I spent $NNN this year on Christmas presents

[Cronus Protagonist]

Post the money you spent or your total budget in the title of your posts so that we can assess how well the Bush economy is doing these days.

I will spend $140 this year, total. No gifts for at least half the family, only the closest niece and nephew are getting anything, and the rest is for a gift-exchange at a party.

The cash just isn't there. How about you?




http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[Sannum]

1. Nada.

I am boycotting the happy holiday season this year. There is nothing to celebrate. I have told people not to get anything for me because I won't be getting anything for them. I am not doing it out of mean-ness, but honestly, I checked my bank balance this afternoon and it is just an impossibility to do it this year. I am tapped out.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Less than $70

I got my mom, brother, sister in law, neice, nephew, and brother's father in law stuff as well as a spittoon for my boss ( a hint to stop spitting tobacco all over the office, and well worth the investment).

[Pam-Moby]

3. Our household spent $225.00

On Xmas and that includes the xmas dinner. The lowest cost ever for xmas in our home.

[goclark]

49. Our household about $250

Every gift we are giving was cut in 1/2 from what we usually spend.

I have decided to do that with my gifts all year long.

Friend that is seriously ill, we donate money to her church for a present. She was so appreciate.

GIVE MORE TO CHARITIES AND CHURCH>
No Walmart!!!

[hatrack]

4. Zip - unless you're including Thanksgiving dinner, other food items

Did some charitable contributions, as always - Heifer International, a local animal shelter I volunteer at and the Glen Canyon Institute. Maybe a few more in January, when orgs. are feeling the pinch.

But more and more stuff? Nah. Well, I might treat myself at a locally-owned bookstore come next week, but no big items, that's for sure.

[MercutioATC]

5. About $1600, but

almost $1000 of it was spent on my son and about $300 on his little sister. The adults in my family don't spend that much on each other.

The kids do pretty well.

[Florida_Geek]

8. Kids should ALWAYS do the best their parents can do

Myself Mmmm
$380 BUT that is $380 more than last year when I was out of work but a couple friends still brought me something so I double up on them.

[MercutioATC]

9. I agree. I usually don't spend THAT much, but he wanted a guitar

this year and I decided it would be best to buy him a good one.

It got a little pricey...

[Florida_Geek]

13. how old is he

if he uses it great, BUT a better quality one will have better resell value on eBay if it turns into a dust collector.

[MercutioATC]

15. He'll be 14 in February.

He's been consistent on the subject for almost two years, so we're giving it a shot. I was involved in music as a kid, and I wanted him to have a quality instrument when he decided to explore it.

Believe me, resale was also a consideration. I'll do much better with this guitar than I would with something less expensive should he change his mind.

[Donailin]

62. Consider it an investment, Mom. Two musicians here

Both sons, 14 and soon to be 16 on the 30th. Guitarist and drummer. Seemed liked good hobbies to me four years ago. And not THAT expensive. But that was then. Now? I'm in it for major bucks. Almost all of my extra income goes to their talent. My sons (3rd)guitar was $700(Schecter diamond series with MOP inlay), EMG pickups $200, the half stack marshall cab - used $350, the peavey 5150 with vaccuum tubes used $350, lessons $60 an hour (every OTHER week), strings, picks, cables -- Jesus, average around $25 a month. Acoustic guitars: a yamaha generic and an Ibanez AW $550. His present this Christmas: the MR8 multitrack recording device $250( thankfully!, Im getting off cheap this Christmas). Him making the Montgomery County all honors jazz ensemble-- priceless. His being the only 9th grader jazz guitarist in the high school, priceless. Him playing vivaldi's four seasons autumn with sweeping and picking while I sit at the computer, priceless.

The drummer: Christmas/16th birthday present 2004: DW 6 piece drumset, used in natural wood tone $1600 not including hardware( a huge bargain if you investigate) Symbals: good God, I can't begin to estimate, $1800 over the course of three years? Double bass drum pedal, $250. Lessons, $25 a week. Sticks $25 a month. Him in marching band, symphonic band, and pep band, priceless.


The investment is worth every penny because this world needs more artists,AND they will both be able to utilize their talents towards college scholarships. AND it makes them feel extremely good about themselves -- it keeps them busy in a productive way. They have really good self esteem, which makes me happy for them.

I've never once regretted spending my hard earned money on the musical instruments because they NEVER collect dust. I mean, they use them till they're worn out. And they love you for it, they really do.

[Career Prole]

6. 74 bucks n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. Not sure yet, but it isn't going to be much

Some restaurant gift certificates for the folks, and a few things. Certainly nothing for the department stores.

