whether
you are at work or at school, you’d always get to join the yearly monito/monita 1, SP (Secret Person), or whatever you get to call it on your planet. You
can’t just avoid this you kill-joy
chintzy Grinch! So, the best tactic here is to suggest a price that would
fit your tight budget, and be reasonable about it.
7. Gifts usually come in wrappers. Get your creative juices flowing and show a
little craftsmanship. You can use old magazines or even plain paper with your
own artwork on it. For gift tags, you can just cut out fancy looking shapes
from old cardboards or carton and decorate them. For ribbons, nah you don’t
really need them, but if it bothers you, then just look around, you might find
something to add a finishing touch to your masterpiece. Your receiver would
surely be impressed at the personalized and crafty wrapping (just make sure
that it doesn’t look trashy).
8. If you are really not into art, and might even make your
receiver feel less special with your TH attempts to pull off a masterpiece,
then you can use the previous gift wrappers you’ve received and saved aside
throughout the years. Avoid the humiliating mistake though of using it to wrap
a gift for someone who gave you a present last year which was neatly wrapped
with a freshly bought same exact wrapper that you have now recycled and gave
back. All in all, just don’t tend to mess things up.
9. Christmas cards can also mean something for someone as
being remembered. Use your Shakespearean skill in writing that special message.
Content and intent is way better than the gift or card itself (mostly).
Creativity again, would do a great deal with this. You can do cut outs and
paste them fashionably on the card that might resemble the good traits or favourites
of the person you are giving the card to. If art is again, really not your
thing, then you may need to scour for inexpensive cards. They usually go on
sale as well earlier of the season.
10. This one could work as a charm. Just be ready to face the
consequences and dare to commit fully. Buy an inexpensive ribbon. Anything will
do, as long as it’s Christmassy. Then tie it to your neck, or around your
waist, or even just on your finger (so that it would require a shorter ribbon).
Then say that you’ll be his/her slave for a day. Tada! The best inexpensive
gift ever (in terms of monetary currency that is).
FOOD:
 |
| Image by |
11. Of course, what’s a celebration without even a little something
to feast on? You should have already set aside a budget for this. It’s
improbable for you not to see it coming. Well, if you really didn’t prepare any
money for a scrumptious Noche Buena 2, then don’t fret. A lot of supermarkets and grocery stores offer great deals on food
items during the holidays. You can even join their yearly raffle and win a
Christmas Noche Buena package, or cash. Just be keen in observing this sort of
things in town.
12. If you’ve got plenty more time before the occasion let’s
say, a month, make a compilation of the recipes that you’ll be putting on the
Christmas table, and make a list of the needed ingredients. Calculate your
expenses and set a budget. When you start buying the goods that you need make
sure not to buy anything that’s not on your list. This is an efficient way to
avoid impulse buying.
13. As much as possible, avoid purchasing items that come in
small packs. First of all, you’re not the only one who’ll be munching on
Christmas Eve, are you? And besides, you can save a lot more when buying bigger
items, if you can’t consume everything in one night, you can always save them
for later.
14. During holidays, stores also sell items in combo packages.
Say for example, a spaghetti package that’s good for 1kg, everything that you
need in cooking the dish is already included in it. This is great, since you
would be saving both your expense and the hassle of going back and forth
searching for the ingredients.
15. Buy food that won’t easily spoil. If so, just assure that
you can consume the quantity and have as less left overs as possible. Food
thrown is also money wasted. Ever heard of gluttony? Yeah, control your
indulgence too.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
 |
| Image by someecards.com |
16. Certainly, there’s nothing more joyful than spending the
holidays with our dearly beloved folks. They reflect the essence of love and
generosity. However, we can’t go Santa Claus for all of them, especially if you’ve
got a big family and a huge number of friends. If you’ve got enough money for
one Christmas party and a single person to give a gift to, your understanding relatives
and considerate peers would be contented to see you gleefully greet them a Merry Christmas.
17. Well, a warm holiday greeting might not be enough for some
and would still find a nerve to ask you for their gifts. I, in return would
answer back with another question, “Where’s my
gift?” Although it doesn’t seem so pleasant for the ghosts of Christmas,
believe me that would surely temporarily end the subject on gifts.
18. If they are persistent, give them Christmas cards. You know…
the aforementioned. You can also include a small paper bill in it, crafted like
a t-shirt. (I’ll teach you how to create it here, just watch out for updates.)
19. Have them participate in exchanging of gifts. This way,
they wouldn’t directly expect a gift from you, since they’ll have the thought
that you might have picked a different person to give a gift to. Everyone in
the party would be receiving their gift as well.
20. Entertain your friends, make them happy and laugh their
hearts out. Then tell them that you have got the best gift to offer them, your unconditional love and everlasting genuine friendship. You
might get a lot of woos and waas for offering this, but at least you’re
wallet’s not empty this Yuletide season.
Have a Merry Blessed Christmas Cheapskates!!!...
NOTES:
1 Deriving from the Christian tradition, the ritual is known as Secret Santa in the United States and the United Kingdom; as Kris Kringle or Kris Kindle (Christkindl) in Ireland; as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, or Chris Kindle (Christkindl) in parts of Austria; as Secret Santa or Kris Kringle in Canada and Australia; and as Secret Santa, Kris Kringle, or Monito-monita in the Philippines. In Poland, the tradition is celebrated on the day of 6 December (Mikołajki). All of these names derive from traditional Christmas gift-bringers: the American custom is named after Santa Claus, or St Nicholas (Poland), while Chris Kindle and Kris Kringle are both corruptions of the original name of the Austrian gift-bringer Christkindl, which means the "Christ Child". Exceptions are Britain (where the traditional gift-bringer is Father Christmas) and the Philippines (which has the Three Kings). Most places in Latin America use amigo secreto (secret friend) or amigo invisible (invisible friend). (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Santa 12-09-14)?
2 Noche buena (from Spanish, meaning "Good night" or "Holy Night") is a Filipino custom adopted from Spain and Mexico. It refers to the feast served late on Christmas Eve, usually after the Midnight Mass. The family gathers together and special foods like lechon, pancit, and chicken relleno (stuffed chicken) and family specialties are served. (taken from http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Noche_Buena 12-09-14)?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Express your thoughts on the comments section. (Uh no, you can't trash.)