November 29th, 2008
Consumerism overload.
My friend Gina shared with me a revolutionary new tradition she was going to do that really got me thinking, we spend WAY too much money of Christmas, and by the 3rd of 4th gift the kids are on autopilot opening things they will never play with. Case in point, Austin got a $100 fly pen last year that has never even been used.
So Gina’s told me that this year they plan to get “Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read”. I have taken it a step farther, I am striving for a 75%+ rate of used gifts. Either from eBay, thrift stores, or regifting. We are also doing one big gift, which will cost us nothing because daddy is giving the kids his old xbox that has been in our room. Bobby and I are exchanging time instead of gifts, since that is what I need most of all.
Best of all, I have presented this idea to the kids and they LOVE it, they had so much fun making their gift lists because they really had to think about what they wanted or needed most of all.
Check out this neat vid my friend Terri shared with me:
What a neat reminder of how little it takes to make a big impact. What if you take only 10% of your Christmas budget and give it to someone in need? That is such a small percent to you, but it could make a huge difference. What if everyone gave 10%, can you imagine how we could change the world? One tiny drop in the bucket multiplied by millions of other drops can flood the buckets and alter the world like we know it.
So what are you doing this year to make a difference??
