Hope You Like Your Gift… You Bought It!
Every year Christmas comes around and with it comes the gift buying process. We ask everyone what they want, they ask us what we want, and then we buy the gifts and exchange them on Christmas.
So basically, we’re just buying ourselves a whole bunch of stuff and having our friends and family pick it up for us. The only time this doesn’t apply is when you surprise each other with gifts without asking what they want. In this case, you’re just spending money on yourself and having someone else pick out what you want. Both ways you’re buying yourself the gift.
Some people are really hard to pick gifts out for, so we just get them gift cards. I’ve always had a problem with gift cards because they’re the biggest wastes of money I can think of. You’re trading in money, which is universal and highly liquid, for money that can only be spent in one place. Why are we specializing our money? You wouldn’t trade in your cable box for an MTV box, would you? You’re better off giving the person cash and writing a note in the card that says “maybe you can use this at ::insert store name::” but leave the option open to them. The argument for gift cards as opposed to cash is that you took the time to go to the store and get them something, even though you couldn’t find anything. “Time is money” so spending time on someone is a part of the gift. My solution for this is to stick a business card from the store with the cash so it shows you put in the time and effort.
Speaking of wastes of money, what is the point of giving someone a card? I’d personally prefer receiving a gift that’s worth five dollars more with no card attached. Although I’m sure every man on the planet agrees there, so it must be a gender thing.
It isn’t until people actually do give money (the universal gift card) that you really see how silly the gift process is. If you and the person you’re exchanging gifts with each get each other money, you’re literally trading bills.
Person 1: Merry Christmas! I got you twenty dollars!
Person 2: Thank you! Let me hand it right back to you! Merry Christmas!
Why do we go through these motions every year? It kills us financially and stresses us out relentlessly. I think it’s because we feel less guilty getting all this stuff since “it’s a gift”. If we went to the store and bought ourselves all of the gifts we receive, we’d think “what am I doing? I don’t have the money to be buying all this stuff.” But we deceive ourselves with the gift loop hole. It seems more altruistic to spend $1000 on other people, even though we’re receiving $1000 worth of gifts from those same people. How can you feel guilty over being so generous?
It’s silly, but we all naturally think that way. Then we end up in debt and wonder why. As I’ve mentioned when talking about becoming an autologist, cut the crap with yourself. You bought yourself a ton of gifts and had your friends and family pick it up for you; you’re not as giving a person as you may give yourself credit for. Yes, there are plenty of exceptions like getting gifts for kids (unless their parents bought your kids gifts as well). I’m talking about exchanging gifts only. As long as you’re exchanging gifts, you’re not altruistic.
Merry Christmas!
3 years ago