{"id":26413,"date":"2019-12-03T10:59:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T09:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/?p=26413"},"modified":"2020-11-19T11:58:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T10:58:54","slug":"not-overspending-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/2019\/12\/03\/not-overspending-at-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Overspending at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not overspending at Christmas is something that I believe is hard to do because there’s so much pull to spend on one thing or another. There seems to be some sort of guilt if we don’t spend “enough” on our loved ones – but really Christmas is a time for just being present. Last year we made the decision to cut back on our spending and not just throw money away \u201cjust\u201d because it is Christmas and also got us to look at our impact on the environment (see my previous post on a Zero Waste Christmas<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christmas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is Love<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We had somehow fell into this trap that Christmas is all\nabout love. That the more we spent on our family the more it meant that we\nloved them – no matter what the cost. Talking about the cost it isn\u2019t just in\nterms of money – but let\u2019s stop and think about the environment! Not only in\nthe fact that so much more ends up in landfill at this time of year but also\nthe costs (to the environment) with production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"christmas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What we did to cut\nback on Christmas<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Food<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long time ago we stopped having a Christmas dinner on\nChristmas day. Honestly the kids want the treat of doing things they aren\u2019t\nnormally allowed – like having chocolate for breakfast. We even tried one year\nto let them have a chocolate breakfast and then had Christmas dinner and SO\nmuch food was wasted. We have Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and even then\nwe have scaled it right back into being a bit more like a roast with a few\nextras. Over-eating isn\u2019t good for our health anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo Copyright of The Hann Family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christmas Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly Christmas cards are nice but we made a conscience decision to try to cut back on buying things that we don\u2019t need (don\u2019t call me a hypocrite later on because we have a lot of work to do in this area so you will still find me buying things we don\u2019t need – but it is small steps). Not only is it the cards but it is sending them – and this isn\u2019t just the rising cost of a stamp but the means of how it is transported. I would honestly rather that went on to actually seeing people – and we are trying to make more of an effort to do that too. If anything it is much nicer to make your own Christmas Cards.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Balloons and\nChristmas Crackers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise there\u2019s no real reason to have balloons and\nChristmas crackers – and again they just go into landfill afterwards. Of course\nyou can make your own Christmas Crackers to be more environmentally friendly – but\nwe just decided that we could live without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advent Calendars<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to admit there were a few years when we ALL got LEGO Advent calendars. I feel these were good because the boys played with the LEGO long after Christmas. But let\u2019s be honest advent calendars are very expensive and all that packaging is not good for the environment. In fact Mum of Three World<\/a> has recently written about them too. We have bought a reusable one this year (although you can make your own toilet roll holder advent calendar<\/a>) and are thinking up different ideas for each day: Christmas Crafts<\/a>, Christmas cooking, sitting doing Christmas colouring pages<\/a> together, playing a game, maybe staying up late, or playing a computer game and go ice-skating. There are lots of frugal things to do as a family<\/a> but I would love to hear any ideas that you may have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chrismtas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christmas Presents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The part we thought would be hardest is cutting back on the\nChristmas Presents. Our children have always had whatever they wanted for\nChristmas (as long as we could afford it) and it really did get to the point\nwhere they were having things for the sake of it (a newer games console when\ntheir old one was perfectly fine) or just being given cash because there was\njust nothing to get them. We have so many other things we really ought to be\nspending our money on too, but that wasn\u2019t really the point of stopping with\nthe huge Christmas gift spending. No we stopped and we thought about what\nChristmas is really about. To me it\u2019s about family. What we needed to give them\nis our time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christmas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We explained to the children that we would be having a family Christmas and that no-one would be getting presents but that there would be family presents. Last year I think I got board games and other activities for us to do together. This year we have every Marvel film on Blue Ray to snuggle up and watch together. Then there will be chocolates each and maybe something I have seen throughout the year that is inexpensive that I think they would like or they had asked for (such as Christmas bedding<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas Wrapping\nPaper<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course less presents means less Christmas Wrapping Paper too (and tape\/bows, etc). I have to say that I am fed up of seeing the alternatives to Christmas Wrapping Paper each year which make it look like Christmas paper cannot be recycled – it is just the non-scrunchy and glittery Christmas wrapping paper that cannot be recycled where I live so it just isn’t true (recycling does vary from area to area though so do check with yours). However, there are ways you can save money on Christmas wrapping paper.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christmas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Family Secret\nSanta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year we weren\u2019t sure how the children would take it and worried that it would be the worst Christmas ever. With this in mind my husband had the idea to do a Secret Santa. It went really wrong in terms of being secret due to our youngest desperately wanting his brother who was away at University. But in terms of how successful it was it was amazing – and we were so proud of how much thought the boys had put into it – they just could not wait to do it again this year. This time we met up for ice-cream to do the exchange and I know that some members of the family have already sorted their gift. Some of us are having fun trying to work out who has who but so far it is still a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Making<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you still want to give but without spending too much then why not checkout some of these free Christmas gift ideas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you try not to\noverspend at Christmas? Or are there things you do to consider the planet?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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