Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

Gifts can be a large financial drain. Some of us buy gifts we cannot afford, either to keep up with others or to "buy" love and friendship.

Sometimes you just need to be firm and use your money more effectively during the holiday season. Here are some tips to help you control your money.

• Develop a holiday spending plan. Decide on the total amount you feel you can reasonably afford to spend on holiday expenses this year. Include gifts, decorating, entertaining and any other expenses you expect to have. Assign an amount to each expense category without going over your total.
• Buy only those things that fit into your holiday spending plan.
• When selecting gifts, think not only of the initial cost of the item, but the cost of maintenance and repair over the life of the item.
• Keep records of all your holiday spending. That way you'll know whether you're sticking to your plan. Keep a running list of items bought and for whom. Keep sales slips and warranties.
• If you use your credit card for holiday shopping, pay the bills on time and in full to avoid interest charges.

• give a gift of service: babysit, mow grass, or do windows;
• bake cookies for just about anyone;
• write a special letter to a faraway friend;
• call a seldom-visited cousin, aunt or uncle;
• invite a co-worker to lunch;
• gather all those old photos into an album and add information about the family tree (a special gift for any family member);
• fill a new address book with up-to-date addresses of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins (a helpful gift for family members); or
• host a Saturday morning come-as-you-are coffee for your neighbors, served with biscuits and honey, in the let-down lull after the holidays. (A super-clean house isn't required!)