Spending Shock

I know I've been spending too much money this Christmas. I've really been carried away by wanting to make it lots of fun for Wombat, and to get nice things for family and friends for once. We've had a couple of unexpected bonuses and I felt like we were in a pretty comfortable position for a change, instead of scraping to make Christmas presents from materials I already had, which is my usual habit.

As usual, pride comes before a fall.

We've been doing most of our shopping on Ebay, using Paypal - not wanting to take Munchkin out into crowded shopping centres. I knew I was getting close to the amount that was actually in my bank account, but said to myself it didn't matter as Paypal had my credit card details to use as an alternative funding source, so everything would be fine. I had been saving up and had plenty of available credit. What I didn't know was that my bank would charge me a $45 dishonour fee for every direct debit transaction that bounced back to the credit card!

There were six transactions that bounced - some were for less than $10. Now each of those gifts has an extra $45 charge attached to it, totalling $270 in bank fees! That means I've paid $400 for $130 worth of Christmas presents. OUCH!!!

I feel pretty stupid, especially since Yeti and I have just been having some slightly heated discussions about my immature spending tendencies. Much as I loathe keeping anything from him, I think cowardice will win and decide discretion is the better part of valour.

Oooook. I just thought I'd see how it averaged out, so I divided $400 by 6. The answer? 66.6 and a whole lot more sixes. The number of the beast? Think it's high time I got back to concentrating on the real meaning of Christmas and let commercialism go its merry way without me.

I've still got some empty spots on my gift list... where's my sewing basket?

PS. just found this in a book my sister gave me last Christmas. Seems like an appropriate way to close this embarrassing entry on a more positive note.

What to do this Christmas

by Pam Baker

Mend a quarrel.

Seek out a forgotten friend.

Share some treasure.

Give a soft answer.

Encourage youth.

Keep a promise.

Find the time.

Listen.

Apologise if you were wrong.

Be gentle.

Laugh a little.

Laugh a little more.

Express your gratitude.

Welcome a stranger.

Gladden the heart of a child.

Take pleasure in the beauty and

wonder of the earth.

Speak your love.

Speak it again.

(found in Christmas Nativities and Stories by Elisabeth Van Mullekom-Cserep,

Nativity House Publishing, Australia, 1999, p.13.)