Christmas Shopping

[J-Mech]

Todd (Zippy) and I were talking on another thread about Christmas shopping, and I had some things about it I wanted to say, and ask.....

How many people shop online? Do you also go out and shop in a store?
We did both this year. We buy more and more online every year, and personally, I like it better. Better prices, and most of the time free shipping. Can't beat that! But we did go out today and shop. We had to travel 45/50 miles to go to any stores, and not even good ones. We are very rural, and have to drive 2 hours to get to a Target, or anything other than Wal-Mart. Really sucks, so we just would rather not. We did have a good day, and the people were nice. Didn't see anyone fighting, (or hear them) and we heard a lot of "Merry Christmas" from people. That's not the norm anymore, so I was happy.

The one thing I wanted to say is, as we are buying for 5 kids, it's disappointing to see all the stuff piled up and know how much it cost. Doesn't seem like very many dollars goes very far. We are pretty conservative people and don't go crazy at Christmas. We spend about $100 per kid, and feel good about that. We don't have satellite or cable TV. We don't give the kids TV's for their rooms, or buy video games or phones or any of that. We do give the kids cheap tablet's but they are limited on when and how much they get to use them, and monitor what they do with them. No YouTube allowed, or other social media apps/programs. We use them a lot for homework, and just games. So, anyway.... we don't spend big dollars on what has become the "normal" things to buy kids. It's a struggle too, because we are a blended family. (Both my wife and I were married before, so the kids also have other homes to live at.) They "other" houses don't share our desire to keep the kids away from electronics until they are old enough to use them responsibly.... so we battle the kids. We hear a lot of, "But at dad's house....."

Well.... feel free to comment. I just thought I'd share some of our Christmas with you all. How's yours?

[Terry C]

No online. Part of my tradition is waiting till the last minute to do my shopping.
Most of my shopping happens at Best Buy. The rest is the toy department. I have two high schoolers and a 7 yr old.

[G-Nest]

filedata/fetch?id=3459&d=1544967928&type=thumb Christmas/Birthday shopping is pretty much a slow year long event, that the wife handles. Lots of garage sale or clearance items as she comes across them, it helps the budget go further for us. Any gaps that we need to fill is almost entirely from amazon.

[bamafan]

My wife is in charge of shopping and has been for the 50 years we have been married. I hate shopping, if I need or want something I go in the store with an item on my mind, find it, pay for it and leave. My wife on the other hand will spend hours turning everything in the store over. The last few years she has resorted to online for most of her Christmas shopping. And like Tanner said, during the spring and summer she does the yard sales and garage sales. I too like the yard sales as I have picked up some pretty good stuff to use in the shop cheap. At least when I'm with her yard selling and there is nothing I'm interested in I can sit in the truck with the AC on while she picks over everything.

[Diesel Doc]

My wife does the shopping as well. She buys for the family, then my two daughters and I spend an afternoon shopping for my wife. No Christmas shopping online, but plenty of online purchases for all the repairs that goes thru my shop. If I can schedule the work around the online delivery, I can save anywhere from 30-75% in parts costs. Remember that I'm dealing mostly with antique truck and Cub stuff. If you shop around online you can save money.

[Rumblefish]

Between my messed up work schedule and hating the general public, I do a majority of my shopping online. No lines. No people. No wasting time at places that dont have what im looking for.

[J-Mech]

I'm totally with you.

[zippy1]

Nancy and I don't exchange gifts anymore. We stopped that a few years ago. It was me, "that ruined Christmas" But like I told her, I don't need anything, I've got it all with you honey. But seriously, I get what I need, when I need it. So yeah, we don't get each other anything. She does pick us up 3 lobster tails, and we have that together as our "Christmas".
Together, we have no kids. She has four, all with their own families, they are growed up. We give them money, but Nancy shops for the grandkids. We get them gifts.
A matter of fact, we had our family Christmas here today. Everyone was here for dinner (some call it lunch). Grandkids opened their gifts from us, and Nancy's kids and their spouses get a card with $$$ in it from us.
They get us things we "need/want" but wouldn't make a trip, or order to get. If that makes sense? To me, it's the fun of watching the little ones opening their gifts. We get them learning games, and things that make them use their heads. Well, not "we", Nancy shops, and then shows me what "we" got them. But by the time they are opening their gifts, it's all new to me as well.
Did I just go off the rails again? Jon asked about shopping in stores or online. Sorry everyone, She shops, I do not. Mostly in the store. She works there, so it's easy for her...

[Diesel Doc]

Zip i agree with you about games and such that make the kids "use their heads". My granddaughter is 7, she gets at least one challenging game or item that I will sit and help her with during a future visit. She enjoys them just as much as a toy and I feel better helping her learn something new. This year it is a set of good old fashion flash cards for addition/subtraction. We'll make a game of it and she'll have a ball.

[Leadslingingdaddy]

I make the money..... she spends it.... works pretty good.... yea I bleed money....but as long as I have cigars in the humidor life is good...