Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Handle Someone Who Gives Too Many Gifts

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First world problems, right?  How can you complain about someone who gives too many gifts?

Believe it or not, that’s something I’ve struggled with during the holiday season.  I have one relative who, simply put, is buying too many gifts for me, my husband and my kids.

Handle Someone Who Gives Too Many Gifts

How to Handle Someone Who Gives Too Many Gifts

If this relative was independently wealthy, that would be one thing, but I know that she’s also trying to save money for some home repairs and a trip of a lifetime to Europe.  I wish she would buy each of us just one gift and put the rest of the money in her vacation fund.

Do you also have problems with someone in your life who buys too many presents?

If so, there are things you can do.  (Though you’ll probably want to implement most of these suggestions AFTER this holiday season.)

 

Set a Gift Giving Limit

Most people buy gifts because they want to be nice, and they want to do something special for you.  However, people can overstep their bounds.  This year between all of my relatives who like to give gifts to our kids, the kids are getting more than enough presents.  Combined with the gifts my husband and I were going to give, my kids were going to have way too many gifts.

I set aside some of the gifts I was going to give; I’ll use them next year.  I also had my mom set aside some of her gifts for birthdays.  I’ve also asked some of the relatives to set a limit of one or two gifts in future years so that our children are not drowning in presents.

Accept and Be Appreciative

Another idea is to simply accept the many gifts and be appreciative.  After all, as Trent Hamm, guest blogger on The Christian Science Monitor, points out, “These gifts are given out of love.”  Hamm, who struggles with his family members giving his kids too many gifts, explains, “People give our kids gifts because they love them so much and it’s their way of expressing it.  For me, telling them  not to do so is akin to saying, ‘Please don’t express your love and caring for our children.’”

Handle Someone Who Gives Too Many Gifts
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

If someone like a grandparent routinely goes overboard with the gift giving, you can reduce the number of presents that you get your kids and save money.  You can just reap the benefits of saving money, or you can take the cash that you saved by not buying so many gifts and instead give the cash as a present to the prodigious gift giver.  Everything comes full circle this way.

Direct the Giver’s Generosity

I remember when I was little, my mom’s friend wanted to get me a Christmas present.  She got me Green Eggs and Ham since I was a prolific reader, but  I was well beyond that book.  Too often, people try to be generous by giving a present, but the gift they give is not necessarily what the recipient needs or wants.

You can direct the gift giver’s generosity by steering her to a wish list.  You could create it on Amazon, and then you would be able to keep track of what has been bought, and you could also have some say in the plethora of presents coming into your house.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to handle someone who gives too many gifts requires tact and patience.  While the situation may be frustrating now, the time will likely come when that person, especially if it is a grandparent, will be gone, and you’ll wish you had this problem.  Be grateful, and use one of the suggestions above to try to stem the tide of gifts, even if that person isn’t willing to change.

Read More

How to Turn Unwanted Christmas Gifts Into Cash

5 Best Subscription Gifts for Kids

Easy Ways to Earn, Make, and Give Free or Cheap Gifts

Do you struggle with well-meaning relatives buying too many gifts?  If so, how do you handle the situation?

 

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

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There is nothing more exciting than the anticipation of a new baby.  However, a baby can increase the budget even if you’re frugal.  These are just 6 unexpected baby expenses to budget for.  These items can’t bought second hand and likely won’t be gifted at a shower.

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

If you’re planning for a new arrival this year, there are a number of expenses you should plan for:

Formula

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For
Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash

I breastfed all three of my kids, but all three were such massive babies with big appetites that I had to supplement with formula while breastfeeding.  We hadn’t planned on that expense, and formula is expensive!

Breast Pump

If you are going to breastfeed, you’ll need a breast pump because even if you’re a stay at home mom, there will be times that the baby doesn’t want to eat or you won’t be with the baby at feeding time, and you’ll want the option to pump.  If you don’t plan to breastfeed for long, you can rent a pump month by month through your local hospital.  I bought mine for $200 and used it for all three children, so it was well worth the expense.

Unexpected Medical Expenses

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

While most babies are perfectly healthy, some babies have issues and have to visit the ER.  My friend’s baby got RSV and then had a partially-collapsed lung, all at 5 weeks old, so she spent five days in the hospital.  That was an expense they had not planned for, and it took them a few months to pay it off.

