It has been a while since I have heard of Christmas Club Accounts. Do banks advertise them as heavily as they once did? Has the relative ease of using credit and debit cards replaced them?
Back when I was flying all over the world and could buy interesting gifts cheaply, I would have my Christmas shopping done by March.
Today, the task of gift buying is delegated to my wife, who insists buying them from her account. (We have separate joint checking accounts since the days when I did fly all over the world). If she buys something on the credit card that she thinks she should pay for, she transfers the money to my account.
It’s not a bad system: she has the cell phone and Amazon accounts in her name. I pay the rest of the bills. Both of us have established credit.
Fortunately, we have a small family, so there are few people for whom we buy gifts. We don’t exchange gifts ourselves, we sort of do that daily.
We start early, usually July. This year we started in March. It makes the financial impact less severe on the monthly budget. We finish our shopping by November. That saves on fighting the crowds in the stores. Now however, the shopping is mostly on line. We do miss out on Black Friday (oh darn). There is no way I could buy for a wife, three kids, two son in laws and 6 grandkids all in the space of a few weeks.
Well Aunty, your lack of planning does not constitute our emergency. Christmas is like birthdays, they happen every year on the same date. Planning in advance shouldn’t be that hard.
seanfear 12 months ago
and they say time traveling is not possible!
FreyjaRN Premium Member 12 months ago
We stopped that years ago. Expensive. The cats are happy with a bit of nip and a new box.
PraiseofFolly 12 months ago
It has been a while since I have heard of Christmas Club Accounts. Do banks advertise them as heavily as they once did? Has the relative ease of using credit and debit cards replaced them?
j_m_kuehl 12 months ago
Looking forward to the Ghosts of Credit past (due)
jmworacle 12 months ago
And so it goes….
The Reader Premium Member 12 months ago
Merry Compound Interest!
Troglodyte 12 months ago
B( r )ack to the future, eh Aunty?!
Doug K 12 months ago
And still paying interest on money borrowed from two years ago.
bookworm0812 12 months ago
Believe it or not I did buy a gift for next year. It arrived yesterday!
ladykat 12 months ago
True. I wish I had just a bit more money, I still have a few gifts to buy.
dflak 12 months ago
Back when I was flying all over the world and could buy interesting gifts cheaply, I would have my Christmas shopping done by March.
Today, the task of gift buying is delegated to my wife, who insists buying them from her account. (We have separate joint checking accounts since the days when I did fly all over the world). If she buys something on the credit card that she thinks she should pay for, she transfers the money to my account.
It’s not a bad system: she has the cell phone and Amazon accounts in her name. I pay the rest of the bills. Both of us have established credit.
Fortunately, we have a small family, so there are few people for whom we buy gifts. We don’t exchange gifts ourselves, we sort of do that daily.
rhpii 12 months ago
We start early, usually July. This year we started in March. It makes the financial impact less severe on the monthly budget. We finish our shopping by November. That saves on fighting the crowds in the stores. Now however, the shopping is mostly on line. We do miss out on Black Friday (oh darn). There is no way I could buy for a wife, three kids, two son in laws and 6 grandkids all in the space of a few weeks.
rockyridge1977 12 months ago
…..and we are not “paying forward”???
Daltongang Premium Member 12 months ago
Well Aunty, your lack of planning does not constitute our emergency. Christmas is like birthdays, they happen every year on the same date. Planning in advance shouldn’t be that hard.
cuzinron47 12 months ago
It takes a lot of money to be gifted.