[China_cat]

10. Absolutely nothing.

[NMDemDist2]

11. not including food, $63

$50 for a gift for a dear couple, $3 for a picture frame and $10 postage

it's a little skinny here this year

I gave myself a $100 budget for food (but lots of that will be in the freezer for January meals)

[Johonny]

12. round about

1000 $. Which includes 400 airfair to get home. It's my Christmas and sure as hell don't have anything else to spend the thousands back I've gotten from the Bush tax cut. .

[Liberty Belle]

30. Around $650. That includes my 2 kids, husband, parents,

brother, mother-in-law, nieces and nephew,plus a needy family (a friends' 3 little kids where the mother just died). If you include the tree, holiday cards, and food/wine for a small get-together, it's closer to $800. This is less than usual, as we've cut down our gift list and bought less for those left on the list.

To save money, I baked holiday goodies as thank you gifts for my editors and the neighbors. I shopped a lot at Costco and other discount stores, like the $5 clothing store near us, but avoided Wal-Mart completely. We also recycle gift bags and bows year to year to save money, and if I need a few new gift bags, I get them at the dollar store.

[Bluebear]

14. I spent plenty. Bush is not ruining our holiday.

I shopped blue, I shopped smart. But on Christmas Eve we will exchange gifts and have soothing carols coming from the computer and I will lift a glass of eggnog to our poor men and women overseas and speed a wish to get them home and say a big F.U. to Bush in my best holiday voice. We need a little Christmas in our household.

[Sara Beverley]

16. I spent $0 on gifts and totaled up my savings from year before last list.

Savings = $3800. $1,000 went to the bank. I have $1900 in my safe deposit box. I split $800 among three family members who are in dire need because of lost jobs and illness. For the life of me, I don't know what happend to $100. (Rounded up my costs to nearest $10).

[Piperay]

17. Zip, zero, zilch, nada, nothing ...

I don't have extended family anymore, we quit exchanging gifts a couple of years ago or even getting together. It is just my father, brother, boyfriend and myself and we all have so much crap that we don't bother with gifts anymore. It doesn't even have that much to do with chimp, we just don't need or want more stuff.

[Yupster]

34. I get edibles for people like that

fancy teas or sweets. Something different that they wouldn't get themselves but will be gone soon so it doesn't clutter the house.

[Sirveri]

18. nothing

I've been unemployed for the last 6 months, before that I was unemployed for another 5 months, and before that I was unemployed for 14 months. Since Feb 2002 I have only had 8 months of steady employment. 8 months in nearly three years. People better get used to getting nothing for quite a while now.

[arcos]

19. wow, I'm shocked to see I'm spending more than most here...

$650... $400 on a new computer for my mom and sister, $100 on a new cell phone for my mom, and $150 on different things for my boyfriend.

[MrSlayer]

20. Far more than I can afford.

I hate Xmas.

[n2mark]

21. My total is

$800.00 including food for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after. I usually spend almost 3 times that amount so I have changed my spending this year.

[jbm]

22. counting food and everything...

about 600.00. I was trying to keep it below 500.00, but I had one of those "what the hell was I THINKING??" days where I bought some really dumb gifts and wound up having to rebuy when I came back to my senses. Most years I spent 1,500.00 at least, and I've often spent as much as 4,000.00 so this was a huge cutback for me. I really feel like I was able to cut back without depriving anyone, and I think no one will even know that I spent less. Other years I'd head off to a mall and somehow spend a ton of money on junk that wasn't 'the exact right gift' anyway. This year I thought instead of shopped, and except for that one day where I lost my mind, I really believe I wound up with gifts that really do match the people..and for much less money.

[susanna]

24. I'm about where you are... $650 actually.

It's pretty much otherwise the same story as yours (i.e., I have spent a good deal more in the past). I just paid for a wedding, though, so I knew I would be cutting back this year. We were still able to shop blue and get a close-to-perfect gift for each person. There were lots of sales in my neck of the woods, thankfully. I think I bought most everything discounted.

I still have to buy some food, though. The entire family does a big appetizer spread on Christmas Eve, and then I will do a formal dinner on New Year's Eve. So that might add another couple hundred.

[nascarblue]

23. No money at big chains for me...

[DoNotRefill]

25. Not one dime....

of course, that's just because I'm a cheap bastard....

[Shopaholic]

26. Somewhere between $1500 and $2000

But since I consider shopping to be a form of recreation, exercise, and entertainment. . . . I am obviously not your typical DU'er in this regard! And this fact may well be explained by my user name!

[disconnected]

27. what gifts...

not spending anything...don't have it to spend...thankfully my kids are covered by mine and my hubby's family, but in all truth I wouldn't be worried if they weren't because really, Christmas shouldn't be as commercialized as it is anyway.

[Cronus Protagonist]

32. Damn!

I haven't seen that much disposable income since Bill Clintons many years of prosperity.

I'll be giving myself a fruitcake this year.

