Why is 'breaking the bank for Christmas' acceptable?
Posted
Dec 12 2007, 12:18 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Only 13 more shopping days until Christmas, if you keep track of that sort of thing.
These days, you don't have to. Even if you manage to ignore our culture's near-constant advertising, friends or co-workers or even family members will likely point out that you’re not spending enough money.
A reader who calls herself "Dallas79" has been steering clear of what she calls "a thousand 'grab bag' gift exchanges." Her husband calls her "Scrooge" and suggests that she "stop being so stingy."
"I have been working all year to eliminate our debt," Dallas79 writes, "but even if I wasn't, I still want to live a simple life.
"When did breaking the bank for Christmas become acceptable?"
It don’t mean a thing if it don’t go ka-CHING!
A reader posting as "chrisfan1958" started a thread on this subject on the Smart Spending message board. She wrote about a friend who showed off the fruits of her holiday shopping, "making sure I knew how much she spent on each (gift)."
Chrisfan and her husband had just cut their own Christmas tree, "a treasured family tradition." Her friend responded that she paid $120 for a Noble fir at "the most expensive lot in town" because she required "something better than a wild tree."
This kind of pressure has chrisfan's husband second-guessing their values: "Maybe we’re supposed to live our lives differently. Are we being too cheap?"
Chrisfan doesn't think so, "but I hate when people try to make you feel that you are."
Incidentally, the couple spends only about $300 cash on presents for their large extended family. That's because they make a lot of gifts themselves.
Best for whom?
Why are frugal folks under attack at Christmas? I can think of a couple of reasons.
The first, and most obvious, is that a lot of people believe the advertising mantras. "You work hard -- you deserve the best." "Give your children the best." "When it comes to your car/refrigerator/underpants, why not have the best?" (Isn't it convenient that those who define "the best" are also the ones who package and sell it?)
To this kind of consumer, expenditure equals love. If you don’t spend X amount on your spouse and kids, you must not like them very much.
The second reason is plain old insecurity. People don't always deal well with ideas that are foreign to them -- such as the notion that a person could spend relatively little and still have a great Christmas.
These folks might feel that a simple holiday is some kind of judgment on their own conspicuous consumption. Or maybe, just maybe, it causes scary thoughts:
"I am living paycheck to paycheck. I am currently in debt to maintain this lifestyle that's supposed to make me happy.
"Am I happy?
"What if there are other ways to be happy?"
What that would mean is that we’ve been sold a consumerist bill of goods -- and on credit, too.
Hope you kept your receipts.
