Making gifts fun - on a budget
Over on my personal finance blog, Fearless Money, I wrote at length about how we do our gift budgets in our family.
In a nutshell, we put cash in envelopes every month, and we deliberately do not track where that money goes.
As I said, it is a simple scheme. But it works out so pleasingly. We get to have secrets, even in an environment where “every dollar has a purpose” so every dollar is planned. For us, the secret-super-cool-gift is the only fun kind of gift. We don’t give cash or certificates. I’ve always thought they were tacky, to be honest.
Beyond the secrecy enabling, there is also the guilt-freeing. If I want to buy an expensive gift and I have the money in the envelope, I buy it and don’t think twice. If I don’t have the money, and I’m unwilling to kick in money from my monthly “mad money”, then I just don’t get it. Simple, no agonizing involved at all.
I’m all for making gifts more fun to give, and for leveraging my limited money to buy only the best “killer great” things. This way, which we’ve been using for a year now, is working out wonderfully for us.
Technorati Tags: Budgeting, gift giving
Technorati Tags: Budgeting, gift giving
