MM Frugality and Holiday giving-

[keyslover]

I just need to get my issue out and for people to tell me I am crazy. We have a set amount that we spend on each other for Christmas.

I love deals, for gifts I generally find coupon codes/sales for items. My husband isn't as savvy with the deals. Why does this bother me? Why would I care? It is not as if I want more gifts.

I need to let it go because I was tempted to buy things for myself and have them be from him. Yep neurotic. I will not do this, don't worry.

Why am I so damn cheap?!?!

Thanks.

[hulley]

I understand. This is part of why I wish family would move towards just buying gifts for kids. The things I put on my Christmas list will cost my ILs/family at least twice as much as I'd spend and then I feel bad that they are "wasting" their money.

Plus, I want more gifts

H has finally caught on. We put ourselves on a small Christmas budget last year because we took a big vacation as our big gift, and he did so well with coupons, sales and free shipping events. He was so proud!

[heygrey]

This is why we don't have surprises. Around now we start buying things for ourselves when we see them on sale.

Both of us find we're just as excited for Christmas knowing what were getting because we've been anticipating using these things for a while.

[aurora]

Oct 29, 2012 14:09:00 GMT -5 keyslover said:

I just need to get my issue out and for people to tell me I am crazy. We have a set amount that we spend on each other for Christmas.

I love deals, for gifts I generally find coupon codes/sales for items. My husband isn't as savvy with the deals. Why does this bother me? Why would I care? It is not as if I want more gifts.

I need to let it go because I was tempted to buy things for myself and have them be from him. Yep neurotic. I will not do this, don't worry.

Why am I so damn cheap?!?!

Thanks.

Can you do a compromise where you each get to spend $x on yourselves, but then also each buy each other something (under a limit of $y)? That way you could still let him surprise you but you might not feel as guilty if he "overspent" the whole budget.

[keyslover]

Ok, so I am not so crazy I like the ideas. I was sort of thinking of buying some things now that would be from Santa (we have kids) and then we can actually surprise each other with a smaller gift.

[heygrey]

Oct 29, 2012 14:29:20 GMT -5 aurora said:

Oct 29, 2012 14:09:00 GMT -5 keyslover said:

I just need to get my issue out and for people to tell me I am crazy. We have a set amount that we spend on each other for Christmas.

I love deals, for gifts I generally find coupon codes/sales for items. My husband isn't as savvy with the deals. Why does this bother me? Why would I care? It is not as if I want more gifts.

I need to let it go because I was tempted to buy things for myself and have them be from him. Yep neurotic. I will not do this, don't worry.

Why am I so damn cheap?!?!

Thanks.

Can you do a compromise where you each get to spend $x on yourselves, but then also each buy each other something (under a limit of $y)? That way you could still let him surprise you but you might not feel as guilty if he "overspent" the whole budget.

This is actually what we do. I should have included that. We each get $25 to fill the other persons stocking so there are small surprises, but the majority we pick out ourselves.

[ellipses84]

I know what you mean. I'm a great bargain shopper and DH is a procrastinator. Whether we set limits or not, he spends way too much. I try not to think about it, but last year I had to return the sheets he bought for $200- that didn't even include a top sheet and they were not the color I asked for anyways!

One year my parents set a limit and challenged each other to get the most presents with the money. It was really fun for them and interesting to see what they got each other with all of the holiday deals.

[M]

I'm a bargain shopper too. The cheaper I can get something, the more stuff I'm willing to get for the same person haha.

My family only buys gifts for the kids. It's nice because it allows us to actually enjoy Christmas with family instead of worrying about gifts.

H and I don't buy each other gifts on the holidays (not supposed to at least). So randomly we'll get each other something throughout the year and it has more meaning because it's a random "I was thinking of you" gift.

[Deleted]

My family started doing a $50 limit per family which has actually been really fun. It's a challenge to get things that people will really like for that amount of money.

[Deleted]

My family (and DH and I) have always set budgets for gifts, so I'd be annoyed if they were not getting deals on stuff because that means less gifts for me! lol. If the budget is $150 I want that $150 spent in a way that maximizes that money!

Thankfully my family definitely is into bargain/sale shopping and I swear DH is more into bargain hunting than I am. He's always on deal sites looking at sales and coupons, even when we don't need anything. So while I understand your concern, thankfully I can't related. We're all cheapskates in my world.

[bunch]

Oct 29, 2012 14:24:19 GMT -5 heygrey said:

This is why we don't have surprises. Around now we start buying things for ourselves when we see them on sale.

Both of us find we're just as excited for Christmas knowing what were getting because we've been anticipating using these things for a while.

we do the same.

[kellbell191]

The idea of picking out my own gifts is depressing : (

We set a $ limit. If I have specific things I want, I'll tell DH about sales or coupon codes. But he's pretty good at sorting that out himself.