Advice for Christmas: Spender vs. Saver Dilemma

[KandiB47]

Oops, probably should have posted this elsewhere. Forgive the newbie.

The other Christmas thread got me thinking about my problem. Does anyone have any advice on how I can convince my husband that we don't need to spend so much on Christmas? His family has always gone way overboard and he thinks we should too. For example, his mom spends $500 on each of her sons every year for christmas and that expense doesn't come close to all the other people she has to buy for. His parents don't make a huge amount of money either. I would guess maybe $75,000 to $100,000 a year.

We've been putting away $35 a week into a Christmas Club account so we will have about $1800 for Christmas which I think is ridiculas. My husband has already mentioned that we should spend about $400 dollars on each other this year.

I disagree. We have no credit card debt but we have a car payment, student loan, and a timeshare which adds up to about $35,000 in debt minus the mortgage. I think at least a thousand of that should go toward paying off our debt. Any advice?

[dragonfly]

Originally Posted by KandiB47

Oops, probably should have posted this elsewhere. Forgive the newbie.

The other Christmas thread got me thinking about my problem. Does anyone have any advice on how I can convince my husband that we don't need to spend so much on Christmas? His family has always gone way overboard and he thinks we should too. For example, his mom spends $500 on each of her sons every year for christmas and that expense doesn't come close to all the other people she has to buy for. His parents don't make a huge amount of money either. I would guess maybe $75,000 to $100,000 a year.

We've been putting away $35 a week into a Christmas Club account so we will have about $1800 for Christmas which I think is ridiculas. My husband has already mentioned that we should spend about $400 dollars on each other this year.

I disagree. We have no credit card debt but we have a car payment, student loan, and a timeshare which adds up to about $35,000 in debt minus the mortgage. I think at least a thousand of that should go toward paying off our debt. Any advice?

Try to give him a surprise with cheap gift.

[PRICEPLUS]

Along heart to heart with full disclosure is a good place to start. I am starting to think people should be mandated to have a talk about finances before they marry.

[Broken Arrow]

*cough* blowjob *cough*.

What?

[PrincessPerky]

Hey, family friendly site!

but honsetly a heart to heart, he may not know how far off 400 is from what you want, I would suggest though that the goal of a heart to heart be less than 400, but more than what you want, this is called comprimise, but comprimise is a bad word to many...so go in with a goal of say 300, and be excited when you get it, next year go fro 200..and so on, you are planning on being with him for life right? so no need to change him overnight..in the course of 7 years I have seen numerous things change in my husband as he becomes more frugal and less wasteful, but not from pressure, just from talking and my example..finding great gifts at low price, and thruought the year, not the night before...

Traditions mean more to me than amounts, so while we spend very little, we still have steak for dinner

[Broken Arrow]

Doh!

But hey, I'm just telling it like it is! *

(* Again, in a tongue-and-cheek manner. I don't mean it dead seriously. Maybe just semi- or mostly-seriously. More mostly than semi maybe. But again, not seriously. )

[puppypal]

Well, Not very romantic but since hubby and I have been at the bottom of the money ladder for some time we tend to go in together and buy something for the home. Like a couple years in a row dad gave us money...We put it into a special no touch place and we added 300.00 to it and I found a Lexington Heritage Victorian Sampler 2 bedroom set used in the paper and we bought it for 1500.00
We saved a small fortune on it because it listed for 9215.00
So, That is what we do, Buy something for the house or whatever
Glenda

[BCHGRL]

One system to save money with family gifts is to draw names from a hat (esp. in families with mostly adults). It is much easier on the wallet to buy one person a $50 gift than to buy 6 people $25 gifts. Plus, you get one nice gift rather than 6 cheap ones.

If your husband is persistent about the $400 gifts, tell him you would like a $400 savings bond. At least you can save 1/2 of the $800 you'll spend.

[PrincessPerky]

You know he may think 400 is 'frugal' he may see his parents spending the 500 and think a small cutback is in order......so be prepared to give him credit for a good step in the right direction!

[tgavin71]

Originally Posted by Broken Arrow

*cough* blowjob *cough*.

What?

HA HA

Not sure how this would "go down" with the inlaws. Would make for a very interesting Christmas day though.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by tgavin71

Not sure how this would "go down" with the inlaws. Would make for a very interesting Christmas day though.

Oh my goodness that is horrible!