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A better way to spend Christmas and birthday money
Super_Satch
Posts: 4 Newbie
I've just agreed a nifty wee idea with my two brothers and dad. I'm sure other people will be doing this already, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway...
Instead of buying presents at Christmas and for birthdays, we're going to put the money we would have spent into an 'activity fund'. There are loads of things we want to do, from parascending to hovercraft racing (anorak alert - I created a spreadsheet and a weighting system, based on our individual preferences, in order to rank the options for argument-free, easy selection!)
Our sister is going to put money in as well. Based on what we all spend normally (Dad gives £75 and each sibling £30 on each occasion), that provides an annual pot of £810. If mum joins in (giving, but receiving her gifts the normal way, like our sister) then it goes up to £1260.
We can probably do about two decent activities a year with £810, or at least heavily 'subsidise' the more expensive ones. (I don't think we're particularly generous gift-givers in our family, and we're all 28+ and in full-time work, but it would still be worthwhile if you only had half of our money to spend.)
We can pay the money at a time that suits us, avoiding debt. We save shopping time. We save on wrapping etc. We can be confident that every pound is well spent. Most importantly, even more so than saving money, we get to spend more time together - which is always difficult with a family of our size and personal circumstances - and it seems to be much more in the spirit of Christmas than resorting in desparation to exchanging gift vouchers!
I hope someone feels inspired by this little scheme!
Instead of buying presents at Christmas and for birthdays, we're going to put the money we would have spent into an 'activity fund'. There are loads of things we want to do, from parascending to hovercraft racing (anorak alert - I created a spreadsheet and a weighting system, based on our individual preferences, in order to rank the options for argument-free, easy selection!)
Our sister is going to put money in as well. Based on what we all spend normally (Dad gives £75 and each sibling £30 on each occasion), that provides an annual pot of £810. If mum joins in (giving, but receiving her gifts the normal way, like our sister) then it goes up to £1260.
We can probably do about two decent activities a year with £810, or at least heavily 'subsidise' the more expensive ones. (I don't think we're particularly generous gift-givers in our family, and we're all 28+ and in full-time work, but it would still be worthwhile if you only had half of our money to spend.)
We can pay the money at a time that suits us, avoiding debt. We save shopping time. We save on wrapping etc. We can be confident that every pound is well spent. Most importantly, even more so than saving money, we get to spend more time together - which is always difficult with a family of our size and personal circumstances - and it seems to be much more in the spirit of Christmas than resorting in desparation to exchanging gift vouchers!
I hope someone feels inspired by this little scheme!
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