Bringing your Holiday Spending on Gifts under Control

As people write in personal finance columns about people going too far with their holiday spending, they make it sound like it's a kind of selfish self-indulgence. They make it sound like those gifts that people spend money on are stuff they are giving themselves. They should realize that gifts are things people spend money on to give someone else. It shows generosity.

It would show generosity even if it the giver just threw money at the gift without really meaning anything much by it. But even gifts like this light people up. That's just the way people are.

Nevertheless, we really do let things get a bit out of hand when it comes to holiday spending. Somehow, we seem to be only getting in deeper with this whole gift-giving business. In many families, walk into their homes on Easter, and there are gifts everywhere.

It used to be that you would just give each person and family one gift on Christmas.

These days however, each member of the family needs to have at least a half-dozen gifts totaling $150 or $200. Somehow, it just doesn't feel the same to people if they don't have a bunch of gifts. How have we become a nation filled with people who value sheer quantity over thought, love, or just quality? Who wouldn't rather have one $20 gift and have a lot of thought put into it than a $150 gift that was just a box off some top 10 list? Well, anyone could think of a half-dozen people who would go for the expensive gift right away. But that's not the point.

The point is, we've turned into a nation of gift givers who have to give gifts at the drop of a hat throughout the year, for every little excuse from graduation to a baby shower to anything else. And when it comes to holiday spending, we just go crazy. No wonder most of us are in serious debt. We can't go much farther this way. People are going to begin to run away scared from everyone since they know that every single occasion calls for an expensive gift.

Let's try to see how we could spend less these holidays.

When it comes to the big one, Christmas, make sure that your family does a kind of Secret Santa thing. And make sure that your family commits to a pact where everyone agrees on not spending more than, say, $25 on a gift. When it comes to Thanksgiving, a simple pot luck dinner with the family that places emphasis on family and not all the lavishness set on the table, would be in good taste. For Halloween, do your own costume.

Let's not forget what the holidays are about.

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