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Christmas

Minimalism

How We Do Our Minimalist Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2019
Christmas gifts laying on a wood floor with a dark blue painted wall and green christmas tree cuttings placed around
Inspired by J. Money’s  post earlier this week, Are you done with your Christmas shopping already?! and his families ‘gifting habits’, I thought I would throw together a post on our Christmas Gift Giving and attempt at a Minimalist Christmas.

Of course, these are our Christmas traditions and gifting ideas, and your gifting traditions don’t need to reflect what we do, and likewise, we won’t do that same as your family. I just think it is cool to see what other people’s Christmas gift giving traditions looks like! So here we go!

Our Minimalist Christmas

Who we buy gifts for: Our nephews (4), step nephews (8), step nieces (2), parents & step parents (6), siblings (4), grandparents (2)

So essentially we buy gifts for everyone in our entire immediate family. We have a reasonably big family so that’s 26 in total. (Or maybe that is considered small to some? hehe).

Who we don’t buy gifts for: Friends & Colleagues. Sorry to our friends & colleagues, but buying 26 gifts twice a year or more is a job in itself! I even opted out of my works Secret Santa and have done so for most of the recent years. John Smith who works down stairs and I have never spoken to doesn’t need a gift from me 😉 and I don’t need some random knick knack either.

Donations: For the past three years I have donated bags to the Share The Dignity #itsinthebag promotion and contribute to my works Salvos Christmas appeal.

What about for us? 
When it comes to my husband and I we have a Christmas budget of $150 each to spend on each other. To some that will see like a lot, and to others that will seem like not much at all. To us it is a reasonable amount that won’t hack into our savings too much, but gives us enough to afford something we really want or need 🙂

Personally, I usually struggle to spend it all, as my birthday is two weeks after Christmas so at least by my birthday, my gift list is looking pretty empty.

This year my husband wanted some pricey Chilli sauce and European beers – which was fine with me. Consumables are the secret to this Minimalist’s heart! And I always find it so funny, when my husband often appears to be a bigger minimalist than me! (Maybe he is?! :p)

And for myself?

My Christmas gift is usually just a concoction of things I have seen over the months leading up to Christmas that I want or need. More often that not I will just buy what I need when I need it, but I do try and save a small number of items to put on my Christmas List as I know how much easier it is to just ask someone what they want, rather than trying to guess, and I certainly appreciate when others help me in the gifting process to know what they would find value in.

As a minimalist I am not keen on having people guess what will add value to my life, and I certainly don’t expect my husband to read my mind so this year we went shopping together for what I picked out.

I’m pretty boring and consistent and generally ask for the same things each year, my gift list usually looks something like this:

  • A new handbag or wallet to replace my old one. I buy one handbag a year and carry the kitchen sink around in it, so by years end it is usually a bit ‘how you goin’
  • A new pair of pajamas. I am the girl that will recycle old shirts as pajamas until the end of time, but once a year (or so) I will spoil myself with a new pair of pajamas
  • A small block of my favourite Lush soap
  • A lovely scented candle
  • A book I really want (it’s usually the only physical book I will buy the whole year)
  • Something zero waste I have been keeping my eye one (this year it is a safety razor)
  • Chocolate, I buy a sneaky box of my favourite Quality Streets. Yum! 😉 I’m a big kid at heart so decided to do a Chocolate hunt on Christmas day last year which is a tradition I think this chocolate lover might just keep 😀

Minimalist Inspired Gifts

Where we can, we will try to gift Minimalist Inspired Gifts. We try and avoid gifting things we don’t think our loved ones will absolutely love, I know the guilt of holding onto an unwanted gift so if something I really want to avoid doing to anyone else as much as possible. We aim to give things that won’t take up a lot of space (especially for the kids!), or potentially add to clutter especially when we know a loved one has recently downsized. We also keep in mind that the perfect gift is not something you will necessarily find in store! Or at least that is what we believe.
More often than not we will gift the following minimalist inspired gifts:
– Consumables: Chocolate, Alcohol, Christmas Confectionery stockings etc
– Movie vouchers
– Money – generally given with the intention it is used for a meal out or travel or an experience.
– Our time –  we offer to babysit our nephews for the day and take them out
– Experiences – We take the kids to a movies for some quality time

