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Okie dokie folks, time for a little heart-to-heart about that fantabulous (don't you love my new word?) Holiday just around the corner. . . Christmas. (Or as my buddy Shannon likes to remind me, Christmas.)  Grab a cup of coffee and a piece of Halloween candy, curl up on your sofa, and let's just pretend we're having a chat face to face about how we're going to handle this one.
In just a few days, the deals are going to be flying fast and furiously at you (including quite possibly a few hundred here on PPP ~ yikes!), so I want you to be prepared. I promise you'll see deals on Legos and Xboxes and Kindles and Barbies and just about anything you could ever imagine anyone on your gift list will ever need.
But that doesn't mean you have to buy them.
Because the deals are out there, my job is to make sure you see the best of everything, and find you as many awesome deals as I can.  However, I do not want you to purchase a single item that you do not need or cannot pay for even if it's a deal. Did you hear me??? I mean it.
Instead, I want you to take a few minutes over the next week and really determine exactly how much money you have to spend on Christmas and what to purchase for every single person on your list. I hope you'll find some deals here on PPP, and my promise to you is that I'll only post items I see at their lowest prices. (I research everything before I share it, and personally purchase 90% of Christmas gifts online ~ it just makes my life so much easier!) But, I do not want you to spend one single penny on things that you have absolutely no business buying.
Got that? Â REALLY???Â
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Okay then. (You can even use a handy free printable gift list like this one to get you started.)
Go get your kids ready for the day, enjoy an extra piece of chocolate for me, and watch for the online deals to go a wee bit crazy here over the next few weeks. But, in the midst of it all, take a deep breath, determine to stay really focused on only what you need to purchase (and even more focused on what this season is all about), and choose to enjoy every bit of the Christmas season as it races its way towards us.
Jamie – what coupons on the imaginext? I'd love to put that up for a birthday present :-))
Amen, sister!
One thing that has really helped me is to set not a spending cap per person but a value cap on their gifts. For example, the Imaginext bat cave at Target is on sale and there are two coupons to use on it, making a 45.00 toy 19.00. I still count it as 45.00 towards my son’s budget. It keeps me from continuing to spend when I really have enough for everybody because of great deals but still have money leftover in the budget. If we have money left, we use it “adopt” a child who would not otherwise be receiving any gifts,
Thanks for the reminders about remembering the reason we celebrate to begin with!
LOVE that idea Jaime – I need to keep that in mind! I struggle so much (mostly with gifts for family) because if I get a deal I’m set on that dollar amount and rather than saving anything just end up purchasing more. Such a good way to look at it – thanks for sharing!
That’s a wonderful way to look at it! Thanks for sharing!
We’re frugal by want, not need, so throw them at me! Anything we don’t need gets donated. Bring on the deals. 😉
🙂 Lillie – don’t worry, they’ll be here!