I hereby pronounce this Christmas a success!
Tim
Tim loved all his gifts. Of course, he had already picked out everything (mainly comic book character shirts) himself. But his ADD means that he’d more or less forgotten it all and was pleasantly surprised.
The one thing he didn’t forget about was the Lucifer book series. Essentially, Lucifer gets bored, quits his job in hell and wanders around Earth. It’s an off-shoot of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. And if it’s even half as good as that, the series will be amazing. Plus it’ll get Tim ready for the show that starts in 2016.
I got at least BOGO50 on all of his shirts, and was able to combine the BOGO50 with a coupon in a couple of cases.
With the Amazon special, I got 30% off the book I bought him, and I went through Nadine’s account to get 30% off one of the two she bought. Plus 10% back through the Chase Freedom card.*
In all, he got five shirts (me), the four remaining Lucifer books (from me, Mom and his parents), a Deadpool wallet (his parents) and a Deadpool figurine (me). Plus a couple of items, including a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card, from my mom.
Result: I spent my entire budget for him, but I didn’t go over.
Marc
As I ranted about before, Marc’s entire present request was “a Seahawks shirt.” No indication of design or anything.
Happily, I found a cool one on Amazon, getting the 10% back on the Freedom card and 6% cash back from Mr. Rebates. Then I got him $10 of Facebook credits were courtesy of Swagbucks.
Result: Only spent about half of the budget — and then only if you include the value of the Facebook credit — but he didn’t really want anything else.
Nadine
Nadine requested mainly odds and ends, so she got another day planner (Day-Timer through TopCashBack), slippers ($5 on Black Friday), a brightly colored luggage tag (already had one that was still in packaging) and mechanical pencils for her crossword puzzles.
I’m proud to say that the pencils were the only thing this Christmas that I purchased without sale pricing, coupons and/or cash back.
The big present, though, wasn’t on her list: weekly girl time. This was Tim’s very inspired idea, since despite living on the same property, Nadine and I don’t get a lot of one-on-one time.
Because it felt weird to just put “I give you the gift of me!” in a card, I got some discounted GCs on Raise ($1.50 back through TopCashBack) for Starbucks and Cracker Barrel to help offset her portion of whenever we go out.
Ideally, I’d spring for both of us each week. But we’re “losing” Tim’s SSA income in 2016. We may have made a lot of money this year, but things are going to be more difficult starting in six days.
Result: Came in slightly under budget — weekly lunches notwithstanding.
Me
Of course, I can’t leave myself out. Everyone got me great presents.
Nadine and Marc got me a Sephora gift card, so I can splurge on my overpriced makeup or hair products. It also came with a mirrored compact. They also got me the latest Adele CD, which hadn’t even been on my radar, so that was cool. And an exercise video I’d asked for (because apparently I’m that kind of person now) and resistance tubing to help me along.
My mom also got me a Sephora GC (yay, more pampering things I couldn’t otherwise rationalize!), a GC to a store for my hobby, a book and a collection of Sudoku puzzles. Presents for both Tim and me were more movie passes and a prepaid Visa GC.
Those were all great, but Tim really hit a home run this year.
He got me the Hyperbole and a Half calendar I’d asked for. (See this post that made me fall in love with her humor.)
He tried to find me her book to, since it was also on my list, but it was out of stock throughout the valley. I’d forgotten it was even on my list, so it didn’t bother me.
I’d also forgotten that I’d asked for the Doctor Who Tardis robe, so I was delighted to open that. It’s huge and incredibly soft. The size, and the fact that it has a hood, makes me feel like a boxer coming to the ring.
He also found a Black Widow jacket at Hot Topic to “go with your new hourglass figure.” Granted, right now all that candy is kind of ruining the effect of my weight loss — sugar now bloats my stomach apparently — but I’ll be back to normal soon. And it still looks awesome and, if I do say so, pretty sexy, even with a slightly more-rounded belly.
But even more sexy was the total.
Normally, I’d be annoyed to be presented with the receipt for my presents. But this one showed that he paid just over $62 (after tax) for both items. The jacket alone retails for $64.50.
What can I say? I love a man who shops a good sale.
Plus it means he actually stopped significantly short of his overall shopping budget. Because he knew I’d rather have three things I really love — and an extra $50ish in the bank — than three that I loved and three that I was lukewarm about with $0 leftover.