If you want more ideas for Minimalist Gifts you can check out some others I have thrown together here and here

Keeping Organised at Christmas

With such a large family, I like to start our Christmas Shopping List as early as possible. I already have a bit of a list going by early November and add to is as I go. I use this Christmas Shopping List to keep track of who we need to buy for, what we are buying, which store to get it from, the budget and the actual cost, and of course have a check box to tick off and feel all those good vibes!
Every year it is my goal, for my sanity to finish Shopping before Dec 1st! I was a little bit behind this year as I got hit with an unrelenting virus, but didn’t finish too far off the finish line.
I used to shop up to Christmas Eve in the past and just found it super stressful, especially when you have to deal with parking, crowds etc. It was not enjoyable at all, so now I like to keep the lead up to Christmas as relaxing and stress free as possible and find finishing shopping earlier is just something that adds a lot to Christmas and is worth starting early. (Let me know when your Christmas shopping “deadline” usually is in the comments!) 

New Christmas Gift Giving Traditions

If you want to start some new Christmas Gift Giving Traditions and minimise the number of gifts you are buying, or the amount you are spending on gifts at Christmas, you may wish to give these a try, or create your very own!
  • Something you Want, Need, Wear, Read – This gift tradition is a great way to not go overboard at Christmas with your kids, but still give them a selection of things they want and need. Let them pick out one thing they really want, and you can skip the excess, poor quality ones that will soon be across your floor.
  • Experience, Toy & Book – Mix up your kids gifts with a memory to create together, something they can keep and play with and a book to read many times together. Or any other combination you can come up with! Maybe yours will be consumable, new quilt, new pajamas, new book, new toy x 3. Or anything you like!
  • Experience/Holiday – you may choose to skip out on gifts all together this year and instead spend your money on a holiday or experience for your family to share that will create memories for many years to come, long after the usual toys are broken or  no longer played with.
  • Secret Santa – If you have a large family, a Secret Santa is a great way to give one good, quality gift rather than many smaller, less quality gifts. Simply set a budget everyone is happy with and draw a name out of a hat.
  • Opting out of gifts for adults – Gifts for kids only – This can be a slightly more controversial option for some families as some people are adamant about keeping the gift giving tradition up for adults, but this one I believe does makes a lot of sense, particularly if you have a lot of kids in your family or even just a huge family.

When You Can’t Afford Christmas

If you are struggling financially, or even just gazelle intense with paying off your debt, and splashing out on gifts this Christmas is not an option, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to turn up empty handed to Christmas and feel like you’re going to miss Christmas.

There are so many things you can do together to make Christmas as special as ever, even without having a pile of gifts to open at Christmas.

Here are some frugal ways to still enjoy Christmas with your family:

  • Bake Home made cookies together or make Christmas Bark
  • Play board games as a family
  • Grab some Christmas themed books at a thrift store to read together each night
  • Watch a Christmas movie in the nights leading up to Christmas
  • Go Christmas light looking around your area.
  • Make some Christmas themed arts and crafts together like Christmas wreathes , or Santas with paper plates and cottons balls you have left over.
  • Go to your local Christmas carols event

And some extra frugal gift ideas for your family they will love:

  • If you are artistic, gift them a drawing or painting
  • make a DIY Scrub or face mask
  • Gift them a DIY gift, Brittany from Vasseur Beauty has some amazing ideas in her video 
  • Bake some home-made cookies, hot chocolate or Christmas Pudding
  • Find a second hand book in the thrift store that they will love
  • Give a home cooked meal
  • Gift your time: Babysitting, something you can teach them
  • Walk around your house and see what you can gift e.g. repurpose a spare picture frame with an inspiring quote you printed off

[Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash]

 

This weeks comment Question: What are your holiday gift giving traditions? Have they changed over the years? Let me know in the comments! 

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Uncategorized

2018 Christmas Gift Guide

Posted on December 14, 2018

Christmas is fast approaching with only 13 days to go so in case you have left it to the last minute and are panicking about what to buy your loved ones, and how to do so intentionally -this gift guide was written with you in mind! This includes some of my own favourite things or things that are on my own wish-list 😉

Here is my 2018 Christmas Gift Guide so you can gift more intentionally this year and find the perfect gift for your loved one!

