our family, guilty of historic orgies of over-gifting, agreed this year that we would not spend more than $30-50 on any one adult. we can spend more on the kids, of course.
i find out my mom, who was the one who instigated the agreement originally, had been planning to give $100+ gifts. mom just
has to out-gift and outspend everyone, which then leads to everyone else spending more. i know find out she's getting me a $300 gift, a bed frame from IKEA. i love the gesture, i do want it, but i was more interested in her maybe paying for a portion of it so i could afford the rest.
i was planning to spend more than $50 on younger sister, but only b/c her b-day is right before christmas so i needed to get b-day and holiday gifts. totally fine with that. but then mom called me last night and we were comparing what he bought for ppl to avoid duplicating gifts. i told her what i bought sis for her b-day and christmas and mom said "well you should buy more, she's gotten you some stuff that's more money than what you've spent just for xmas on you."
ok, in the past i have indulged in insane spending for Christmas ($800 for 6 people last year), but i was really looking forward to the limiting of the spending this year b/c my family does go way overboard, esp. compared to others i know who just get a card and like 1 gift from sibs and parents.
while i will spend more on younger sis b/c of her b-day and xmas combined, i'm not going over the budget for anyone else.
p.s. except the gift for my parents. YS and I are giving them $5000 for a cruise to Alaska for their 25th wedding anniversay. we saved for over 2 years for it, so we've definitely outgifted mom for once!
