Vegan Holidays

'Tis the Season

I like to give gifts. I also like to reduce my consumption in an effort to do my part for the environment. I've even read Peter Walsh's motivating books on clutter and how it we let it control our lives. These books, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? and It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, help us get a grip on this American sickness called overconsumption, hyperconsumerism, or just plain shopaholic-ism.

Coming face to face with my spending habits, I've turned to pouring through stories of millionaires, ordinary folks who live right among us and are frugal as the vegan is green. Thomas Stanley's classic financial works, Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen and The Millionaire Next Door, portray these penny pinchers as happy, compassionate, and generous with their money.

I read magazines that tout a richer life with less, magazines like the environmentally smart Plenty . I regularly visit sites such as www.frugalliving.about.com and frugalvillage.com in an effort to save more, spend less. I do my best to live by the wise words of use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. But I do like to give gifts.

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So here is my dilemma. During the holidays, much of my gift-giving will target my husband, who lives with me, and my four children, who also reside in my home. Not only do I feel at this time of year as if I am standing in the middle of the mall with open wallet begging people to take my money, but all of these purchases will eventually end up in the place where I function each day, neither of which is good for my personal chi or that of the house I call home.

So, how do I give generously while maintaining financial growth (instead of a sudden seasonal death) and likewise maintaining a zen-like quality in my humble abode? The goal here is to make the recipient feel loved and special and worth my thought without coming across as cheap (and don't even get me started on the whole re-gifting thing!).

I often start my holiday shopping with the B word. No, not budget, although that's a really good idea. I'm talking bartering, the old I-have-this-you-have-that-let's-trade concept. I have a friend, for example, who is a terrific photographer. I also have a mother who has been hinting heavily for a picture of all of the grandchildren. My friend can't bake crap, but loves her treats. Let's say I approach this friend and she does the photo for a nice sized tray of holiday goodies. In the end this is a win-win.

Sure, I've paid for the flour and sweeteners and nuts for the cookies, but I certainly haven't paid a professional's sitting fee or per page dollar amount for a photo. My friend is out her time and any cost associated with the sitting, but she hasn't dished out her hard earned dollars for overpriced bits of sugar coated buttered flour. And my mom? Well, I can pretty much guarantee that that picture will sit on her shelf forever and will be shown to everybody that comes within ten feet of her front door.

Bartering is good. For everything else, there is the budget. As much as I detest the sound of the word, just like filing your nails on one of those old metal files, it is an absolute necessity for anyone wanting to maintain even a wee bit of dignity at the end of the gift-giving season. I usually define a set amount I will spend per person and stay within that. I keep an index card for each family member and put the total I will spend at the top.

As I make purchases, I subtract the cost from the total budget. That way I always know how much I have left to spend on that particular person. Sometimes I fudge a bit if I have found a gift with purchase or a free item to the first fifty shoppers. I don't count that in the budget so it seems as if the recipient is getting more even though technically I haven't spent any extra.

Stress is bad. And nothing is more stressful than financial worries or a temporary influx of huge piles of junk into the home. Stress compromises the immune system, contributes to sleep problems, and can lead to depression and even heart disease. Worse even than all of that, it can make us fat! And, no, I'm not talking about all of that stress eating you will be doing after your day at the mall (the kids don't even need to know about those trays of goodies the neighbors brought over, uh huh).

Cortisol, a chemical released by the body during times of stress, leads to an increase in abdominal fat. Disgusting. In other words, if we don't keep our wits about us and our money in our own hands, Santa won't be the only one with a little round belly come December twenty-fourth! No, thank you, Charlie. I don't care for any part of my anatomy to "shake like a bowlful of jelly." Keep your sanity, keep your zen-ness, and keep your money in your pocket this holiday season with these gift-giving ideas. Ohmmm..........

Fifteen Frugal Gift-Giving Ideas

Give an experience - Give your brother an afternoon of canoe time with his favorite sister, give your mother tickets for the two of you to see a local play, maybe your husband would like an afternoon of one-on-one time with you--biking, walking a trail, or simply parked in a parking lot finishing complete sentences!

Wrap up a gift card to a favorite consignment shop - Not only are you reducing your impact on the environment, but you get to choose just how much you spend. Go with a smaller denomination and make it part of a gift basket with inexpensive related items to match the personality of the receiver

Keep it simple - One of my husband's favorite gifts ever was probably the simplest and least costly. My mother, knowing how crazy for M&M's he is, filled a jar with the candies and wrapped it in a bit of pretty red tuille

Tie up a memory - make a friendship or sister collage with photos of special times and gather them in the perfect frame.

Share a service - Offer babysitting time to a young mother, snowplowing services to an elderly relative, dog grooming, lawn mowing, even cooking dinners for a week. Whatever your specialty, someone would consider it the perfect gift!

Make your own presents this year - Maybe you sew, knit, or crochet. Maybe you like to create fragrance gifts. Maybe you're great with woodworking. Dollhouses, fun fleece hats, slipper booties, and scented bath beads are all great ideas for holiday giving.

Give the gift that lasts all year - Magazine subscriptions are fairly inexpensive and keep coming month after month

Offer free lessons - Do you play piano? Speak Spanish? Scrapbook? Scuba dive? Give a sampling of lessons and some one on one time with yours truly.

Simplify your gift list - More of a tip than a gift idea, simplifying your gift list will allow you to allocate more dollars where you really want them to go. Do the bus driver, the Girl Scout leader, the teacher, the soccer coach, and the paper delivery person all need gifts? If you want them to know you're thinking of them and appreciate their efforts, send a card instead.

Dress up an inexpensive item - In sales I learned a trick called "one dollar present in two dollar wrap." The idea is to take a simple thoughtful gift in the low budget range and really dress it up with a beautiful wrapping job-lots of tuille, little doodads, special box. All of these things can be gotten at dollar stores or holiday sales from last season.

Think useful - Put together a starving student kit for the college kid away from home (bag of Ramen noodles, your specialty homemade cookies, microwave popcorn, bound recipes collected from family members), an emergency car kit for the new driver (flashlight, box of granola bars, mini first-aid kit, small fleece throw), or a pampering kit for the mom-to-be (tea bags, mug, slippers, sleezy romance novel)

Win them over with food - If you can cook it, you can wrap it! A few of us indeed are born spatula-challenged. Make your baking inept friend a dozen monster cookies. Send your urban sister some fresh from the farm jams or jellies. Bottle your family famous burn-your-mouth salsa.

Pass along a treasured family piece - Choose some exquisite wrapping to hand down your grandmother's wedding ring. Find a keepsake box to pass on old family letters or diaries.

Start a plant - A plant start is practically free. All you need to make it a gift is some dirt and a pot. Get creative and paint the pot yourself, find one at a garage sale or use something altogether different. An old bowl of your mother's makes a great container for a plant you're giving to a sibling.

Bind a book of family recipes - A culinary form of family reunion. Contact extended family members (email is easiest for this) and ask for any number of favorite recipes. You can theme this (holiday recipes, Soups of the Smiths, Brown's Baked Goods) or just keep to the usual categories.

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