Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #420 Christmas on a Budget
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: It's their Happy Families podcast.
- 0:07Speaker 2: So how do you feel about secondhand gifts?
- 0:08Speaker 1: I think it really depends.
- 0:09Speaker 3: I mean, if it's for me, I'm going to be
- 0:11Speaker 3: upset about it, But if for someone else is probably
- 0:13Speaker 3: you're so bad.
- 0:14Speaker 2: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
- 0:17Speaker 2: and dad.
- 0:18Speaker 3: Hello, this is doctor Justin Colson. I'm here with Kylie,
- 0:20Speaker 3: my wife from mum to our six kids. Kylie, have
- 0:22Speaker 3: you noticed we've been talking about Christmas for the last
- 0:24Speaker 3: week or so on the podcast. Sometimes we're really excited
- 0:26Speaker 3: about it, there's so much to look forward to, and
- 0:28Speaker 3: other times we're like, oh, so hard.
- 0:31Speaker 1: I don't want to do Christmas this year.
- 0:33Speaker 2: I have felt it for the last few years, but
- 0:36Speaker 2: I'm hearing more and more people say to me, I
- 0:39Speaker 2: just don't want to do Christmas this year. There's a
- 0:41Speaker 2: shift in how we want to do Christmas.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, nice. I like the way you've said that.
- 0:46Speaker 3: So today we're talking about gifts, budgets, how much cash
- 0:49Speaker 3: to spend, how to get it all right. We're not
- 0:50Speaker 3: financial advisers, by the way, so you can take it
- 0:52Speaker 3: or leave it, and we don't want to do.
- 0:54Speaker 1: As sort of a boring his hell to budget kind
- 0:56Speaker 1: of conversation.
- 0:57Speaker 3: But we've asked our listeners, we've brainstormed to get that,
- 1:00Speaker 3: We've talked to families and come up with six things
- 1:02Speaker 3: that can help you to do Christmas on a budget.
- 1:06Speaker 2: One of the things that was a game changer for us,
- 1:08Speaker 2: and you may have heard us talk about this before,
- 1:10Speaker 2: is we go by the four gifts of Christmas.
- 1:14Speaker 1: I always get around the wrong order you do it, and.
- 1:17Speaker 2: Well, you buy them something they want, something they need,
- 1:20Speaker 2: something to wear, and something to read. That literally, with
- 1:24Speaker 2: six kids, having a little box that I can put
- 1:28Speaker 2: gifts into in those four areas revolutionize Christmas for me.
- 1:33Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 1:33Speaker 3: The only trouble is sometimes when you're on a real
- 1:35Speaker 3: tide budget buying something they want, something they need, something
- 1:39Speaker 3: to wear, and something to read.
- 1:40Speaker 1: That can be expensive. That can really add up fast.
- 1:43Speaker 2: But yes it can. But depending on your budget, it
- 1:45Speaker 2: might be new undies in socks. You only get new
- 1:47Speaker 2: undies in socks at Christmas time. That's what you wear.
- 1:50Speaker 4: Well.
- 1:50Speaker 3: In fact, we were listening to Jess a little bit
- 1:52Speaker 3: earlier when we're having chat with her and she said
- 1:54Speaker 3: that's exactly what she does with her Santa sax.
- 1:57Speaker 4: But we do try to fill the Santa Sax with
- 1:59Speaker 4: things the kids need anyway for the year ahead, so
- 2:02Speaker 4: a new lunch box, on new shoes, undies, chocolates, things
- 2:06Speaker 4: we probably would have bought them anyway, and then to
- 2:08Speaker 4: save them up and put them into the Santa sac.
- 2:11Speaker 2: So in Jess's situation, it's a new lunch box and
- 2:14Speaker 2: a drink bottle.
- 2:14Speaker 3: We do the same thing the Santa Sax. There's some
- 2:17Speaker 3: fun stuff in there. There's the ginger beer and the
- 2:18Speaker 3: mango that we've already talked about, but we actually go
- 2:21Speaker 3: by the same thing, and it really it bulks out
- 2:24Speaker 3: the Christmas gift giving. The kids are like, yeah, cool,
- 2:26Speaker 3: I needed socks and undies anyway, or a lunchbox. But
- 2:29Speaker 3: it helps you to say, all right, that's taken care
- 2:31Speaker 3: of and now we don't have to worry about it
- 2:33Speaker 3: in January or February when they go back to school.
