I was honored to be featured on DaveRamsey.com sharing about how our family learned to have a wonderful Christmas — even when we didn’t have any money to spend. Here’s a snippet from the article:
I’ll never forget December 2004.
My husband and I had been married for almost two years, I was nine months pregnant with our first baby, and we were living on a beans and rice budget. There was not a penny left for Christmas presents that year.
When we got married, we committed together to an audacious goal: to go through law school debt free. The goal sounded cool on paper, but let me tell you—living it out wasn’t so easy.
Beans and rice got old really quickly. Driving a very used vehicle that occasionally wouldn’t start at all wasn’t fun. Not being able to afford to even shop at the thrift store was hard.
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{ 17 comments... read them below or add one }
I read the article yesterday and thought it was so good. I sent it to my daughter and she was blessed by it. Smile.
Thank you for your kind encouragement!
Shared all three ways!
Aw, thank you so much!
I love that you are now generous in your giving! What a great testimony that you don’t have to be stingy just because you are frugal!
If it is not too personal, what are some of the Christmas gifts you have been able to give to your family?
LOVE the article but I wanted to tell you that (at least for me) the “be in a position to give generously” link doesn’t work.
Thank you for this article, Crystal. This is a real holiday treat…one of the best writers on living on a budget guest posting on one of the best websites for living on a budget! It’s exciting to see the best in the business join forces and encourage others, especially this time of year, when so many of us need it the most!
You’re too kind. Thank you — and Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Gladly shared on my Facebook-wonderful post this time of year. Between Dave and you, I have been able to turn myself around financially and I am so appreciative.
Thank you so much for sharing this! This year we are just lucky to have a roof over our heads, and I was feeling very down that my 18 month old daughter wouldnt have any presents under our tree at home. We relocated so my husband could go to culinary school, but then we both lost our jobs and have been out of work for four months for me and three months for him. Luckily, I found a job two weeks ago but it is only temporary unless they decide to keep me on past the Christmas season so we can not afford a penny in gifts. We both feel like bad parents, but we know that my daughter will be blessed with gifts from family and friends and will not remember this year. This reminds me how lucky I am and that while things are hard right now, next year at this time my husband will have his degree that will allow him to do something he loves.
Can you wrap some of your daughter’s favorite food items and put them under the tree for her, or her diapers? Something you’ll be buying for her anyway can be a gift. At that age they just love the experience more than the gifts anyway! She’ll be fine one way or the other, but it might make you feel better? My 10 year old and 13 year old sons are getting some grocery items under the tree this year (for one because they love to eat, but for two because I can’t afford to buy them a lot of gifts this year and this is stuff I’d be buying for them anyway so I don’t feel like I’m spending extra with the food).
Another reminder that it’s not about the material things, love this post!
Oh, I can so relate on the vehicle worry…during the last 3 weeks we have been depleting money from our emergency fund on our one-car-family (paid off for years…) vehicle to ensure that it is running. It has over 104 thousand miles, has a few minor dings in it, the driver window won’t roll down and the auto lock mechanism broke, but we have new brakes, battery, exhaust, a tune-up, plus 4 new tires for the winter season. It all seemed to happen at once…during this holiday season is no joy, but not having to worry about it starting up again is a blessing! Christmas is looking lean this year, but that is okay because we would rather put that money towards that emergency fund again then be worried when another “emergency” happens! My husband and I agree that our vehicle running is better than a new sweater or tool for the garage.
I was expecting to find ideas on how to have fun celebrating during Christmas without money. I was hoping to find for more ideas, but I guess I’ll share what we do…
What our family does is attend all the free Christmas musicals at our local churches. The Christmas services where I live are absolutely stunning as well. Another thing our family enjoys doing is walking through neighborhoods all decked out with Christmas decorations and lights.
Loved it – and shared it!
Mary Ellen
The Working Home Keeper
Thank you for this!! This may sound counter-intuitive, but I had thought about two months ago of giving up reading blogs about saving money because I would get so discouraged. However, you help keep me on the right path. My financial goals are savings-oriented, not paying-off-debt oriented, and you help me keep my priorities in check and as my best friend’s granddad used to say, “Keep my ducks in a row!”
Thank you for showing us how to spend less so we can give more.