Cutting down spending this Christmas

[sneakysnoopysniper]

I have not observed Christmas since the 1970s - I dont buy gifts, send cards or put up decorations. Over the years some friends and members of my family have become more and more anxious about what this holiday costs, and have said that they wished they had the "courage" to cut down significantly this year. Its fair to say that they were expressing these thoughts before CV-19 came along. However the financial pressures this year seem a good excuse to set a precedent.

I have suggested some or all of he following economies for a start:-

Re-use last years decorations

Only send cards to those you will not be seeing over the holiday

Only buy gifts for children and agree on a financial limit. Say only one "big" present and a couple of token gifts for the tree

Only buy for immediate family (forget all the cousins, nephews and nieces)

No gifts for co-workers or agree on small token gifts

Cut down on the food and booze - we will probably only be allowed small gatherings

If you haven't celebrated Xmas since the 1970s then I'm guessing you don't have children???

All your suggestions are rather obvious really? No great revelations there 🤷‍♀️

Christmas has a dark side in which people who cant afford it get pressured into spending money they dont have to buy gifts for others who dont need them. Then in January the credit card bills roll in ...

Back in the 1980s a co worker told me she and her husband had only £50 to begin married life together. Then a few weeks later she came into work with lots of bags and had obviously been shopping. She showed them around and they were all christmas gifts. Later that day when we were alone I asked her about it, reminding her of her remark of having so little to begin married life. She confessed they had taken out a bank loan. I expressed regret that she should feel pressure to do such a thing to buy gifts for others rather than things she needed for her new home. She admitted to feeling "bad" that her friends and family had been so generous over wedding gifts and she had nothing to give in return.

This was back in the 1980s and christmas was not so commercial then as it has since become. But how sad that a newly married couple should feel obliged to go into debt to buy presents for others when they had so little themselves. I'm sure their relatives would have understood.

I cut down on the amount of presents years ago and haven't sent cards for a few years.
However our grown up dc are getting spoilt this year. We've hardly seen them because of the way things are and we have saved so much money on holidays, socialising and events that were cancelled that we've decided to use some of it for a few special extra presents.

I don't really know where you are going with this? Yes, some people over spend at Christmas - I'm sure they all know how they could cut down if they wanted to.

A Christmas denier since the 1970s!!
I am in awe of you OP🤩
I am also Christmas denier, but of a much less impressive vintage