This is the season a lot of us are going to feel pressure to prove our love for others by buying a lot of gifts. Many of us, especially with kids, try to make up for time we wish were spending with them by getting them more stuff for Christmas and the other holidays.
But that can land us in a terrible cycle. We spend too much time at work. We buy gifts to make up for it. We go in credit card debt. We then have to work more to pay off the debt. We spend even more time at work. And on and on.
Here is the good news. Research shows that:
“Even though oodles of presents at Christmas is the dominant American paradigm, it turns out that people who spend less and have less spent on them at Christmas actually enjoy the season more.”
That comes from an article I wrote for Yes! Magazine called “A Christmas With No Presents” (Link below). What I wanted to do with this post was offer you some resources and ideas from my myself and other people about having a happier holidays while spending less money and buying less stuff.
So:
- You can read my article “A Christmas With No Presents” here.
- You’ll find a piece about how my daughter Isabella enjoyed giftless holidays here.
- Becoming Minimalist’s Joshua Becker’s list of resources to a simple holidays is here.
- And, The Minimalists discussion of gift giving is here.
I hope these resources help you to have a happier, more fulfilling, less expensive, more soulful holidays.
PPS Please follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.