The Holiday Article
December 19, 2012
During holidays, we often feel pressured to spend a lot of money, be it on gifts, travel, or food. A fun time of the year can become financially stressful very quickly. Understandably, we want to buy the best gifts for our family and friends. But if you’re on a student’s budget like me, you can’t spend money as loosely as the other members of your family might be able to. However, I know a good way to make holiday gift-exchanges less focused on money. In my family, everyone writes their names on a strip of paper and places it into a hat. Then we pass it around and draw just one slip – this person is who we buy gifts for, usually at a limit of $50 per person. Not only does this system make it easier for everyone to shop, but no one will break the bank with their gifts. We also avoid that awkward moment when two people buy the same gift for someone. If I was spending the holidays away from my family, this would be good to do with a group of friends who might be in the same situation as you.
If you know which gifts you want to buy, I bet you want to spend as little money as necessary, right? As usual, I have to recommend online retailers here. For one of my gifts, I bought the book That Is All by the Daily Show’s John Hodgman (see below) from Amazon.com.
A new hardcover copy of the book isn’t very expensive; Amazon’s list price is $16.50. But I was able to buy a “like new”, although used, hardcover copy for only $2.65. I’m not sure why this is, but I’ve noticed that book prices take a nosedive around the holidays. So if you’re buying gifts for a book-lover, I would head over to Amazon. I’ve gotten good deals on electronics, vinyl records and CD’s, and artwork from Ebay. But the “catch” with these is that shipping is very slow at this time of the year, so you might have to pony up a bit more if you want your gift to arrive on time!
-The Greenback Guru
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