- 2:35Speaker 1: We've already bought it for Christmas.
- 2:36Speaker 2: Well, the kids get all their tailet trees in there, yes,
- 2:39Speaker 2: in their Sanda Sax, the hair tidies that I would
- 2:41Speaker 2: buy them normally, but I just store it up so
- 2:44Speaker 2: it becomes a gift.
- 2:45Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, perfect. So that's that's one idea one of
- 2:49Speaker 3: our six ideas. The next idea I reckon it's just
- 2:52Speaker 3: important to stick to a budget. So work out how
- 2:55Speaker 3: much money you've got, and don't say, well, the credit
- 2:56Speaker 3: card max is out at five grand or ten grand
- 2:58Speaker 3: or whatever it is, because that's a bad way to
- 3:01Speaker 3: start the new year. New Year's resolution then has to
- 3:03Speaker 3: be pay off the credit card, and that's not fun.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Work out how much cash you've got.
- 3:08Speaker 2: I think it works in any situation, whether it be
- 3:10Speaker 2: the groceries or your shopping list for Christmas or whatever.
- 3:14Speaker 2: If you've got a list and you have a budget,
- 3:18Speaker 2: then you're more likely to stick to that, Whereas when
- 3:21Speaker 2: I would take you shopping, even though I knew what
- 3:23Speaker 2: the budget was and I had my shopping list, you'd
- 3:25Speaker 2: be like, Oh, we just need these chocolate chip cookies,
- 3:27Speaker 2: and we just need these as creams, and we just
- 3:29Speaker 2: need this, and all of a sudden, my budget would
- 3:32Speaker 2: blow out by fifty or seventy dollars.
- 3:34Speaker 1: I'm really bad at this, just because you.
- 3:37Speaker 2: Came along and you didn't know how to stick to
- 3:39Speaker 2: what I was trying to achieve.
- 3:41Speaker 1: I have an inhibition problem. I have a self regulation problem.
- 3:44Speaker 2: This is going to bag you out. But it's just
- 3:45Speaker 2: an acknowledgement. When we don't have a budget or we
- 3:48Speaker 2: don't have a list that we stick to, what happens
- 3:50Speaker 2: is we get caught up in the moment.
- 3:52Speaker 3: And that happens anyway. So not just with the groceries,
- 3:54Speaker 3: but every year we go through something they want, something
- 3:56Speaker 3: they need, something to wear and something to read. You
- 3:59Speaker 3: do that careful, selective gift buying, keeping it to our budget,
- 4:03Speaker 3: and then I look at the gifts. I'm like, oh,
- 4:04Speaker 3: you've done all this great gift buying, Kylie, and I
- 4:06Speaker 3: haven't done anything. And then I go down to the
- 4:08Speaker 3: shops pull out the credit.
- 4:10Speaker 2: Yes, and then I go, hang on a sec. Now,
- 4:13Speaker 2: Abby and Aler have got like major gifts, and you've
- 4:16Speaker 2: left out these two kids over here.
- 4:18Speaker 3: And I reckon, I've done it half a dozen times
- 4:20Speaker 3: over the last decade, and it always costs us and
- 4:23Speaker 3: we don't need it because you've done such thoughtful gift giving,
- 4:25Speaker 3: and I go and blow it all the time.
- 4:27Speaker 1: My impulsiveness is changing.
- 4:29Speaker 2: You know that. The other day we talked about how
- 4:31Speaker 2: being on the same page is really helpful, and you know,
- 4:34Speaker 2: sharing that cognitive load. Maybe if you and I sat
- 4:37Speaker 2: down and talked.
- 4:38Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know, I've got to do better.
- 4:40Speaker 3: Then you could go and buy some gifts because off
- 4:43Speaker 3: my list. I love to buy things and do the
- 4:45Speaker 3: giving myself. And I feel like, because you do all
- 4:49Speaker 3: of this on your own, I feel like I'm not
- 4:50Speaker 3: part of it, and therefore I haven't given it to
- 4:52Speaker 3: them you have.
- 4:52Speaker 1: It's always a surprised to me when I see what
- 4:54Speaker 1: the kids get. Let's just be.
- 4:55Speaker 2: Clear, everybody, Let's just be clear. I beg for your involvement.
- 4:59Speaker 2: I know, and I have asked, and what's your normal
- 5:02Speaker 2: response to me.
- 5:04Speaker 1: I've just got to finish this email.
- 5:06Speaker 2: I don't have the headspace.
