Would you leave yourself in debt to buy Christmas presents?
 

I know someone who is taking out a £700 loan to buy Christmas presents.

Dunno if she'll pay it back on time, or the interest rate. :eek:

But it wouldn't be me. I don't have much money anyway, but I wouldn't borrow money for presents. It's insane putting yourself in debt to buy gifts.

Madness. What do you think.

https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...e-presents.jpg

depends if you have kids

No I would not, if someone can afford to pay the loan back without neglecting other responsibility's then its not a problem.

.

Not now they are bigger as they would understand if we didn't have the cash and they rarely ask for anything, its a real struggle trying to buy stuff for them

I would never get into debt buying gifts for adults..

Very difficult for a straight yes/no answer.
On the one hand, if you can afford to repay a loan then it makes more sense to put that little bit aside beforehand and not have interest to pay.
On the other hand life is not that simple and bills land on the doorstep.
Personally I would not borrow to pay for Xmas, but we could put stuff away and then collect it when it was paid for, don't know if you can still do this nowadays.:shrug:

when i was a kid toys were relatively affordable and kids wanted toys like matchbox, scalextric, lego, barbie, kerplunk, operation, magic robot etc

now its ps4, iphone, ipad and these are high ticket items

If you are a 12 year old boy who does not have an xbox or a ps4 then i guess you feel like a leper so i get why low income parents do get into debt

Thankfully I've never been in a situation like that where I've had to borrow short term (even though I've put things on the credit card for Christmas, does that count? It's a loan of sorts :think: ) I'd hope to never be in that situation where I'd find it difficult to give my kids a good Christmas, I think especially if you have young kids it must be difficult if you're struggling financially, I agree with Cherie though my kids are teens now so understand life more so I think they'd be ok with a smaller Christmas if something bad happened and we couldn't afford to go all out

Definitely not, it stresses me out having to pay £1 back to someone on the very rare occasion this happens (eg. if I have no money with me at that moment in time).

i completely understand how parents get into debt at Christmas, there is way, way too much commercial pressure applied. You watch the adverts and its all designed to increase kids expectations and guilt adults.

no, of course not

No, of course not. But you don't have to spend bundles... when I was at uni and very poor, a bunch of friends and I decided we'd do a secret Santa and have a £3 limit on presents, see who could be most inventive. Luckily there are lots of charity shops in Cambridge... I got a photo frame that I still have and use.

Edit: Yeah, reading through... it must be tough to parents on a tight budget. I can totally see why some would borrow, even though they knew it wasn't their smartest move.

It's really hard when they want phones video consoles,I usually try to buy all year round and look around for bargains etc, plus I do have a catalogue which is kind of a debt I suppose.

how many kids do you have?

So the general consensus is no. I guess the size of the loan is excessive.

No one would maybe condemn her for borrowing £80-£100. But at £700 it sounds like she is after buying expensive presents, which is daft.

Thanks for your replies. :)

None.

Yes if I could pay it back and didn’t have any money at the time but I would get a seasonal job first so that I could pay for stuff.

£700 isn't excessive if you have kids, £80-£100 would get you nothing (that kids are into these days anyway)

exactly

:idc:

It is for many,the pressures are likely enormous too.

I heard in the supermarket in recent times,2 things I find both sad and disturbing.
One was a woman telling some others she and her family were having Chicken that year.
When she went off,the others said what a cheap Christmas dinner that must be going to be.

Then a Lady with her grandson was saying to him,she hadn't a single idea what to get him for Christmas.
To which he said,oh Gran just get me a PlayStation game,and proceeded to tell her a choice.

Expectations,not wanting to seem mean,not wanting to feel sub standard or a failure to family.
Must create enormous pressures on Parents to set out to provide as best they can.
Which may mean taking on unaffordable debt probably.

Really sad Christmas has gone so crazily commercialised,for me it is anyway.

I wouldn't no.

I do agree with others abut it being a struggle at Christmas for some parents though, especially with the cost of the things they want, iphones, ipads and so on, kids obviously want the same things as all the other kids so parents feel pressured into giving them that stuff I guess, and if those parents have 3 or 4 kids that pressure must be even worse :eek:

What kind of chav do that?
To keep the little chavlits happy?