Damn, but a budget-minded man is hot!
Boxing Day
Tonight, we’re headed out to a friend’s Boxing Day white elephant party. You’re supposed to spend no more than $10, so last year we hit Hot Topic’s BOGO50 sale, coming away with several items for just under $20 total.
This year, in true frugal tradition we’re spending $0. Instead, we’re divvying up into two bags all of the items from Loot Crate that Tim ended up not wanting/having a use for. (No matter how awesome a subscription service, there will always be things you don’t want badly enough to find room for.)
How was your guys’ Christmas (or other winter holiday) haul? Were you able to come in under budget?
*It’s currently offering a $150 bonus if you sign up and spend $500 in the first three months. Leave a note in the comments if you’re interested in receiving an invite from me. And yeah, it helps the blog.
Congratulations! You took care of a lot of wishes with your frugal Christmas shopping. I have been saving oodles on everything by using Yerdle for my purchases. Unfortunately, Yerdle is mostly useful using cellular phones but I hear there are other similar websites. I have traded in over 100 items I wasn’t using and am using my credits for things I actually need and am also able to purchase some gift items using my Yerdle dollars. I am also using my Yerdle dollars to buy toiletries and other items for the charities I support.
If you or any of your immediate family every purchase “smart phones” it’s a great way to save money. Recently, I “purchased” (you use Yerdle dollars and pay shipping only) screen cleaners which I urgently need for several monitor and TV displays.
Hmmm interesting. I’ll keep it in mind. Though I suppose we could install an app on the iPad (?).
A man who shops frugally and gets good gifts for a woman is a keeper!
Practical Parsimony recently posted…She Gave a Lift to a Navaho Woman
My sentiment exactly!
Sounds like a successful Christmas. Quitting work to roam the earth…there has to be a PF blog topic somewhere in there.
Neil also gifts me clothes at outlet and thrift stores, and I love it! And what’s not to love about Tim’s flattering vision for the gift?
Kalie @ Pretend to Be Poor recently posted…Happy Birthday to Pretend to Be Poor
Yep, hard to argue with a guy calling you skinny(er). And the jacket looks cool, so it’s double win.
The Chase Freedom 10% back promotion was stellar! I did a lot of my holiday shopping on Amazon because of that perk.
The only person that got me anything was my mom. She will never stop. My stocking was full of socks, lotion, and razors. She also got me a few new baking pans and a new set of measuring cups. That’s all fine with me because I didn’t really want anything.
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Is Amazon Prime Worth It?
I love getting stuff like that. It’s just more things I don’t have to shop for throughout the years. I think I’ve literally bought maybe 3 cans of shaving cream in the last 5+ years. Ditto on toothbrushes and toothpaste. Mom knows I’ll always receive that kind of stuff happily.
And if you enjoy baking, those seem like good gifts. If not, they seem kind of passive aggressive. So hopefully it’s the former.
Congrats! Sounds like you did really well.
I ended up spending about 30% less than budgeted, so I was pretty proud of myself. Little Bit has more toys than she can play with, but her favorite seems to be the pink flying unicorn that came from me and her dad, rather than anything from Santa (yay! I picked well, and got it half off on an Amazon cyber Monday deal.)
My dad gave me a portrait of 4 year old me that my mother had painted and given to my grandmother. Since last year he gave me a bunch of old photos that he had scanned, he’s racking up the sentimental points.
Jon gave me
Emily @ JohnJaneDoe recently posted…Merry Christmas from the John & Jane Doe Guide to Money & Investing
Wow, 30% under is pretty darn impressive! As is a pink flying unicorn, but we can’t all be so lucky.
I received an amazing vacation from my parents, and because I follow the liturgical calendar, I have until January 6th to finish giving gifts. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. My parents still have to decide which play they want to attend (we buy them tickets every year), and I just today ordered an airplane/rocket for Kenny. Rob’s family were the only people that we took care of ahead of time, and even then, we just decided what to give his baby nephew (cash was overruled for some odd reason).
I know you weren’t going to get too into Christmas, so it seems like you managed to keep things… well… manageable. Glad you got a vacation. I could use some of that right about now.
