Rethinking the Thought That Counts

The holidays are upon us.  There are decorations in the stores, holiday music on the radio and ads popping up around every corner telling you what you need in order to have a memorable holiday.

So many commercial gems this time of year!

The further I get down the rabbit hole of financial independence and frugality, the further away I get from materialism and consumer goods.

And if there is ever a time to become even more aware of this gap, it is during the holiday season.

 

How the Waffles Hack the Holidays

Over the past few years, Mr. Wow and I have been making small, but significant changes to how we do Christmas and have been slowly integrating the changes into our immediate families as well.  To be honest, it has taken some time, especially to change some of the deeply engrained gift-giving mindsets of some, but I think this year our effort has paid off.

Since I gather that most people reading this post are relentlessly trying to life-hack the holidays in effort to not derail their FI goals, I wanted to share with you what we do.

For the Gift Givers

Although we ultimately want to get away from this mentality altogether, some family members have been tougher to change than others.  Mr. Wow's parents fall into this category and no matter how many times we ask them not to buy us anything, they are determined that we must open a gift on Christmas morning.

For them, we ask for a specific item that we want (and would be buying anyways).  This year it's a new GoPro since ours decided to kick the bucket while we were at Chautauqua.

 

Spending on Experiences Rather Than Material Items

For the Mr and I, we are big on giving experiences, rather than tangible gifts.  In the past, we have gifted each other amazing experiences like whitewater rafting, a hike to Potato Chip Rock, canyoneering down a waterfall, and a trip to New Orleans for a big football game.  We much prefer spending money on experiences and memories, rather than an object or gadget that will just gather dust in a few months.

Just repelling down a waterfall NBD!

This year, I was able to get my family on board with this whole "no gift, let's have an experience" attitude.  As a family, we've decided to plan a vacation for early summer to get everyone together since we won't be all together for the holidays.

Now we just have to decide where to go, preferably a place that Southwest flies since we just got our companion pass.  Any suggestions?

 

Calendars

Now I'd be lying if I said we weren't buying any gifts this year.  There is still one thing that we will be placing under the Christmas tree.  It's something that we do every year and honestly our families love them and look forward to getting them.  Each year Mr. Wow and I make calendars for our families consisting of photos from throughout the whole year.  I make one to give to my sister and her family, one for my parents and one for me to hang in my office.  Mr. Wow does the same for his sister's family, his parents and for him.  It is one thing that I don't mind spending money on.

But in true frugal fashion, we would never pay full price.  We wait for a sweet deal and then pounce on order them.  I'll patiently be waiting for the 50% off or more and BOGO.

 

But Don't the Kids Need A Gift?

Between the two of us, we have 4 nieces, 2 on either side, all under the age of 6. And although they might disagree, toys are overrated.  Instead we invest in their future, their college future that is.

It's easy! We simply click on the link for each girl's 529 plan and bam $50 goes straight into their college savings fund each Christmas. (We also contribute on their birthdays too!)

This year we're taking it up a notch too.  We're also giving them their first taste of financial literacy.  I can't wait to see the look on their mom and dad's faces when they pull out these beauties.

Thanks FinCon for the sweet (and free) gift!

I mean, they already know that we are kinda big money nerds.

 

Wrapping It Up

So there you have it, the official how the Waffles stole hack Christmas.  Although we are still spending some money and getting some gifts, this year will be a fraction of years past and the money spent will be a good investment.  Besides saving money, we have also done away with many other additional gift giving and receiving stressors.

 

What do you think? What are ways that you combat the consumeristic ideals of the holidays?