It's the Economy, Santa!
By Thomas Lindaman (12/17/08)
This year's annual plea for Christmas sanity deals with shopping. As you might know, I'm not a big fan of Christmas shopping for two reasons. One, so much is made out of spending money to find the ever-elusive "perfect gift." Two, I hate standing in lines longer than the results of a Keith Richards drug test. Will things change this year with the economy being shakier than Rosie O'Donnell in a hot tub full of Jello on the San Andreas Fault during a 6.3 on the Richter Scale? Considering that I'm writing this on a Blackberry (sorry, Community Organizerberry) exactly 15 miles from the front of the checkout line at my local WalMart, I'm going to say no.
This year, consumers are walking a tightrope between what they want to spend for gifts and what they can spend on gifts. This is not always an easy decision, but it should be. If you’re making less money than your paper carrier, you probably shouldn’t be putting a high definition flat screen TV on layaway. By the same token, if you make more in a day than the Gross National Product of Saudi Arabia, I think you can afford to spend more than $3 on a Christmas gift for your spouse. Then again, if all your money’s in the stock market…
I could pontificate on the state of the economy and how it will impact holiday shopping, but that wouldn’t do any good. Not to mention, I’m not getting paid to do that and I could really use the cash. Instead, I’m going to offer some helpful hints to save a little money this year.
[PUBLISHER’S NOTE: CommonConservative.com bears no responsibility for the loss of friends, family, inheritance, or body parts if you take this advice. For entertainment purposes only. Violators will be towed. Offer void in Rhode Island, Utah, or anywhere that has made fun illegal. No rain checks. No checks. No shoes, no shirt, no service.]
Exchange names. With some larger families, instead of buying gifts for every member, people will draw names and set a spending limit. My family does this and we have a good time doing it because it can be a challenge to find something that the recipient would like that would fit into the prescribed monetary limit. You get creative when you have $10 to spend and the best gift you can find is $20. That’s where creative accounting comes in handy! And if you can’t crunch numbers like Arthur Andersen, look for coupons or just buy gift cards. They’re guaranteed to fit, be the right color, and not suck as badly as getting a pair of socks from your grandma.
Regifting. This has become popular within the past few years. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept because you actually like the people you’re giving gifts to, regifting is where you repackage a gift you received and give it to someone else. The concept originated with a family who kept passing Aunt Edna’s fruitcake from family to family every year. If you have something you don’t use, consider wrapping it up and giving it as a gift to a friend or family member. Just a word of caution, though. Don’t regift a present to someone who gave you the gift the year before. It’s bad form, and there’s the possibility they remember that they gave it to you, which can lead to serious bodily harm.
Homemade gifts. This is a good way to save a little money because all it takes would be the materials to make the gifts. Of course, if you’re like me, you may want to stay away from any projects involving power tools if you want to keep your fingers and other body parts intact. This can be hit or miss, so you want to make sure the recipient would appreciate your handiwork. To some, a homemade gift is a sign of sincere love because the giver spent so much time and care to get it just right. To others, a homemade gift is a sign that you were too cheap or lazy to get something from a store.
Coupons. No, not the ones you cut out of a newspaper. Some people make up coupons to give to loved ones for different activities ranging from an afternoon of “me time” to more amorous ideas not suitable for print on a family website. These are low cost ways to show someone you love them. Of course, if you’re giving your paper carrier a coupon for a free body massage, that’s another story. And I’m guessing it involves the words “Dear Penthouse.” Also, these coupons may not work for unfaithful spouses. Then, they’d be doubling their coupons, if you know what I mean. And if you do, please tell me because I’m still a bit spotty on it myself.
As you can see, there are a number of money-saving alternatives to overextending ourselves and our credit cards. Each method mentioned above is relatively easy and can be done in no time flat. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think the line is moving. At this rate, I should be able to finally finish my Christmas shopping by April. Fortunately, the Christmas decorations will be up by then so I can grab a roll of wrapping paper on the way.
Thomas Lindaman
http://CommonConservative.com/
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