This year I had one of the best Christmas gifts for my Dad. There’s a church that does a rummage sale every year and I got my Dad the first season of Star Trek the original series on DVD in original packaging for $1! And he asked for an aviator hat that Mom and I split the cost of. I got my grandma a pair of socks: over the knee fuzzy socks she loves. My Mom wanted the gift of my ability to click on things. I’m backing up her computer on an external hard drive, updating software, installing software, and downloading recipes. And I’m taking her out to lunch. I didn’t have a number budget, but I came out feeling both frugal and knowing that everyone wanted their gifts.
That sounds like quite a frugal budget indeed! I cant believe you got the series for $1. That’s amazing. And I like that your mom asked for intangible stuff. We all have too much clutter, I’m afraid, and your help will be far more valuable to her than “stuff” would be.
Yes, I’m so happy I found it! I asked the ladies running the rummage sale if they were sure it was only $1 since it was a whole season. There was a lot of things there, and I think they were anxious to see stuff go so they wouldn’t have to store them for another year. I’m glad I could do this for my mom, a technological chore she doesn’t want to do, and doesn’t entirely understand.
We came in about 50% under budget- between hitting sales, deciding that the less expensive gift was something the reciever would prefer, and some family drama drastically reducing the number of family members my guy was willing to buy gifts for (they’ll be very lucky if he resumes talking to them on this side of the grave)… we had a pretty frugal Christmas.
Having totalled this up well before the actual holidays (I have a list, I go on Amazon, and I’m done in under an afternoon), we split the savings- half is going into our long term funds and half is giving our vacation account. After said drama, we seriously need some time away.
Sorry to hear about the drama, but at least it goes (inadvertently) toward a much-needed break.
Christmas was good this year and I believe everyone was happy. My kids received gifts of money to put towards the big purchases they want to make in the next month. I set a budget and for the most part stayed on target. I was happy with all that I received too 🙂
Getting the kids started on saving up for big things early? Nice! Glad to hear you stayed (mostly) on target.
Merry Christmas! I am admiring your haul. 🙂 Let me know how Tim likes the Lucifer series, I haven’t picked up too many new books of late. And I LOVE that you got the TARDIS robe with a hood. I think that just makes it more perfect. I have the unhooded one.
We generally did stay under budget for the few gifts we bought, and I’m happy to say I really didn’t receive much either (which was my preferred mode). A small handful of gift cards, a few books. I then spent my GC on buying some warm things for Dad cause it’s a damn colder winter than I realized in SoCal and he doesn’t have enough to keep warm. He’d never really come out and say so, though, it just came out in regular conversation how cold it is.
LB also received some books and I can’t help but think Younger Me would be SO JEALOUS of LB, we didn’t own any books even when I was 7 and reading voraciously. Here ze is, not even 1, and ze owns so many (relatively) books. It’s enough to make you feel wealthy!
My gift to myself and PiC: stocks!
Though this year I may have jumped the gun and bought too early at a higher price than I should have. If so, it’ll be the first time of 5 or 6 purchases that I regretted a buy. But I’m in it for the long haul! So uh, here’s hoping I wasn’t wrong this time.
Revanche recently posted…Weird stuff about life and money
The gift of books/reading is always a pretty big deal. Tim and I have agreed that we won’t be getting any kid of ours (assuming the best) any Christmas presents until he/she can reasonably remember it. But I think books is a good exception to make.
Stocks as stocking stuffers?
Sounds like a good and successful Christmas! Ours was great. We really enjoyed spending time as a family with the twins.
Cat@BudgetBlonde recently posted…3 Last Minute Gift Ideas that Don’t Seem Last Minute
Yeah, I imagine kids during the holidays definitely makes it more special. Especially before they get to the age where they’re demanding expensive stuff!
I love receiving gift cards, especially Sephora ones! Although I have some friends who don’t like to give gift cards because it’s so impersonal. I like gift cards because I like to choose myself what I would like instead of giving a list.
Jen recently posted…How To Stick To The Hustle When You Feel Like Quitting
I think GCs can be completely personal! You’re acknowledging that you know where the person in your life shops — or would, if he/she had the money.
Tim sir you get the slow clap for me! Impressive frugal holidays!
The frugal slow clap, eh? I’m a tad jealous…
I love receiving gift cards, especially Sephora ones! Although I have some friends who don’t like to give gift cards because it’s so impersonal. I like gift cards because I like to choose myself what I would like instead of giving a list.