Welcome to Marriage Monday

Our Holiday Spending Plan

Ride-the-Ducks is the most amusing, entertaining activity we’ve done in a long time! For his birthday, e-Dad wanted to ride on one of those re-purposed WWII amphibious vehicles that travels on both land and water. We boarded the crowded open van, and bounced around Seattle and Lake Union accompanied by the non-stop commentary of one very clever sea captain.

The captain instructed us to raise our arms and pretend to crank on a slot machine shouting “Cha-Ching!” every time we drove by a green Starbucks awning—which are plentiful in our fair city. (We even drove by the original coffee shop in Pike Place Market.) Quacktastic!

Starbucks has experienced phenomenal success around the globe under the direction of Howard Schultz. A few years ago, when he stepped down, the company began to flounder. Schultz returned to take the helm of Starbucks, and now the company is solvent and growing again. Management matters, a lot.

Cha-Ching!

Like running a coffee roasting company, managing our personal finances requires knowledge, skill, and discipline. Many Christians study the sound instruction offered by Crown Financial Ministries or Dave Ramsey.

I’ve learned to be as frugal when it comes to spending and investing our hard-earned cash. For us, Christmas is a time to give a few gifts, but mostly to share warm hospitality. Budget preparation beforehand is our key to a pleasurable holiday—and avoiding "sticker shock" in January.

Our projected holiday spending plan is listed below. (Your budget will be different, based on your age, family income, plans, and priorities.) This year, a significant portion of our holiday dollars will go into toward travelling to visit our daughter and son-in-law. Since we always buy discounted airline tickets online at the last minute, our travel options are still open.

If necessary, e-Dad and I can trim this down by not sending Christmas cards or getting a tree, and by choosing not to give gifts to each other. Obviously, we can save a bundle if we decide to stay home. I’ve already saved nearly all of our gift allowance from the sale of unwanted “stuff”on Craigslist.

$100____ Daughter & SIL (Apron + Cash)

$100____ Son (Cash)

$50_____ e-Mom (1/2 Apron + Mini-Bundt Pan)
$50_____ e-Dad (Electronics)

$30_____ MIL & Family (Fruit Basket)

$25_____ FIL (Books)

$20_____ Niece (Gift Card)
$20_____ Nephew (Gift Card)
$20_____ Sister (Gift Card)
$20_____ BFF (Cosmetics)

$435____ Subtotal Gifts

$30_____ 25 Christmas Cards & Postage
$20_____ Gift Wrap & Bows

$75_____ Tree & Lights (Boy Scouts)
$1000___ Travel 1
$100____ Travel 2
$200____ Entertainment
$100____ Food

$1960___ Total

"In the day of prosperity, be joyful. But in the day of adversity, consider: God has made one as well as the other." (Ecc. 7:14)

Today is Marriage Monday. Join Us!

If you would like to link a post for Marriage Monday today, take a minute to read the overview of our topic, “Financial Contentment in Marriage” Choose one of the four titles listed and then tell us what you've learned about managing money. Remember, you're the expert!

You’re welcome to add your link any time up until eleven PM on Wednesday. Please include a text link back to Chrysalis, or you can use one of these graphic buttons if you prefer.

Let's plan to meet here again for Marriage Monday on December 6, 2010. Next month's group topic is, "Joy for Two at Christmas." Four title choices will be posted in approximately three weeks.

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Thanks for contributing your wise thoughts to Marriage Monday today, sweet sister!

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