My daughter had jaundice for three months, and we had to see a number of specialists, and she was checked into the hospital one night.  (She was fine, but we hadn’t planned on the specialists and going to the hospital several times a week to check her bilirubin.)

Increased Grocery Bill

If mom is breastfeeding, she’s going to eat a lot!  It takes a lot of energy to produce all of the nutritional needs for baby.  Don’t be surprised to see your grocery bill increase for the duration of the time that mom breastfeeds.

Clothing

Mom’s body changes after delivery and the post-partum period.  Not only will she need clothes that fit her when maternity clothes are too big and she can’t yet fit into her pre-pregnancy clothes, but she’ll also need some good nursing clothing if she’s breastfeeding.

Miscellaneous Items

There are other, little items that you may need such as diaper rash cream and gas drops.  Our second child had so much gas that she wouldn’t sleep at night, and we went through baby gas drops what felt like every week.  We later found out she had a milk intolerance, and when we took her off milk, she did fine.

Final Thoughts

If you’re expecting a baby, you can get many of the items that you need at your baby shower.  However, there are other items that you’ll need that you won’t get as gifts and can’t get secondhand.  Being aware of these before the baby comes can help you create a realistic budget.

What other expenses would you add to this list?

Frugal Tools and Strategies to Help Busy Families Get Organized

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If you’re like most families, you’re busy.  You spend too much time in your car running from activity to activity, and you spend too much money buying food out on the nights you don’t have time to cook.  Your house may be in a state of perpetual chaos.

This upcoming year, especially February through May, my family will be very busy.  To make sure that we remain organized, I’ve started using several tools and strategies.  Even though we’ll be busy, I plan to still have time to make food at home, keep the house clean, and maintain my budget.

Tools I Plan To Use

tools and strategies
Be Organized!

Motivated Moms.  Motivated Moms is an app or PDF file of a list of weekly chores meant to keep your home tidy.  I love that they think of tasks I always forget like clip the kids’ fingernails and clean the toaster in addition to more basic chores like vacuum the livingroom, etc.

I bought the entire year PDF for $6.  The chores for each day will be assigned to me and my kids based on level of difficulty.  Between the four of us, I’m sure we can knock out the chores for each day in 20 minutes or less working together.

Subscribe to eMeals.  For busy families, eMeals can literally save you hundreds of dollars.  For just $69 for a 12 month subscription, which averages $5.75 a month, you’ll get a custom meal plan for the week as well as a grocery list for all of the items you’ll need.  eMeals has 20 different meal plans to choose from including Paula Deen, slow cooker, Paleo, and many others.  Just choose the one that works best for your family.  Best of all, most meals are never repeated, so you get variety all year long!

Strategies I Plan to Use

In addition to the tools mentioned above, I plan to implement a few strategies to stay organized.

Get up early.  I really don’t like getting up early, but doing so let’s me get some of my freelance work done and also gives me time to exercise.  If I exercise early in the morning, I know it will get done.  If I wait until the evening, I almost never exercise.

Make freezer meals.  In the upcoming months, we’ll have three days a week where we will be gone all day, only coming home in time for dinner.  I’ve already started making freezer meals.  On the three busy days a week, I’ll simply put the freezer meals in the slow cooker.  We’ll come home to a hot cooked meal, eliminating the dinner scramble.  On the other days, I’ll use eMeals’ meal suggestions.

If you don’t have a full day to devote to a freezer cooking session, just double the meals you are making for the next two weeks or so and put one half in the freezer.

Make a schedule and stick to it.  I plan to make a schedule I can stick to and follow it.  That will help me manage my time.  For instance, I do one load of laundry a day; I’ll start it when I get up at 5 a.m. so it’s done before the day gets too busy.

Keep a regular sleep schedule.  When people get busy, they tend to skimp on sleep.  I plan on going to bed no later than 10 p.m. so I’ll be able to get up at 5 a.m.  I know skimping on sleep will ultimately make me less productive as the days go on.

Do you have a busy schedule?  If so, what tools and strategies do you use to stay organized and resist the temptation to spend money on conveniences?