Tied up in Wires

My laptop is not wireless and it needs to be.  What is the point of having a wireless in this day and age and NOT be wireless, I ask.  This computer is only about five years old… it’s not that the technology wasn’t available. But it might have been new. Or I was too cheap. Probably a combination of both that made me decide on the conservative side that the extra expense just wasn’t worth it to me.

Well now it is and I have been looking around. I grabbed a wireless card for my current laptop on my way out of town for a social networking seminar. Unfortunately, the card didn’t work so I was unplugged for the whole convention. When I got back I began researching wireless options with new laptops.  I stumbled upon the Acer Aspire and have really had to work hard not to buy it.  I’ll look into it after the holidays, but for now, too many holiday expenses to go laptop shopping, know what I mean?

I know lots of people are buying BIG when it comes to laptops right now. Big monitors and such. But I am into the smaller netbooks.  The size is much more convenient for travel and since I depend on my car and coffee shops to be my office away from home, I need to consider the compact design for saving space.

But since the biggest thing I need to consider at the moment is my budget, I’ll have to suffer through for a little longer, locked in my basement, trying to be creative, bound to a laptop with cords.  I’m not complaining though.  I could be trapped with NO laptop and NO internet. Then I’m afraid life wouldn’t even be worth living!

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“Shopping for my kids” and “on a budget” are two of the crappiest phrases I can put together. I am not very good at doing it, and I know I spend too much, but it’s not really something I am willing to change. But I am willing and determined to give it more thought, make more sense, and not be wasteful. As a result, we are trying something new this year.

First of all, last year, we slashed our spending almost in half. Wait, no, first of all, my kids are 10 and 14 but this is only our 7th Christmas together.  The first one we spent WAY too much because we had just adopted them and they didn’t really have much PLUS we simply couldn’t control ourselves. So we can’t count that one. The second Christmas together I was hopped up on vicadin and confined to the couch. Over spending was done for many reasons - I was miserable and guilt ridden for not being able to play with them and hold them, we had pressure to live up to the first year and they still were a little needy, I was literally stoned and it was so easy to click and buy on Amazon.com from my place of bored imprisonment on the couch. So that year doesn’t count either. Now we’re down to three Christmases of over spending due to stupidity, one spending slashed one, and the upcoming one with the new strategy.  Sounds better when I break it down like that. Well it does!

Anyway, I am gift giver. I love it. I love making baskets and doing themes and elaborate presentations. I actually have formulas for putting gifts together.  This can be costly and wasteful.  Many things that satisfied the criteria of my kid’s Christmas presentations were things that were never ever touched! And there has always been “fluff” to create a magical appearance under the tree. The picture above is of LAST year.  The year we cut the spending in half. Imagine what DOUBLE that looked like.

So this year, they are getting ONE big gift each. I’ll shop for the best buy on a Nintendo DSI and and Ipod Touch. They both love reading and wish daily for big “juicy” new books to read. So we’ll spend a big chunk of cash there - creates excitement upon opening, keeps giving, and actually is good for them. Color me happy! We’ll spend a little replenishing art & hobby supplies but will not bring into their lives any new hobbies or trends. They are fulfilled already. And the “fluff” to create a magical appearance under the tree will be pjs, boots, and winter supplies. Luckily, they enjoy receiving those things as well, and we have to buy them anyway, so WIN WIN as I see it.

So that’s it! That’s the plan. Whether or not I can stick to it remains to be seen, but with much less in the bank to work on it and the agreement not to use credit cards, I don’t really have a lot of choice in the matter. How about you? What’s your strategy for saving money for this holiday season?  What’s the big gift on your kid’s list?

My computer is constantly getting bogged down by its cluttered up hard drive. It is on my list to clear up the junk. It is on my list to research storage solutions. It is on my list to have breakfast but here it is almost noon and I have not even accomplished that. I don’t have time to research things for personal reasons, I barely get it done for obligation. Now what?

Duh! Online backup! With services like shutterfly and mymotherboard out there GIVING storage away, it is a breeze to have our photos, files, and important data protected and accessible, even without being on our computers.

I just wanted to share that “duh moment” but now that we’re here… is anybody taking advantage of any of these services?   I have a couple in mind already that I want to try. Let us know what you’re using!

I am a stone cold bitch when it comes to decorating my Christmas tree. At least I have been up until now. It is not easy to admit that because Christmas and holiday decorating are supposed to conjure up images of comfort and joy, not a mad woman barking instructions and rolling her eyes. “Too high! Too low! Too similar! Take it down, do it over, take a time out if your heart’s not in it!”  This year was different, though. This was the year I decided to give up control of the Christmas tree.

My  big beautiful silver & blue tree of my dreams is one of the few things I have managed to remain in control of since becoming a parent so perfect ornament placement is just one of the reasons I struggled with letting go.  Also, my house is not very big, but as I mentioned, my tree is! So I always have this fear that if the tree is a Charlie Brown mess, the whole house will take on a sad, ugly, Charlie Brown quality. I didn’t say it was a rational fear.

There are storage solutions and space savers available to us such as plasma mounts, shelving units, and under the counter numbers, to make more space, but seriously, this tree takes up the whole room.

It is only now that I sit down to write this that have taken the time to think about why it was so easy to let go this year: I think I have realized that life is stressful enough right now. Hopefully I am learning a “don’t sweat the small stuff” lesson in general, but this year in particular has been difficult for people, and me for sure. I am not really excited about Christmas - so much on my mind and so little in the bank has crowded out the holiday spirit that’s trying to tickle me and make me smile.  So as we dragged up the decorations from the basement and I felt the stress mounting, I poured a glass of wine and told the kids to have at it. You know what? It’s more beautiful than ever.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have basic rules about how to space out the spinners and what kind of bulbs go on them, and I was still in charge of the strategic placement of a few key pieces.  It’s still my tree dammit, and I wanted to be able to enjoy it even after the Lambrusco buzz wore off.  Most importantly, all the “special” ornaments, i.e. off color scheme gifts, homemade & those otherwise not meeting top branch criteria, are to be placed on the back of the tree where they can be protected and privately enjoyed by the family.  Win-win.

I caught a report today talking about how December 25, 26, and January 1st are the biggest days for heart attacks and I plainly see why. From the money spent, stress of visiting family to outdoor lights and Christmas tree decorations, this things are supposed to be anticipated with joy and warm our hearts, not break them! How did we get here?  second thought: How do we fix it?