Comments on: Weekly Roundup: Christmas Spending Edition

By: Chrissy

Chrissy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:01:50 +0000

I completed my shopping 2 weeks ago. I made myself a budget and stuck to walmart for everything.
A cost savings for us…you buy 3 gifts each and all your family gets together and puts all the presents into a pile and everyone gets a number. By the end of the game everyone has 3 presents.
Also, you can steal an item 2 times and then its yours and cannot be stolen again.
It’s fun and saves a lot of money.
I’m really on this savings kick since I read, “The Debt-Free Millionaire” by Anthony Manganiello. It’s full of great tips. You must check it out!

By: Rosa Rugosa

Rosa Rugosa — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:25:26 +0000

I did most of my shopping online, so I used a credit card for the convenience, but we pay it off every month.

By: Money Funk

Money Funk — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:34:09 +0000

Makes me sad to see these people racking it up. While at the same time talking about lack of finances. I hear it all the time. *sigh*

This year, my husband & I are truly commited to not using the credit cards. Cash only. Even though we didn’t budget for Christmas shopping this year, we are doing okay. Sometimes it can be tough because I want to buy that “perfect gift” or stock up more for the kids. But, I keep telling myself it will all be worthwhile to do this for our family.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:17:05 +0000

I do like Dee and Holly — I use my cc all year and put EVERYTHING on it. I pay it off completely every month. The bonus for me is that the cash back is enough to pay for Christmas gifts this year! Score!

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:56:33 +0000

I agree with Holly. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge people who pay with plastic. I pay for everything with my credit card unless a store is cash only.
By the end of the month, my bill could be $1,000 but that money is sitting in my checking account to pay the bill.

On the other hand, the chance that this is the case for all of those people you saw is unlikely, considering average debt levels, but still. You never know

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:17:46 +0000

I have personally saved enough to cover holiday expenses. I make a list, shop according to the allotted savings (or spend less than what’s been saved, ideally); I use credit for the extra cash rewards, price protection, extended warranty protection, etc.

By: Steven@HundredGoals.com

Steven@HundredGoals.com — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:54:04 +0000

It is interesting to think that this recession has really taught us very little in the way of fiscal responsibility. Instead, we reigned in our spending and cramped our style for a little bit and now that we think the end is on the horizon we revert back to our old ways. What can you do? Apparently this is how we want to live, as hyper-consumers on the verge of financial disaster and so it will be.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:38:45 +0000

Yes i think all this spending is about half wasted money on stupid things that people don’t even want. Running up the credit cards…

John DeFlumeri Jr

By: Jeff@MySuperChargedLife

Jeff@MySuperChargedLife — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:57:10 +0000

I was wondering the same thing when I did a little shopping over the weekend. I’m sure there are still a lot of people out there running up credit card debt and living paycheck to paycheck. It is sad, but true. Thanks for mentioning my article about avoiding procrastination!

By: Lawrence @ CRB

Lawrence @ CRB — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:41:40 +0000

I’ve had my shopping done for weeks. It wasn’t hard to save money by planning ahead. By purchasing a few items at a time, it doesn’t hurt the pocket book as much either.