Community Chat

[AmyF]

I would love to have some suggestions. My husband and I received mostly money this year from our family members. We each have around $200. My MIL wants us to let her know how we spent the money from her, which is making me put a little more thought into how it is used. What would you buy with this amount of Christmas money? Should husband and I put our money together to buy a $400 item? If so, what?

[nomless]

Only you and your husband know what you need or want.  Discuss with DH.  

What I want or need is irrelevant, so no purpose is served by my posting what I would do with the money.  I apologize if this sounds snarky, I don't mean it to be.  I just don't understand how polling others' wants/ needs helps you determine what you and DH would like.

[Boehm Collector]

Hi @AmyF .... @nomless is correct... only you and your DH can decide what to purchase with your Christmas money.  My DH and I also received quite a few gift cards.   DH loves the featherbed on the bed we sleep on when we stay at my DB's house.  So I used one of my gift cards to purchase a featherbed from Macy's.  It was originally $200.00 but I got it on sale for $102.00.

[chrystaltree]

Please don't suck the joy out of something that should be fun.  It's $400, not 400,000. You don't have to be responsible with it, you should noy even have to much thought into it and you can even keep until you feel like spending.  Your mother in law doesn't sound like a polite person.  When you give money as a gift, you don't hound people about what they spent the money on, you shouldn't even put people on the spot by asking.  It's fun money, spend it in anyway you want, any time you want.

[Hayfield]

I'm the one who gives out the checks, I don't get any.  When I give my children money, I never ask them what they're going to do with it, I give them an amount I want to give them and they can do with it what they want, I don't attach strings to it.  My DD did mention to me that she needs new tires for her car and would I buy them for her as her Xmas & birthday present (her birthday is the beginning of Jan.), I said yes and so I just bought her a couple of little things to open on Xmas.  My children are both adults and I treat them like adults. 

[GCR18]

I didn't get any Christmas money, but if I did I'd buy a new kitchen faucet.

[gardensla]

Me? I'm putting the $$ my mother gave me into my brokerage account so its there when I spot a buying opportunity!

[Desertdi]

I save some of my "holiday cash" for half-price candy !!!!!!

[fourpaws56]

If we really didn't need anything, I would donate it to the SPCA....but thats me..

[AmyF]

I guess I was thinking there might be someone who would say "we always do____ with our Christmas money" and give me an idea I wouldn't have though of on my own.  I also wasn't thinking anything about my MIL wanting to know how it was spent. Anytime we get money for birthdays I usually write a thank you and tell the person what we did with the money. I've done that with wedding money, baby shower money, and anytime someone has given the kids money. I didn't know that was odd and figured the person would want to know.