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?

 

3 Strategies to Keep Track of Your Purchases To Save Money

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I’m a big fan of buying in advance for items that I know that I’ll need.  For years when my kids were little, I’d go out shopping a day or two after Halloween to buy my kids discounted Halloween costumes for the next year.  I never paid full price for a Halloween costume, and after Halloween was over and the kids were done with the costume, I sold the costumes on eBay for close to the price I paid.

That’s the way I like to shop, and I know it’s how many others shop, too.  After all, shopping this way is a smart strategy to stretch your dollars.

The problem is that as life gets busier as the kids grow older, I’ve found that sometimes I forget what I bought in advance.  Then, I desperately go out shopping for the item I need, not realizing I had already bought it in advance.

track purchases
Track Your Purchases

Case in point: Last year, right after Christmas, I bought my daughter a green ruffled dress on clearance at a steal for this year’s Christmas.  But, I forgot I bought that dress, and come November, I spent a lot of my time searching children’s resale stores for a dress that wasn’t unreasonably priced.  I had no luck.  A few weeks ago, I was digging through some storage tubs in my closet, and I found the dress.

So this year, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to implement a strategy to keep track of all of my deals.  Here are some techniques I plan to use:

Keep all of the deals in one location.  I have a corner of my walk in closet where I keep a large storage tub filled with discounted items I buy whenever I see a good sale on things I’ll need later.  I use these items for my kids’ birthday and Christmas presents.  I have added another tub to this one.  I’ll store other items like seasonal dresses in these tubs so I know everything I’ve bought in advance is in one location.

Keep a spreadsheet of gifts.  Even if you keep all of your items in one location, you don’t want to constantly have to rut through everything to find what you’re looking for.  Keeping a spreadsheet of the items you’ve bought in advance as well as who they are for will make it easy to see at a glance what items you have.  This can also prevent you from overspending and buying more than you need.

Use the libib app to track books.  I frequently give books as gifts.  We also homeschool, so when I see a good sale, I’ll buy books in advance for the next year or two of school.  The free app libib is a great way to keep track of your books.  Simply scan the barcode with your smartphone, and you can create an inventory, even categorizing by person you’ll be giving the book to or genre.  You choose.

Buying things you’ll need in advance is a great way to save money. . .as long as you don’t forget about what you’ve already bought!

Do you buy items in advance?  If so, how do you keep track of them?

 

How to Turn Unwanted Christmas Gifts into Cash

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The stress has come and gone and Christmas is over. As you go through your gifts you might see some that aren’t your style, don’t fit, are duplicates of something you already have or something you just don’t need. You don’t need to have them sitting around your house collecting dust in the back of your closet. Christmas is also a financially difficult time of year, and you might need to get some cash in your hand along with another type of assistance such as a car title loan to use toward your debt. Consider turning your unwanted Christmas gifts into cash and use it for something that you really want or need through one of these five ways.

Return them to the Store

One of the most common things to do is to return the item you received back to the store where it was purchased. It helps to have a receipt when returning something to avoid receiving a lower price than what was paid or being limited to store credit for the amount of the return. Stores tend to have more lax return policies around the Christmas holiday and take items back for longer time periods than usual. Don’t take too long to return the item or you might get stuck with it if you end up trying to return the item after the specified time frame. If you do end up with a gift card and don’t anticipate using it, read on to see how you can turn them into quick cash.

Trade Them

Trade your gift online through one of the many trading websites and services available. Sites such as Cardpool, allow you to trade or sell gift cards to others. Trade your gift card for one to a business that you’ll patronize, or sell it for cash. Depending on where your original gift card is for, you can typically get back up to 90 percent of its value. You get rid of the gift card and the recipient gets a small discount on their purchase. It’s a win-win for everyone. PaperBackSwap is a book lover’s dream. You list your unwanted books and earn credits to get books others are looking to get rid of. Gamers benefit from Game Trading Zone to swap games and accessories with others interested in gaming.

Sell Them

It makes sense that selling your items can give you cash quickly, but it helps to understand where your item will sell quickest and give you the most money. Don’t expect to get the full value of the item, because buyers want to find a good deal, but you can still get some cash from the item. Craigslist is a quick way to sell items without needing to pay listing fees or worry about shipping costs. Always meet people you meet from Craigslist in a public location for safety reasons. Other sites, such as Poshmark, allow you to list accessories and clothing that you don’t want. You’ll appeal to a large pool of buyers looking for your items, but keep in mind that you’ll be required to pay small fees in exchange for listing your product on their website.

eBay is another site with millions of users. You can sell pretty much anything and everything on eBay, but keep in mind you have to pay a listing fee along with a seller’s fee, which is a percentage of the sale price of your item. OfferUp is an app only service that allows people to buy and sell items to individuals in their local area. It requires parties to meet in person to exchange items, which saves on shipping costs but stay safe by always meeting up in a public location.

Give them as a Gift

Indirectly get cash by saving the item and giving it to a friend, family member or coworker who you feel would benefit from it. Clothing you got might be too small or large for you but would probably fit someone you know perfectly. Keep in mind who gave you the gift so you don’t embarrass yourself by trying to give it back to them or someone you mutually know.

There’s no reason to leave unwanted Christmas gifts lying around when you can turn them into cash while helping someone else get something they want at the same time.