  1. Gift a zero-waste friendly Safety Razor for a great shave and help reduce disposal alternatives ending up in land fill!
  2. Candles are always on my wishlist! My favourite being Glass House. Anything Caramel, Vanilla or fruit scented and I am hooked. (Let me know if you have any other recommendations in the comments! :))
  3. A set of travel bags are perfect gift for any loved one who values travel. I bought this exact set about a year ago and have used it every trip since. These will staying organised when travelling a breeze!
  4. These Reusable Straws are a great addition to kitchen basics or to carry with you and say #notothestraw
  5. A universal travel adaptor for your jet setter to save them storing 10 different adapters for their travels!
  6. A Lush gift box. There are different price ranges from all budgets started as low as $15 dollars and going up from there. They come pre-wrapped in recyclable materials with beautiful designs. And would doesn’t just love Lush 🙂
  7. Who can resist a gorgeous Essential Oil scent to create a peaceful home for your loved one. This pack is great for beginners to Essential Oils and come in a variety of scents with handy dandy Tea-Tree oil which with a quick Pinterest search you will realise does so many amazing things!
  8. An experience! Gift a movie voucher, a meal, tickets to your loved ones favourite band, an upcoming musical, or tickets to the observatory.
  9. Books are always a great thoughtful gift that can provide continued value to your loved one. Some of my favourite’s are Chris Hogan’s Retire Inspired, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Affluenza. Check out my other favourite top 5 Finance Books that would make an intentional gift for anyone you know who wants a fresh financial start in 2019.
  10. Consumables, consumables, consumables! As a minimalist I love to receive and gift consumable gifts. It’s great as it doesn’t clutter up your recipients home and it can really show them how much you know them. Great ideas are a bottle of their favourite wine or spirits, their favourite chocolates (especially those ones that only come out a Christmas!), their favourite beauty brand essentials or a new years planner for the busy guy or gal in your life.

Don’t forget to order your Christmas Gift List Printable to help keep your Christmas Budget on track!

Use this Christmas Gift List Printable to keep track of your Christmas Gift List and budget!

 

This weeks comment question: What are your favourite intentional gifts to give at Christmas? Or has your family decided just to do a secret santa or forgo the gift side of things? 

Budgeting

How to Plan a Debt Free Christmas

Posted on November 27, 2018
Check out these 8 Ways you can Plan a Debt Free Christmas this year!

Christmas is a time to be with loved ones and make memories together. But often before you know it, the end of the year has crept up again, and you are facing the stress of thinking about how you are going to afford to buy everyone gifts.

With pay options like After Pay and Zip Pay on the radar, it’s even more tempting to just ignore the impending budget hit and charge those gifts and leave the worrying about paying them later. Or not worrying at all and ignoring your growing credit card debt until it becomes a bigger problem.

According to a new forecast of Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) data analysed by finder, Aussies borrowed a combined $29 billion on credit cards in December 2017. That breaks down to an equivalent of $1,727 in purchases per card. This is up from the $1,666 the average cardholder owed in credit card debt after the Christmas period in 2017.

These are pretty worrying statistics with 5% of Australians admitting to taking more than 12 months to pay off their Christmas credit splurges! Think of the interest! An average $1727 spent per person at a 22% interest rate paid off over two years adds an additional $375 in interest payments.

Table above shows Total payable inclusive of interest on $1727 borrowed at 22% over 4 and 2 years, respectively.

Christmas shouldn’t and doesn’t need to be a time of financial stress or an excuse to go into more debt. With a little planning we can take the stress and financial sting out of Christmas and plan a Debt Free Christmas. And a little planning and effort can go a long way!

How You Can Plan a Debt Free Christmas

1. Make a promise to yourself that you won’t be going into debt for ANY gifts
Let’s all take a moment and think about this. If you don’t have the money in cash to buy gifts and are going into debt to buy them, you can’t afford it. This goes the same for if you don’t have an Emergency Fund of at least $2000 saved up. Until you acknowledge this you will continue in a debt cycle and never catch up.

