This article was originally published on www.onemoneydesign.com.

The $50 Christmas Budget

The $50 Christmas budget is a true story … AND it’s a love story.
Every husband (and wife) who has ever said, “Just make me a Christmas list, and let me buy what’s on it” needs to read this.
It’s a fact that most people spend hundreds (even thousands) on Christmas gifts.
Most of us want all the thrill of giving and receiving gifts, but the price tag is rarely worth the return on Christmas day.
As a wife, most of us expect our husbands to possess some sort of mental gift-giving telepathy. I want to feel that my husband knows me well and wants to give me gifts. In my mind, his selection of gifts reflects how well he knows me.  We think husbands should know what we want intuitively. But of course, they don’t.

And I don’t want to give my husband a Christmas shopping list, either! But I know what’s on my list. Maybe I could just go out and buy the stuff myself!?
A few years ago I noticed that my husband’s gifts weren’t reflecting how well I wanted him to know me. He gave nice Christmas gifts: a pair of diamond earrings, a leather handbag, gift certificates to spas, and so forth. But these gifts didn’t feel personal. I felt he often selected whatever the sales clerk wanted him to purchase.
I wanted to rein in the Christmas budget AND I wanted my husband to really care about the gifts he was selecting. I wanted to feel he was selecting something especially for me.
My solution: Set a $50 Christmas budget.
You’d think that lowering the Christmas budget from that which could purchase diamond earrings to that which could barely purchase a sweater would mean poor gifts and possibly disappointment.
Not the case!
I purposefully wanted to limit what each of us spent on each other so that we would focus less on the commercial aspect of Christmas and more on learning more about each other and listening to one other.
I relayed my Christmas budget plan in a whirlwind of excitement, “Guess what we’re going to do this Christmas?”
His reply, “No problem; I’ll just go to the dollar store.”
“Wait a minute … let’s set some rules,” I quickly replied.

The $50 Christmas Budget Rules

Each gift must be something the other person would really want. It must reflect their hobbies, interests or personality. No generic gifts!
One more rule: the gift giver had to write the cost of the gift on the tag!
The First Gift Under the Tree
I got right to work. I filled out online surveys for free magazines and gifts cards and received a year’s subscription to The NewYorker and Savour Magazine. My husband loves to read and loves to cook so these were great gifts. I wrapped the first issues of the magazines along with the gift cards and my gift tag read, “free.”
Let the competition begin!
Not to be outdone, my husband felt the heat. The $50 Christmas budget became a game. Who would get the best gifts at the best price?
His first conquest was a rhinestone brooch purchased at an antique/junk shop. He had to talk the owner down from $15 to $7. After all, he only had $50 to spend.
This was truly an act of love (or competition) on my husband’s part because he would NEVER have bargained so fiercely before. Knowing I love to get a great deal and am a sucker for sparkly jewelry, the antique rhinestone brooch scored big points!
On Christmas day, I had 9 gifts under the tree. He had 7. With every gift was the thrill of hearing the story behind it. He proudly told where he went to get it, why he selected to purchase it, and if he had to strike a bargain to stay within budget. He was so excited to give me his gifts, and I loved every one of them
It was the best Christmas ever! For 10 years since, we referred to that Christmas as the “$50 Christmas.”
It was a bit of work. We took the time to reflect on each other and went out of way to do things we wouldn’t have normally done.
This year, after 15 years of marriage, we’re returning to the $50 Christmas budget. What fun it’s going to be!