By: Revanche

Post holiday spending

January 1, 2010

I’m weak.  I swore that I’d stay within budget this year, and wouldn’t buy any supplemental gifts.  Usually I’m great on that score — I don’t allow myself to feel guilty about “underbuying” if I’ve been surprised with a gift.

But this year’s a bit different than the usual. This is our first Christmas without Mr. S, and his son’s heart is sore.  I had to do something, anything, to help.  How about …. a cosmic entity of Doom?  For those unfamiliar with the Cthulhu mythos, I’d say this little guy is a handcrafted knit godlet of Doom, Cthulhu’s cuter, younger cousin.  Thanks to Mrs. Micah!

And then we went to the “Premium” Outlets I tend to avoid because outlets really aren’t that much of a deal.  Then I saw a vest like this one at Gymboree: 

Baby clothes are irresistably cute.  It was marked down substantially, though (60%), to all of $8.25 after tax. 

I almost spent $30 on these shoes so my nephew and I could match, but settled for taking pictures:

And because one cannot show up with gifts for the wife and the child, but nothing for the husband, Harry & David got my business for their aromatic chocolate covered espresso beans.

I think I’ll be happy that I only went ten dollars over budget instead of being upset that I went over at all — the gifts weren’t overly pricey and they are pretty perfect for the giftees. If I do say so myself.
🙂

How did everyone do this year?  Over, under, on budget?

7 Responses to “Post holiday spending”

  1. Mrs. Money says:

    Those gifts are all so cute! Mrs. Micah did a great job on that little octopus thing. 🙂

  2. LOL! The matching shoes are so darn cute.

    And Mrs. Micah did GREAT on that godlet of Doom 🙂

  3. Well, if I ever get around to redoing the post that got deleted in a log-in snafu, you’ll see that I went $10 over budget for my $60 Creative Christmas Challenge for the family of 10. Otherwise, I was on target.

  4. Abigail says:

    Every boy needs a godlet! And I’d say $10 is an acceptable overage.

    I stayed in budget, but then most of Tim’s stuff had been bought ages ago. So the biggest deal was just not buying more. Which was incredibly difficult at times. I suppose that means that, technically, I went over by $5.23 because we found a Darth Maul hoodie by Ecko that was half its normal price, plus we had gift cards that covered all but $5.23.

    We stuck to $10 or less per person for 5 family members. Once we get the gifts mailed off (yes, we’re that disorganized) we’ll be over by maybe $7.

    The main overage came from Tim. I asked him to stay at $150. He said he went “a little” over, which could mean anything with him, I’m afraid. So I took a peek at the price of one present and concluded he went about $50 over. Not great, but I do love my two (big) gifts absolutely and truly. So I’m okay with it.

  5. I LOVE LOVE LOVE baby clothes that look like real people clothes. Those teeny New Balances are ADORABLE!

  6. Grace. says:

    I stayed within my budget, which was less than last year. Unfortunately, I hadn’t quite saved up the amount I budgeted. Sigh.

  7. Revanche says:

    @Mrs.Money: Didn’t she, though? He loved it.

    @FB: I wasted about 1/2 ton of willpower on not getting those for him. Thankfully, I didn’t know his shoe size.

    And he’s growing like a WEED.

    @moneymatekate: I think your $10 over was far more valuable than mine. Hope to see that post someday!

    @Abigail: I guess that means he’s improving at this staying within/close to budget thing, yes?

    @me in millions: There’s a weird thrill to shopping for miniature clothing. It’s just … so small!

    @Grace: Sigh indeed. Better luck all around for this year! (Yep, I’m already starting to think about it.)

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