Family may be upset at your lack of generosity, but it’s important to stop digging your financial hole more into the ground in order to keep others happy. And besides, family and friends should always want to support you in achieving your goals! And as Dave Ramsey says, Live like no one else, so you can live AND GIVE like no one else 🙂

It may take having a year off buying anyone gifts to get onto your feet and build up a small Emergency Fund and pay down some debt but it’s a necessary step in order to change your financial situation. And don’t fret I will give you some tips on how to still give gifts below 🙂

2. Save ahead of time with Sinking Funds
The number one thing you can do to have a debt free Christmas is to save ahead of time with Sinking Funds. This means saving up a little each month rather then trying to scrounge dollars at the 11th hour. The best time to start is January. This will give you 11 months to save and you will have your total budget by Dec 1st.

Every January I want you to set your Christmas budget. How many people do you have to buy for? What are you going to spend? What do you need for Christmas meals/entertainment? Divide that total number by 11 and put this away every month. Check out this Christmas Gift List to help you get started. When Christmas rolls around you will have the cash ready to go without any temptation to reach for that credit card.

3. Shop early
Don’t leave your Christmas shopping for a week or two out. Take advantage of earlier sales like Toy sales or Black Friday deals in late November. When you leave it to the last minute you don’t allow yourself time to shop around for the best deals, which can save you serious cash! Shopping early also gives you ample time to check reviews and ask around for other people’s recommendations to make sure you are buying a good quality item.

4. Shop second hand
Before buying brand new check for second hand items that can save you money. I just bought a second hand Wii game in very good condition for $26 and saved myself $20. Sometimes you can find second hand items for half the price or less that are brand new with tags attached or like new.

5. Have a Cris-Cringle
A great way to save money is to set up a Cris-Cringle and buy one gift rather than a gift for each person. Not only can this save you money, and allow you to buy a more quality gift but it will save you time shopping for multiple gifts. A friend of mine’s family has a $75 budget and each person makes a list of three items within the budget they would like which means that you can by a gift that will truly add value to your loved ones life!

6. Gift frugally

If you are really short on cash and considering going into debt to buy gifts STOP. Just because you don’t have much money doesn’t mean you have to resort to going into more debt. Get creative and think about what home-made gifts you can make or consider gifting your time!

  • Can you draw a portrait for your loved one?
  • Are you handy and can offer them some of your time to help with repairs?
  • Can you offer free babysitting?
  • Are you a good baker and can bake some cookies or put together a yummy hot chocolate pack?
  • Or make some DIY beauty products?

Think outside the box. Gifting a hand-made gift can be more appreciated than the store bought one.

7. Get Hustlin’
If you are short of cash spend the month leading up to Christmas hustling for some extra cash.
Here are some ideas to help you bring in some extra cash to put into your Christmas budget:
• Start dog walking
• Babysit for cash
• Check our Air Tasker for some odd jobs you can do
• Sell your unwanted clutter on eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. Read how I made $5000 selling mine here
• Rent out a room on Air BNB for the weekend
• Ask for extra hours at work for the holidays
• Cut your expenses: review your mobile phone plan, lower your grocery budget and start Meal Planning, find frugal ways to have fun to save on entertainment, check your mortgage rate and ask your bank for a better deal

8. Aim to save when it comes to food
Christmas isn’t just about the gifts, the food can add up especially if you are hosting. Here are some tips to plan a debt free Christmas and save money on food:

• Shop at Aldi. I’m a massive fan of a lot of Aldi’s range it’s a great way to save.
• Take advantage of specials. In the lead up to Christmas browse the supermarket catalogues and buy non-fresh items on special that you will need for Christmas.
• Ask everyone to bring one dish to help share the cost of food on the day. Make a list of what you need and ask around who can help make something. Every year I make a pavlova to bring along to Christmas lunch and dinner.
• Rotate Christmas with your family. Spread the cost of Christmas by rotating who hosts it each year. It also means instead of hosting Christmas every year you might only need to host it once every 3-4 years. Think of the reduction in stress levels 🙂
• Spend time estimating food as best as you can. Try not to go crazy and buy food for 50 when you are only having 30 guests. Take note each year or how much food was left verses what you bought for an indication of what you will need next time.
• These tips on How to Save on Your Grocery Budget will help your dollar go further too!

And there you have it Minimisers, 8 tips to Plan a Debt Free Christmas!

This weeks comment question:What are your tips to save money at Christmas and celebrate Christmas Debt Free? Let me know in the comments

[Photo: Tyler Delgado @ Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