[Dorian Gray]

55. I'm the same way....

I did well this year, so at the end of the year, I bought everybody in my family nice gifts (and I had fun doing it!). My husband and I actually spent a lot of money to buy his parents tickets to see Elton John in Las Vegas (where we are sending them for their anniversary), so that ate up almost $250 from each of us.

I also made a notation to myself to spend as much on charity as we did on presents, so we donated about $2000 to charities in New York City that we love. :) (We go overkill with presents.)

[jellybelly]

28. I'm bad...

I spent $500.00 on myself and $300.00 for family. What can I say? I'm a girl who likes to buy everything in site.

[Kitka]

29. On wrapped gifts under the tree to everyone, about $400. But....

I'm taking the kids to Disney World the day after Christmas, and spending thousands. This is in spite of, though, not because of the economy. I sold my home to get out of debt and could therefore afford to do this.

[Ian David]

31. We bought some gifts at the dollar store

My daughter has spent many happy hours with her $1.00 plastic teacup set.

We got her some good stuff too, but it's amazing what you can find really cheap to entertain a two year old.

[Mabeline]

63. I probably spent around $400-$500.............Dollar stores are great...

they are great for stocking stuffers too..I also found a lot of candles, potpourri and liquid potpourri to make a gift basket for my MIL (included a cute liquid potpourri pot bought at WalMart). They have been getting a lot of old movies on DVD in also, they make great gifts too.

[Yupster]

33. I spent about $ 750

Lord only knows what my wife spent.

I'll find out after Christmas when the credit card bill comes.

[Lilith Velkor]

35. $0

Fuck Christmas.

[shockra]

36. Right around $100.

Spent on my family.

We've been pretty frugal for the last decade or so. It just seems there are increasingly less and less things we really want, or need. And we already share a lot of books and DVDs, which is where most discretionary money goes anyway.

[newyawker99]

46. Hi shockra!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Dem2theMax]

37. About $65.00. For my parents.

They are in their mid 80's and not in the best of health. I couldn't get them nothing. So I got each a simple present that they will enjoy. And I told them to get me nothing, to save their money.
And that's it. Dinner will be very simple this Xmas as well. I like it this way. :)

[Danmel]

38. I spent a few hundred dollars

I bought the kids some clothes, those squishy neck pillows, a few books and a LOTR extended version DVD. I bought my husband Jon Stewart's America and Bill Clinton's Autobiography. I got some gifts for my kids teachers, the secretaries in the school office who are helpful, my kid's hair cutter, I gave cash to the newspaper delivery guy who gets the NY Times to be at 5:15 every morning. I got my 86 year old dad a few new shirts and my brother a DVD. Nothing major but with all the people I tip and stuff it adds up.

I got a beautiful Le Creuset 7 Quart oval Doufeu oven. From FRANCE. In which I cooked a very delicious Beef Bourguignon, with FRENCH wine. I must really hate America, huh?

[Hotdiggitydog]

39. I've spent $150 so far....

and $100 of that is for pottery classes for my girlfriend. She is also getting The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, which happens to now be an Oprah selection, a coffee grinder and a pound of Starbucks coffee beans. I plan to spend another $50 on other people. Plus, I'll spend something on myself - either some clothing or a book or CD. Probably wait for the after-Christmas sales to buy my gift to me.

I feel lucky to have the means to spend this without feeling completely strapped. I have the cash to spend a good bit more, but refuse to succumb to the materialism that disgusts me in others I see. Plus, I refuse to go into credit card debt.

[Lost4words]

40. ZERO, ZIP, Zilch...............n/t

[TrustingDog]

41. $ mostly spent in family dinners....

dont' buy much, maybe a wine bottle or 9 here or there. turkey, roasts, whatever.

I am totally sickened by the gluttony that I have taken part of in past years. - the 'direct to landfill' shit.

[whosinpower]

42. Around $650 myself

Let's see $300 for a playstation 2 for my son along with a couple second hand games.
$250 for Desk for Hubbie.
$60.00 Bistro table and chairs for parents.
The rest went on groceries for goodies and Homemade nuts and bolts for siblings...

[ProfessorGAC]

43. A Little Under $2k

We save all year for this, so we don't create any undo burden on ourselves. We put $85 out of each of my 24 paychecks into a separate account for holiday shopping.

We splurge on my nieces and nephew mostly, and my mom and her dad. (We bought my mom an air purifier for her house and her dad a season pass for the golf course near his house.) The kids get lots of stuff from us. (The oldest is 16 and she gets cash. The rest are between 6 and 9.)

But, we've been doing this for YEARS! So, this is about the same amount we've always spent, adjusted roughly for inflation.
The Professor

[Cronus Protagonist]

56. I admire your discipline

And your commitment to making things work. I wish I had that, but alas, I don't have an extra $170 a month to pay for christmas.

However, if business ever picks up again, I like your method and I'm thinking I should try it. It would be nice to be able to have a GREAT Christmas despite usually being broke at this time of the year.

