DECEMBER, THE SEASON OF GIFT GIVING & ITS INSANITY

Every year at the end of December I pull out the pile of all the charitable requests which have arrived throughout the year, alphabetizing them and tossing out the many duplicates. And so begins the process of gift check writing. Donation amounts vary but usually are a multiple of the number 18, Chai - Life.  And as pledge calls were received, I repeated more than once  "all  donations will be made at the end of the year with an amount decision being made then." 'Then' did come a little earlier this year with that stimulus check as impetus... 

When that check arrived I did rationalize some small purchases as my intentions would be for those charitable organizations which would be hurting this year.  Since our social life has been on pause, not even eating out nor air travel, there's a bit extra to share too. It's the easiest kind of seasonal giving.

BUT it's the actual gift giving and purchasing which seem to cause folks a lot of anxiety and worry partially self inflicted but definitely a societal thing. You know like Cyber sales, Black Friday, Small business sale days, etc... with all that holiday music to boot. Santa lists and ads galore.

Yesterday an interesting article by Joshua Becker author of The More of Less, came my way with some interesting info regarding gift giving. 

Did you realize-

"50% of holiday shoppers overspend their holiday budget/ do not even have one?

28% of last year's gift shoppers are still paying off last year's debt?

Over 53% people report receiving unwanted gifts during Christmas? (That's $16 million worth of merchandise!)

18% of gifts are NEVER used by the receiver?

4% of gifts go immediately into the trash?

or that our society now lives in houses 3x bigger than 50 years ago and need to rent storage space/can't use their garages for their cars due to all their stuff?"

It is definitely time to rethink gift giving. Barrett has suggestions of revisiting the gift issue with family and friends as studies actually show people tend to buy what they want, when they feel like it.  I wish I had scaled down sooner. I, like many, don't need more of anything. But we have these holidays that emphasize gift giving...

I don't mind supporting the USPS but  shipping packages sometimes costs the same /more than the enclosed gift. It does seem a bit silly, doesn't it?

Well, get ready Family as you will be getting consumables this year bought from local vendors and donations made in your honor to Heifer International... 

Here's Barrett's article link and his suggestions if you'd like to read more... Is it time to rethink how we give gifts...