- 5:07Speaker 1: Don't have the head space.
- 5:08Speaker 2: Just take care of it.
- 5:09Speaker 1: Do you have any idea, how much work I've got, whatever.
- 5:11Speaker 2: Whatever you want, honey, just you do it and I'll
- 5:14Speaker 2: be really grateful, all right.
- 5:16Speaker 1: So that's the second idea.
- 5:17Speaker 3: The first idea is by essentials and use them in
- 5:19Speaker 3: the Sanda sack or find other ways to give them
- 5:22Speaker 3: as part of something to wear, something they need, something
- 5:25Speaker 3: they want, something to read. I got around the wrong way,
- 5:28Speaker 3: didn't I. And the second thing is actually stick to
- 5:31Speaker 3: a budget. Work out what your budget is going to
- 5:32Speaker 3: be and stick to it. Now, this leads into it
- 5:35Speaker 3: sort of dovetails with our third.
- 5:36Speaker 2: Idea, determining who you're going to give to.
- 5:39Speaker 3: Right, So, you want to give to everybody, But if
- 5:41Speaker 3: you've only got a budget, let's say a thousand dollars
- 5:42Speaker 3: for argument's sake, you just can't give to everybody.
- 5:45Speaker 2: Well, you can, but giving looks different in different situations.
- 5:49Speaker 1: I like the way you said that. That's great.
- 5:51Speaker 2: So if you want to stick to your budget, then
- 5:55Speaker 2: you need to look at who are the most important
- 5:58Speaker 2: people in this scenario that you want to give to.
- 6:01Speaker 2: As a parent, I'm going to suggest it's going to
- 6:03Speaker 2: be your children that you want to give to.
- 6:05Speaker 1: I can't believe you didn't say me.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Oh, you're hilarious, mister. I'll just gone buy what I
- 6:10Speaker 2: want when I need it.
- 6:11Speaker 1: I don't feel like that. I get in trouble for
- 6:13Speaker 1: that all the time.
- 6:13Speaker 2: Okay, But then you've got extended family members.
- 6:18Speaker 3: Just on extended family, So there are twenty grandkids on
- 6:22Speaker 3: my parents' side, so.
- 6:23Speaker 2: That's twenty nephews and nieces.
- 6:25Speaker 1: Well, it's four to them, six.
- 6:26Speaker 3: Of them, ourse yeah, and then on your parents side,
- 6:28Speaker 3: it's fifteen which takes down to nine, So we would
- 6:31Speaker 3: be buying for twenty three nieces and nephews as well
- 6:35Speaker 3: as two sets of parents, as well as you and I,
- 6:39Speaker 3: as well.
- 6:39Speaker 1: As our six kids.
- 6:40Speaker 3: We're literally up to forty or fifty gifts or forty
- 6:44Speaker 3: or fifty people that are buying for Like that is,
- 6:46Speaker 3: it's astronomical. So when you're making the list, you kind
- 6:50Speaker 3: of need to work out. Well, in our family, our
- 6:54Speaker 3: extended families, we do like a what do you call it,
- 6:56Speaker 3: a Chris Kringle Secret Sant Santa, So the kids for
- 7:00Speaker 3: one another.
- 7:01Speaker 2: Well, in the beginning, it was the adults brought for adults,
- 7:03Speaker 2: but as we've gained more children in the family, what
- 7:06Speaker 2: we determined was that we wanted the kids to be
- 7:08Speaker 2: a part of the giving.
- 7:09Speaker 1: Yeah, and the adults were all too hard to buy
- 7:11Speaker 1: for anyway.
- 7:11Speaker 2: Yeah, we all decided when we want something, we get
- 7:13Speaker 2: at what we want anyway, So let's let the kids
- 7:16Speaker 2: be a part of the giving process. And that's been fantastic.
- 7:20Speaker 2: But another couple of things that I've seen other people
- 7:22Speaker 2: do is Aunties have just brought every child a T shirt.
- 7:26Speaker 2: They get a brand new T shirt from Auntie Sarah
- 7:30Speaker 2: or a brand new book.
- 7:31Speaker 1: Rachel, one of our listeners, said, this is what she does.
- 7:34Speaker 2: We also have a good understanding with extended family that
- 7:36Speaker 2: we don't buy them.
- 7:37Speaker 5: Presents and they don't buy for us.
- 7:39Speaker 2: Jess had a really good idea as well. When we're
- 7:41Speaker 2: trying to stick to a.