Yes, and I will actually be doing that this year too :S

Have done in the past. This year we're actually struggling to think of ANYTHING they actually want or need :think:. Spoiled little ****ers. So it's actually going to be a pretty cheap Christmas anyway simply because they don't need any "big items". Plus... well... I spend all of my money on awesome stuff anyway so they never need things like games consoles, gaming PCs, tablets, etc. We already have all the tech :joker:.

Do you understand the pressures on parents to ensure their kids are not at a disadvantage though or bullied because they haven't got the latest tech?

exactly, I wouldn't get into debt at Christmas time for anyone except my kids

I have done in the past yes, I don't do that now thankfully.

My kids aren't even into electronics and stuff yet and I am fairly sure its going to be at least 500 between them needed for a few decent presents. FFS the new sea patroller thing seems to be 80 quid. For a lump of useless plastic but James will be heartbroken if he doesn't get it so suck it up I must do D:

If I had kiddies then yes. Otherwise no I'd be honest with the people I was buying gifts for and I'm sure they'd rather me not get into debt than me buy them a gift and if they didn't understand then they weren't worth getting gifts for in the first place!

Exactly and you can just say, I'm broke this year lets not buy eachother anything or just decide to buy eachother a novelty gift or something

Yep!

Me and my friends all have our money wrapped up (lol!) in other things this year with driving lessons and saving for uni and cars and stuff so we've all agreed to leave the presents this year. It's harder for me too because I don't have a specific group of friends. I have lots of groups of friends so even Secret Santa wouldn't be cheap for me because I'd still end up buying 3/4 people for every group of friends. I'm only buying my mum and dad a bit of something this year but obviously they expect something thoughtful, not expensive. I'm doing a photo album of their lives together thus far and leaving loads of room for them to continue it themselves.

It's completely nuts :facepalm: .

I wouldn't put myself in debt for anyone not even family just for Christmas presents :rolleyes:.

I think people get too carried away at Christmas, it's nice buying gifts but if you can't afford the items then don't buy them .

I know parents want to treat their kids but it's always taken to the extreme to the point where the kids become spoilt.

I remember on telly there was a mother who over spent so much presents on her kids you couldn't even see the Christmas tree it was like a huge mountain of wrapping papers :shocked: .

I think best thing to do is save up money instead of taking out a silly loan :nono: . But don't go crazy .

even leaving aside the commercial pressures at Christmas, there can be huge emotional pressures too. What if you have a very ill child, we don't live in an a world where its easy to be strong and say no

aww that's really cute Cal :flutter: and yeah I'd definitely prefer a pressie like that that some time and thought went into

:love:

It must be hard as your kids get older to get what they want out of them. My mum is practically badgering me now because she's almost finished my sister's and she hasn't started mine because she doesn't know what I want but I actually don't want anything:joker:

Yeah definitely, they knew what they wanted this year though, thankfully, my daughter is usually a nighmare

How much would you say you spend on presents this year?

Yes pressure is there and emotions but what about the important things at Christmas that money can't buy :nono:, like family time, watching Christmas TV and enjoying the day itself , eating festive food . Listening to Christmas songs.
Everything isn't about presents and money :rolleyes:.

And if you want to treat your kid then buy them one or 2 big presents that they'll actually appreciate and then stocking fillers for them to also enjoy.

And kids usually don't really need or want all the things they write in Christmas lists as they just get carried away and caught up in the whole commercial side .

And I think practical gifts are better as well rather than a million toys that will get broken .

That's a personal question that I'm not answering :hee: . I could ask you the same question?.
But I would never put myself in debt :nono:.

yeah and you dont have kids either so not sure how you can answer

id like to see you giving a 10 year old a food blender on xmas day instead of a PS4

because its "practical"

:rolleyes:

I used to get stressed out when i was low on money and Christmas/Birthdays came around, spending money stresses me out anyway, i'm a tight bastard really. But Christmas is pretty much the only time of the year when i don't mind spending some, its the only time i really ever put thought into buying things for people, especially my mum so its nice to treat her a bit.

Past few years i've saved up for Christmas so it's been a lot less stressful but i'd never leave myself in debt over it. If i was in a position where it'd leave me in debt i'm pretty sure my family and close friends would understand if i wasn't able to buy much or anything at all and if someone else was in that position i'd probably be angry if they spent money on me and i was the reason for them being in debt.