Monday's Question Of The Day - November 6, 2017

[catspaw66]

Actually, I have. I bought a hand-crafted quilt for my newest great-niece.

 

[muffy]

Petsmart has good deals on the 35 pound Tidy Cat pails of litter on black Friday. I think it was like $7.99 or so last year. People can stock up. I also use the empty pails as buckets once we've used the litter. I give them to others to use as buckets as well.

OK That makes sense. You can't beat that price and they sure make good buckets.

Muffy

 

[dahli6]

I know quite a few families that purposely do very small Christmases. They like the whole 4 gift rule; a want, a need, something to read and something to wear type guide. Some do it that way out of necessity; some just want the priority off gifts. I think in our house we go for a middle ground. I definitely have a few friends who to to excessive amounts too; IMHO I guess. Growing up Mom didn't have much extra; but she always managed a bit of savings for Christmas. So for me it feels unnatural to just buy my kids toy type things whenever. I might do a small reward here or there ($2 type things.) but toy purchases are saved for birthdays and Christmas. And I feel like spreading it out and searching the clearances ahead of time saves our wallet a bit. DD's birthday is very close to Christmas; so it's a bit of a double whammy too.

The last couple of years my SIL and I agreed not to exchange gifts between our kids. The kids send each other hand-made cards instead. I hope it'll be a tradition they remember fondly when they are grown.

Yes. For some reason I keep calling them "Flinger-lings."

My kids are adults now, 22 and 20. The first 10 years were spent with an abusive alcoholic. His family had money and holidays and birthdays were lavish but they were also hell because he would get drunk and start with the abuse. After we left him we were broke. I tried working for a while but it was better to just stay home and be an attentive parent. My jobs only paid for my gas.
We could not ever put money aside at all. My husband works 60 miles from home and lived in a closet at work for 5 years because we could not afford the extra cost of gas and maintenance on the one car we had. The kids would rather have had him home as much as possible so they didn't ask for anything. He is a stepdad but he has been the best dad they had.
I expected the best possible behavior at all times when we were out. Their reward for appropriate behavior was participation in the decision making process.
Because we couldn't afford to put aside money we simply bought things they wanted or needed as the opportunity provided itself because they did appreciate it and never took it for granted.
I feel really lucky because they are both good and understanding people.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My kids are adults now, 22 and 20. The first 10 years were spent with an abusive alcoholic. His family had money and holidays and birthdays were lavish but they were also hell because he would get drunk and start with the abuse. After we left him we were broke. I tried working for a while but it was better to just stay home and be an attentive parent. My jobs only paid for my gas.
We could not ever put money aside at all. My husband works 60 miles from home and lived in a closet at work for 5 years because we could not afford the extra cost of gas and maintenance on the one car we had. The kids would rather have had him home as much as possible so they didn't ask for anything. He is a stepdad but he has been the best dad they had.
I expected the best possible behavior at all times when we were out. Their reward for appropriate behavior was participation in the decision making process.
Because we couldn't afford to put aside money we simply bought things they wanted or needed as the opportunity provided itself because they did appreciate it and never took it for granted.
I feel really lucky because they are both good and understanding people.

That sounds a little similar to one of my friend's stories. I had my own negative experiences with her ex and she went through some difficult years; even having her kids live with their godparents for a bit while she got on her feet. She eventually went to nursing school and today they are all doing really really well! I remember enough of the harder years my mother had to feel really proud of her for walking that road herself.

Actually, I have. I bought a hand-crafted quilt for my newest great-niece.

That's a beautiful present! Hand-made things are always the most special!