My quest to simplify seeped from not
putting up a Christmas tree over into decorating only the dining room table and
purchasing just a few holiday gifts.
 |
| Only decorations out this year! |
My husband, son and I each picked a
couple of items to put on our wish list. As I’d spent months lusting over a
second camera lens, my family didn’t think twice about the perfect gift for me.
My husband decided to refurbish his old Vox, and my son managed to locate
companies that sold the necessary parts to make the guitar look new again.
Teddy bear pendants topped my son’s list-again something unique that we found
online.
My siblings proved as easy to shop
for since my sister always says, “Nothing,” when I ask her what she wants. And
she means it. I will probably send something small through the mail the week
after Christmas as an unexpected surprise. My brother, on the other hand, needs
and appreciates everything. We often
pull together a necessity box that contains items like Tide (which is so
expensive), soaps of various scents, his favorite body wash and shampoo, and
other household cleansers that tend to eat his grocery budget. These practical
items will allow him to spend more of his budget on food. Usually, we also
purchase something for my brother that he wants but won’t get for himself.
Since he mentioned clothing for this year, and he has to work on Christmas day
and the day after, I suggested we go out together on the 27th on a
shopping extravaganza to find the items he wants.
I handed responsibility for my
in-laws’ gifts over to my husband. In the past, I would have handled the
shopping for them, but simplifying means stepping away from even this task. My
husband found something easily for his sister’s home and ordered it weeks ago.
He still hasn’t decided on what to do about his brothers, and stated that if he
doesn’t find anything it’s not a big deal. My “old” self would want to jump in
and hunt for some kind of present—even if it were a token gift; but this is an
assignment for him, not me. Talk about an eye opening experience! Why didn’t I
sidestep some of these duties years ago?
I know paring back Christmas and all
of its festivities and traditions won’t turn into a permanent lifestyle change.
It has, however, caused me to re-examine many things I do around the holiday
season and forced me to hone I on the important ones.
What about our Christmas breakfast
of Eggs Benedict and Mimosas?
Well—some traditions are just too
sacred to mess with . . .
Copyright 2014 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
I begin every month with taking a
legal sized envelope and folding it into fourths. Each quarter gets a week’s
designation, and each week receives a spending limit. I record all expenditures
on the virgin exterior of the envelope—whether it be a major outflow like
$142.15 for groceries or something as minor as $3.14 for a Sonic Slush. At the
end of every week, I total the damage, feeling smugly triumphant if I’ve kept
our spending in the green, or vowing to do better if we dip into the red. My
obsession with number crunching allows us to indulge at the end of the month if
anything extra remains. Most of the time, though, we simply break even. By the
end of each month, the overstuffed envelope’s surface is covered with numbers
and notes on spending habits. It remains in my upper desk drawer until the
credit card statement arrives as a means of double checking the balance for our
month’s expenses. 