[apple_ridge]

44. $300, which is about $300 more than I wanted to spend,

but my Christmas obsessed family wouldn't let us out of the loop. <sigh>

[Viva_La_Revolution]

45. $300 total

for 3 teenage boys. More than I can afford, but they all need clothes. We will go shopping after Christmas, so as to get the most for our $..... Everyone else gets a "Happy Holidays".

[bleedingheart]

47. Here is the breakdown..

$100 towards flood victims in our area
Nothing for husband, did recently buy shirts but that was for work.
Nothing for me.
$200 a piece for my two kids....including some clothes.
$150 for my mom and in laws
$200 for 2 nieces and 3 nephews.

I also gave $20 to my son's daycare person and my daughter's "chauffeur"...(independently owned child transportation service that takes her to grandma's house while I am at work..)

[SudieJD]

48. $50.00 On Presents..

And about $90.00 on food for Christmas. No tree this year, couldn't afford one. Can't afford the electric bill, so no outdoor decorations.

Sudie in MN

[eugeneliberal]

51. Next to nothing...

I went back to collage about a year ago (at age 45) and it is truly difficult being a "starving student" when you're my age and have a large extended family, so I made stuff. Went to Goodwill and bought some old picture frames and decorated them with beads and things; made earings and keychains out of bottle caps, and painted and assembled a mobile that I made in my sculpture class last summer. I did buy a couple of things for my two granddaughters, but I shopped for them at Costco.

[Justpat]

50. Zero.

My entire family got out of the Christmas spend-a-thon back in '92
and we LOVE IT.

My step kids think I'm the wicked step mother for sure, but they are
the only ones left who participate in it.

[libpunkmom]

52. Spent about $150 on my son.

And that was it!!! No money for anyone else. And all my family lives in Texas so it's gets really expensive to ship packages from Oregon to Texas.So they get nothing.

[Butterflies]

53. A little over $500, I think

I was trying to keep it under $500, but I had to get the X-Box deal for my sons and that put me over the top.

[BamaGirl]

54. About $300

and all on the kids. I left a lot of people off my list this year (no money), and I still need to get something for my brother. Last year I spent a little over $1000.

[WolverineDG]

57. probably around $500-600

large family, but that also includes my plane fare. most of the presents were bought pre-election, the rest are all re-gifts, since i've been cleaning out & downsizing what i own. i found some really nice stuff that i had received in the past but didn't use, so re-gifted a bunch for the first time ever. :) after the office white elephant exchange, i don't feel guilty about re-gifting because the person who got the stuff i brought really needed & wanted it!!

dg

[Doctor_J]

58. A little under $1K

large-ish extended family, who each got a little something, and one pricey thing for each of the kids. About $150 on Mrs. TOJ. We're looking to downshift soon, kids are almost grown, so we're stopping accumulating things.

[Caledonia]

59. I really don't know exactly.

I have cut back a lot though, and am pretty proud of myself, considering I have a mother in law who starts shopping in October and phones me three times a day to tell me what she has bought for everyone. I started three days ago and finished today, and for once I paid it all in cash. No more will I pay for last Christmas in November, then take out more credit as soon as it is paid off.

It's a bloody rip-off. I'd really much rather have a cuddle.

[Cronus Protagonist]

61. I do things the same way

And I agree with the cuddle factor. I pay cash only, which is one of the reasons my spending is so low this year - the cash simply ain't there.

Business is still poor and no sign of the depression lifting.

[ShaneGR]

60. $525.00, all of it on Best Buy Gift Certificates....

I find it's easiest just to buy certificates for people, as I've never been very good at picking out presents. I considered getting certificates from a discount clother like TJ Max but wasn't sure of a couple of my friends/family would want to buy clothes there.

The bottom line is, I hate W's guts, but I'm not going to let him ruin my Christmas. I like giving presents and getting them.

[Donailin]

64. Around four thousand.

Sounds crazy, I know, but I just got a lump sum child support payment for over fourteen months arrears. Last Christmas was not so good for my three kids, and all through this past year they have gone without normal things that most parents buy monthly out of necessity like clothes, shoes, coats, socks, ink for computer even. We made do with bare minimum so they could continue their extra-curricular activities which are more important to them.

Major purchases were drum set, computer, clothes, shoes, and gifts for the people that I couldn't buy for in over a year.

My gift to myself? Payed off almost all credit debt and bought a pair of jeans with no holes.

The gift I want most is the election fraud to be exposed and Bush removed from our WH, and for war to end and the troops to come home.

[laruemtt]

65.

[laruemtt]

66. ooops -

i put the "less than" sign and it didn't pick it up. anyway, less than $80.

[B Calm]

67. 30 dollars on lotto tickets, 500 dollar cash present and approx

100 dollars for misc. presents. No shopping at red stores.