- 7:42Speaker 4: Budget, We've organized a system where all the siblings get
- 7:46Speaker 4: together and buy a combined present for the other siblings,
- 7:50Speaker 4: which means we can all contribute a little bit less money,
- 7:53Speaker 4: but it's still collectively a large amount of money and
- 7:55Speaker 4: we can buy a decent present.
- 7:57Speaker 3: So let's just do a quick recap on that we've
- 7:59Speaker 3: got Chris Kringle on secret stand not everybody has to
- 8:01Speaker 3: buy something for everybody. It can just be one person
- 8:04Speaker 3: buying for one other person. That way, everyone gets a
- 8:06Speaker 3: gift from the nieces, nephews, cousins, whoever it is. There's
- 8:09Speaker 3: the idea of combining funds, which we've done many times
- 8:12Speaker 3: for especially for the parents, right like for your parents
- 8:15Speaker 3: or my parents or whoever. It's really hard, So you
- 8:17Speaker 3: combine with your siblings and you can buy something really substantial,
- 8:20Speaker 3: something that's really really delightful, and still keep it within budget.
- 8:24Speaker 3: The third thing that we need to talk about is
- 8:26Speaker 3: just making the list of gifts.
- 8:28Speaker 2: Let's talk about that after the break.
- 8:30Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families Podcast.
- 8:32Speaker 6: Imagine a home where discipline got results without anyone having
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- 8:47Speaker 2: It's the Happy Families Podcast, the podcast for the time
- 8:50Speaker 2: poor parent who just wants answers now. And today we're
- 8:52Speaker 2: talking about gifts. Budgeting, no gifts, That's what we're talking about,
- 8:56Speaker 2: all right. So we've got so much more exciting than budgets.
- 8:58Speaker 3: We've covered off the power of making sure that we
- 9:01Speaker 3: know who we're buying for, know how much we've got
- 9:03Speaker 3: to spend, and we're giving essentials where we can and
- 9:07Speaker 3: turning them into really fun gifts like stuff in the
- 9:09Speaker 3: Santa Sack.
- 9:11Speaker 1: But Kylie, you want to talk about how you.
- 9:13Speaker 3: Get the list of gifts right, especially when you're on
- 9:15Speaker 3: a budget.
- 9:16Speaker 2: Rachel actually had a really good idea. We use Marketplace
- 9:19Speaker 2: or gum tree to buy secondhand if needed. Our kids
- 9:22Speaker 2: know and they don't mind. So how do you feel
- 9:24Speaker 2: about secondhand gifts?
- 9:25Speaker 3: I think it really depends. I mean, if it's for me,
- 9:27Speaker 3: I'm going to be upset about it. But if someone
- 9:29Speaker 3: else is probably.
- 9:29Speaker 1: For you're so bad. I think it just depends on
- 9:32Speaker 1: what it is.
- 9:33Speaker 3: Like let's say you want to buy a bike, and
- 9:35Speaker 3: somebody wants a really nice bike, then chances are that's
- 9:39Speaker 3: going to be beyond most people's budgets. And I'd say,
- 9:41Speaker 3: if you can get yourself a really nice secondhand bike,
- 9:44Speaker 3: it's probably going to be fantastic, and you'll get it
- 9:46Speaker 3: for less than half price, like you'll save an absolute bundle.
- 9:49Speaker 3: We've got a daughter who wants Pokemon cards, and you
- 9:52Speaker 3: can buy box sets of poker. You can get the
- 9:54Speaker 3: whole lot secondhand, really really well priced on Facebook Marketplace.
- 9:57Speaker 2: So thousand cards are one hundred and fifty dollars.
- 10:00Speaker 1: Not that you want to give away too much.
- 10:03Speaker 2: You think I want a thousand cars.
- 10:04Speaker 3: No, I don't want a thousand Poken one cards in
- 10:06Speaker 3: our house either, But we've got a daughter who wants them,
- 10:09Speaker 3: So I reckon that that could be an idea. It
- 10:12Speaker 3: could be an option for some people in some circumstance.
- 10:14Speaker 3: Probably not always.
- 10:15Speaker 2: I actually probably would have really struggled with secondhand until
- 10:18Speaker 2: a few years ago. One of my friends, she's really
- 10:21Speaker 2: really conscious about the environment, and she loves buying secondhand,
- 10:26Speaker 2: and so I wanted to give her a gift. And
- 10:28Speaker 2: I thought, it's going to feel a little bit like
- 10:30Speaker 2: a slap in the face if I go and buy
- 10:32Speaker 2: her something brand new, because it's not what she usually does.
