Gifts of Communication

I would imagine one of the most frivolous things people spend money on - is gifts for others. Desire or guilt to get a present for friends, family or acquaintances leads us to unresearched purchases of under appreciated treasures.
What would happen if people signed up for wish lists and made it known what store they preferred? Even if someone didn't want to fully fund a person's Harley Davidson, they could purchase a gift card to THE RIGHT shop. Putting items on your wishlist can also help you resist impulse spending by waiting a bit before making the purchase.

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are lots of ways to tell someone they matter. Another idea is to create a gift certificate as a gift; not a monetary gift certificate but a quality time gift - maybe a movie, or dinner, or coffee date, I'll babysit for you, text chocolate and I'll bring it home... unlimited options to save money from being wasted.

I LOVE FlyLady. If you haven't found her - look her up online - she's awesome. Her goal is to help you unclutter your house and unclutter your life. This past fall she had the most wonderful article/suggestion. With Christmas coming up, she had a prewritten letter you could steal - it basically said "Friends and family, we love you. We've been working on getting rid of clutter in our house. Please - do not send gifts. We don't need anything. If you WANT to send a gift, then please send money that we can deposit into savings accounts."  What a great idea - being super intentional about not allowing others to clutter up your house.

And hey - why not let someone else feed your pig!