For most people, Christmas is one of the biggest spending times of the year. But since the country has been in a recession for quite awhile now and money is tight for many people, there may not be as many gifts under the Christmas tree and that family vacation may get cancelled. Are you changing the way you celebrate Christmas by cutting back on things, volunteering more, traveling less?
Are you changing how you celebrate Christmas this year?
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The biggest difference about this Christmas is that a couple of years ago we decided to buckle down and get out of debt. We followed Dave Ramsey's excellent "Baby Steps" (the seven steps are listed for free on www.daveramsey.com, are included in his book, "Total Money Makeover," and are reinforced on Dave's free, daily downloadable podcast on iTunes) and for the first time in our lives were able to make all of our holiday purchases using cash -- absolutely no credit cards! There will be no credit card bills, no late fees, and no interest charges following us into 2010. 100% of our paychecks are ours; none of it goes to credit card companies or revolving charge accounts at stores. We are no longer prisoners to debt!
The key, for those who are interested, is to live by a written budget, to give a name to every single dollar BEFORE you spend it, and to learn to save up for the things you want instead of giving in to instant gratification by using someone else's money (i.e. credit). If an item we wanted was not in the written monthly budget with a dollar amount from the associated monthly income associated with it, it didn't exist. It's a true balanced budget in real time. We're not Congress; we cannot just opt to print more money. Debt is a four letter word in our household. Having been both in and out of debt, I can assure you that being out of debt is the only way to truly live. It doesn't happen overnight, and it takes a great deal of self-motivation and behavior modification, but it's truly worth it. Along the way to freedom from debt, you may be ridiculed and chastised by others; but we just kept focused and adhered to Dave Ramsey's adage "not to take financial advice from broke people," and the majority of those critizing your plan will be broke people who are not debt-free.
Now that we are out of debt, we can both build wealth using our current income, and GIVE like we've never been able to give before!
Good luck to all of you who are just starting on getting out of debt! We did it, and so can you!
I had posted earlier about grocery donations I dropped off at Kendall County Food Depository and found out at the time how much more they can buy with my cash donation than I can donate myself with my own grocery shopping.
This is my plan for ongoing donations, as the need for feeding our families is not going away quickly, I fear. Sometimes I think I'm taking the easy way out by dropping off a check rather than going the distance and bringing in the actual groceries, but seriously, my cash donation will go much farther, so I'm trying to get over that idea!
Our own celebration remains much the same. Gifts? Yes, so much we can buy on sale now that we still have the gifts. But we are blessed to cherish the excitement of spending a few days together, doing what we want, when we want, eating and being merry...celebrating with all humility, our salvation. Blessings to all, in any manner that you believe.
I received by best Christmas gift today, and I started out thinking I was the one giving a gift!
I went down to the Fish & Loaves site (556 W. Fifth Ave, behind NNHS) to give them a donation of cash for food. I had never been there before, and I was very impressed by the set-up, the site, but moreso by the obvious need for their services.
The place was rocking with needy clients there to accept food for their families. It was so crowded that one needed numbers (like the post office) to get into a queue.
It is clear that Fish & Loaves is very needed in our area AND is doing a yeoman's job of getting product to the needy among our neighbors here in Naperville and the area.
Kudos to them, and I HIGHLY encourage everyone out there to go down to their site (556 West Fifth) and donate some cash ---- even if its just $20. Remember! They can get $10 worth of product for each $1 you donate!
This was definitley one gift that truly made me feel great!
No changes for us. In fact, with all the deals out there, we probably spent way more than last year.
Christmas in our home will be celebrated the traditional way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1uZ_W7atDE