- 10:35Speaker 2: And I knew that her family wanted a soda stream
- 10:37Speaker 2: and so I got on Marketplace and somebody literally had
- 10:40Speaker 2: brought a brand new soda stream maker and realized that
- 10:42Speaker 2: they actually just didn't like it. So I decided I'd
- 10:45Speaker 2: get it. That it didn't come in a box, but
- 10:46Speaker 2: I got to wrap it up in a pretty parcel
- 10:48Speaker 2: for her and gift it to her family. And she
- 10:50Speaker 2: loved the fact that I had gone to the effort
- 10:54Speaker 2: of going secondhand.
- 10:55Speaker 3: I love how it's harder to get stuff secondhand, and
- 10:58Speaker 3: yet it made a bigger impact.
- 11:00Speaker 1: She was grateful that.
- 11:01Speaker 3: So I guess it comes down to value systems and
- 11:02Speaker 3: what people's expectations are. But secondhand is an option in
- 11:05Speaker 3: terms of making that list of gifts. You could also
- 11:07Speaker 3: go handmade, especially if you're on a budget. We've talked
- 11:09Speaker 3: about that in previous podcasts, but taking the time to
- 11:12Speaker 3: make something when you haven't got the cash to spend.
- 11:14Speaker 1: Can be really really meaningful. And something else that I
- 11:18Speaker 1: want to talk about.
- 11:19Speaker 3: Science tells us that giving experiences is much better than
- 11:24Speaker 3: giving gifts as a general rule, especially when you get
- 11:26Speaker 3: to share the experience with somebody, because you create those
- 11:29Speaker 3: memories together.
- 11:30Speaker 1: But if you can't give an experience, or.
- 11:31Speaker 3: You're not quite sure what to give, especially if you
- 11:34Speaker 3: don't know them well, some researchers have discovered that giving
- 11:36Speaker 3: a voucher is incredibly effective. People love it when they
- 11:40Speaker 3: get a voucher because then they can go and spend
- 11:41Speaker 3: the money on something that they really value and they.
- 11:44Speaker 1: Still know that you've thought of them.
- 11:45Speaker 3: Plus, if you give vouchers, you get to allow them
- 11:48Speaker 3: to take advantage of the boxing day sales and that
- 11:50Speaker 3: kind of thing. So when you're making that list of gifts,
- 11:53Speaker 3: don't discount the power of a voucher, especially for somebody
- 11:56Speaker 3: that you might not be really well acquainted with or
- 12:00Speaker 3: not sure what to get them.
- 12:02Speaker 1: Well.
- 12:02Speaker 2: Lisa had a really good point. When it comes to
- 12:05Speaker 2: gift giving.
- 12:07Speaker 5: We try and buy one good gift that we know
- 12:11Speaker 5: that they're going to use, enjoy, and we'll create an
- 12:15Speaker 5: experience for our family.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Ever since our kids were young, that has been our motto,
- 12:19Speaker 2: one hundred percent. I would rather our children get one
- 12:22Speaker 2: beautiful gift that's great quality. Might have cost us a
- 12:26Speaker 2: little bit more, but knowing that I could pass that
- 12:29Speaker 2: one down right, Yeah exactly, there were more than one
- 12:31Speaker 2: kid who was going to enjoy this.
- 12:33Speaker 3: We'll get multiple childhoods out of that one gift rather
- 12:35Speaker 3: than getting something that's going to be ruined by New
- 12:37Speaker 3: Year's Day.
- 12:38Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.
- 12:39Speaker 3: So I'm with Lisa on that one quality versus quantity.
- 12:41Speaker 3: When it comes to Christmas on a budget, sometimes worth
- 12:43Speaker 3: spending a touch more even if you end up with
- 12:45Speaker 3: a little less because of the longevity of it.
- 12:47Speaker 2: And our last idea, utilizing sales and lay bys can
- 12:50Speaker 2: really help when you're trying to manage your budget at
- 12:53Speaker 2: Christmas time.
- 12:54Speaker 3: Well, we really hope that these ideas are helpful for
- 12:56Speaker 3: you if you're doing Christmas on a budget like most
- 12:59Speaker 3: of us. In fact, we've got an idea that might
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