Well, here it is December 9 and I have exactly 2 people finished for Christmas. With only shopping on weekends, I’m predicting that it’ll be the weekend before Christmas that I actually complete Christmas shopping. Not good. Besides that, I also don’t have the tree up yet. The problem with waiting too long on the tree is that you do all of that work decorating and before you know it, it’s time to take it down. I don’t care though, the later I get it up, the later it’ll be before I take it down. If I don’t get it up this weekend, that tree’s gonna stay up until Valentine’s Day.

I have at least 4 more people to buy something fantastic for PLUS my daughter. I haven’t even started on her stocking stuffers or gifts yet, although I do plan on ordering some things online. Most online merchants will allow you to pay for extra speedy delivery, it’s an extra charge and usually quite a bit. I need to make sure I have anything ordered online this week to insure that it gets here on time, without costing a limb. To me, it just isn’t a fair exchange when it comes to gifts for a 6 year old. I’d be better off settling for extra gadgets somewhere in town than paying an extra 15-20 bucks for faster delivery.

But whatever, since I’ve completely missed the boat on this goal, I’m shooting for my next which would be after Christmas. (If you’ve figured out anything about me, I hope you notice how I don’t dwell on failure.)  My relatives always mention all of the deals they get after Christmas, not only on Christmas stuff but on gifts for the following year!! Yes, there was a time when I thought that was insane and odd, but that was before I decided to do everything I could to get organized and save money.

By then maybe I’ll have saved back the money I spent on this laptop.

Okay…maybe I’m dwelling.

Even still, I was considering buying myself something for Christmas. I figured I worked pretty hard and did a good job paying my bills and not wasting money so maybe I should splurge on something for myself. The problem with this thought is that you shouldn’t really get rewarded for doing what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to pay your bills. You’re not supposed to waste money. Treating myself for those things is kind of dumb.

Not only that, it would be somewhat counter productive I think. It’s the habit of frivolous spending that needs to be changed (at least in my situation) and giving myself a break even at Christmas  is a recipe for disaster.

Maybe a small bottle of nail polish or something is fine. A fancy coffee from Starbucks.  I was actually thinking about going big though, like UGG boots or a new digital camera. Granted, I don’t need either of these things and the 100-200 that they would cost could be much better spent on paying down the new $1700 medical bills.

I’m guessing a lot of people have this problem at this time of the year. Fighting the urge to be frivolous or spend too much money because, hey, it’s Christmas. Why not? Wait until after Christmas and once you’ve read everyone’s “I went into debt for the holidays” stories and you’ll realize why not. We work too hard to throw it all away just because it’s the holiday season. I don’t want to sound like Queen of the Pollyannas, but Christmas is not supposed to be about spending a truck load of money anyway. Don’t go bananas and stick to your budgets all the way through. You’ll feel better after Christmas if you do.

But, now we’re headed toward an even bigger time of the year as Thanksgiving lurks around the corner and Christmas is waiting in the woods to jump out and choke us. (Bah Humbug, huh?)  Tis the time when a lot of us are thinking about charity and are thankful that we are in positions that granted are rough, but are not really that bad. After all, things can always be worse, right?

There are a lot of people that are wondering  if they still have room to make their regular charitable donations. I’m going to have to guess that for most of us the answer is “no”, though few will want to admit that. My advice if you can’t help or give this holiday season is to focus on yourself and your family.

Selfish? Maybe. But, there’s a reason they tell you on airplanes to put your oxygen mask on first. Not because you selfishly want to save your own life, but because if you don’t and you pass out, you are of no help to anyone anyway. Giving to charity when you can’t is kind of the same thing. We have to first make sure that we’re okay and can feed and take care of our families before we consider trying to take care of someone else’s.

If you absolutely feel as though you must donate then consider time instead of money. I don’t know about you, but my time is worth way more than any cash I could give anyway. Almost any place you’re interested in from Hospitals to Senior Centers to Schools will accept volunteers. I know for a fact that my daughter’s school is looking for people to help disinfect tables and chairs because of all of the flu yuck going around. Take a plate of cookies to the senior center, call the homeless shelter, even check out the Humane Society  and see what help they can use. It isn’t always about money and right now, a lot of us are running pretty low. Don’t be unreasonable and try donating what you don’t have.

Once we all get back on our feet again, we can figure out how to make up for the year or two that we didn’t donate. Until then, put your mask on first…and help yourself and your family out. Trust me, you’ll feel just as good.

I, on the other hand, have actually gone out shopping on Christmas Eve. I know, shame on me. This is when it was just me and my ex, pre daughter. I even suggested that we don’t even do Christmas because it seemed like a waste of time and money. Since my daughter though, I take Christmas more seriously and just figured that I have enough to worry about Christmas Eve with preparing for Santa then to be scrambling around trying to shop as well.

Anyway, Christmas was the furthest thing from my mind. Imagine my horror when last week one of my editors said she’d be handing out the Holiday assignments this week.

What? How is that possible? I was just at the freakin beach last week, wasn’t I? And didn’t we just have Christmas like last month?

To add further panic and turmoil to my life, this is also around the same time I saw my first Christmas commercial of the year. I think it might have been Kmart, I’m not sure. The shock of it all must’ve frozen my brain.

Now that my brain has thawed a bit, I’ve realized that I have no money saved or random gifts laying around in wait. Granted, I don’t have many people to buy gifts for (singledom has its perks) and as I’ve said previously, my daughter’s still at the age that a lot of things can be found at Dollar stores or Dollar type stores. Unfortunately, I’m thinking this may be the last year for that. She still wants a Wii, by the way. But man, it would be nice if I had gifts already stored somewhere and money put away for Christmas.

In the past, I have always spent way too much on Christmas but this year with the problems I’ve been having with my credit cards and medical bills, I have considered starting earlier and trying to manage my spending better like the other fiscally intelligent shoppers in my family. Maybe if I buy a little at a time and spread it out over a few more months, it won’t be as painful.

Then, maybe I’ll even catch the after Christmas sales like all of the other savvy shoppers out there and start stocking up on Christmas stuff in January. You know, start 2010 out with a plan to match my plan.

Maybe. But this year, I’m not starting until I get those Holiday assignments from my editor. I refuse to think anymore about Christmas right now. It just doesn’t feel right.