Tag Archives: Christmas presents

Christmas Weight, Bills, Spending, and “Stuff”

On average we gain seven pounds (three kg) between Halloween and New Years. I wonder if we don’t lose a thousand bucks on Christmas stuff. Then, according to fitness experts, it takes us an average of five months to lose that weight. Well, according to financial studies it takes even longer to get the Christmas spending paid back: It takes until June on average.

But every year I’m reminded that most of what we buy, not just at Christmas time, is just “stuff.” And that’s not what Christmas is, or should be all about.

A few years ago, after decades in our family home, my parents could no longer handle the physical upkeep of a large single family home. It turned out that the trauma of selling our family home wasn’t nearly as bad as what us “kids”, now middle aged ourselves, had to do in order to make it happen.

 One Friday we ordered one of the big commercial dumpster bins to be delivered to the house. After giving away stuff  that our family members, friends and neighbours wanted, we knew there’d still be a lot of things that had to be thrown out: From sleeping bags to tools, furniture to books, and extra dishes to everything else, none of these could go into a one bedroom nursing home unit. What we weren’t prepared for was the visual impact of a huge and full bin being hauled away, then a second bin, and even a third bin. In total, the stuff accumulated added up to over 14,000 pounds – in the dump. Few things in life have had such a powerful and visual impact on us.

 Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of stuff, purchased one at a time, over a lifetime, ended up as 14,000 pounds of trash. It sure put things into perspective. You’ll now understand why I’m just not that excited about buying that newest whatever, the next model of some gadget or another, or running up my credit cards. (Money Tools & Rules excerpt page 216)

Some Not So Sexy Christmas Presents

THE best and so not sexy Christmas presents that most people should be getting or gifting will never happen. It’s sad but true. The good news is that they’re not just presents for Christmas – they’re the most critical presents to give to yourself for the New Year – or year round. Here are three of them:

Term life insurance for your family: Over a third of families and more than a million people with kids do not have life insurance. It’s the biggest gift you can give to your family. Conversely, it’s the biggest hell you can put your family through if you pass away. Make sure you only get a term life policy of six to 10 times your annual earnings.

Give your spouse or yourself a cut-up credit card: You can’t keep doing damage with a cut-up card. If it’s a surprise, it’ll be a great conversation on Boxing Day. If you decide together as a couple, you’re well on the way to a very different life down the road.

The gift of the truth and being honest: USA Today had a survey that asked: Have you ever over-spent on buying a Christmas present? 46% said never. Are you kidding? Half the world has NEVER overspend a single dollar on any present for anyone? The gift of honesty is telling yourself that you can’t afford something, teaching your kids that money is a finite resource, and that they’ll start to hear the word “no” a lot more. And the truth to your parents or grandparents: You can’t afford the money to see them at Christmas next year, but they can come visit you. If you have kids, nothing is greater than Christmas with family, but three or four airline tickets at the most expensive time of the year is insanity while you’re in debt. They don’t have kids and come visit you – they’ve now got a year’s notice.

It’s Just “Stuff”

A few years ago, after decades in our family home, my parents could no longer handle the physical upkeep of a large single family home. It turned out that the trauma of selling our family home wasn’t nearly as bad as what us ‘kids,’ now middle aged ourselves, had to do in order to make it happen.

One Friday we ordered one of the big commercial dumpster bins to be delivered to the house. After giving away stuff family members, friends and neighbors wanted, we knew there’d still be a lot of things that had to be thrown out: sleeping bags to tools, furniture to books, and extra dishes to everything else, none of which could go into a one bedroom nursing home unit. What we weren’t prepared for was the visual impact of a huge and full bin being hauled away, then a second bin, and a third bin. In total, the stuff accumulated over a lifetime added up to over 14,000 pounds – in the dump.  Few things in life have had such a powerful and visual impact on us.

Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of stuff, purchased one thing at a time, over a lifetime, boiled down to 14,000 pounds of trash. It sure put things into perspective. You’ll now understand why I’m just not that excited about buying that newest whatever, the next model of some gadget or another, or running up my credit cards. Hopefully it won’t take that kind of experience for you to look at “stuff” a little different in your life, or with Christmas presents this year.

When you decide you want to reach financial independence and become debt free, it needs to start by turning off the buying and borrowing tap, to end your continuous borrowing and payment cycle. That decision comes with good news and bad news. The good news is that ending your borrowing cycle rapidly accelerates the date of your debt freedom.  After all, you’ve now stopped digging and stopped making things worse. Besides, if you look at all the debt you have, there’s a good chance that today, most of it couldn’t be sold on e-Bay or given away on Kijiji.