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SMI Visitor's Weblog
Welcome to the SMI Visitor's Weblog. Below you'll find selected excerpts reprinted from our Member's Weblog, plus occasional posts created especially for our visitors. If you are already an SMI Web Member, click the following link to go to the SMI Member's Weblog. If you're not a Web Member yet, but would like to have access to all of SMI's content including the SMI Member's Weblog click to learn about becoming an SMI Web Member. December 16, 2009The Ghost of Christmas Budgets PastIn our December 2008 Level 1 article, we reviewed Mary Hunt's Debt-Proof the Holidays. My favorite parts of the book were the stories people had written about all the various traditions they celebrate. One such tradition:
What a great way to add meaning and fiscal control to your Christmas. But homemade and inexpensive are not synonymous. Take for instance Andrew's rehashing of the great Christmas debacle of '97. If you've got money to burn, that craft is for you. And then there was 2006 - Year of the Dog. My sister-in-law had spent significant time and money on homemade cookies, candies, and treats. We're talking chocolate-covered candy canes, butterscotch cookies, fudge brownies, the whole nine yards. Unfortunately for us, these were the days when we gave Gertie, our pug-mix, run of the kitchen while we were gone. You guessed it... we came back from some festivities to discover an ill-looking dog resembling Gertie curled in the corner and an empty platter with nary a crumb for the humans. As you probably know, dogs and chocolate a happy dog do not make. So you're probably thinking we took her to the vet and got a fat bill on the way out. If so, you must not read much of what I write because I'm too cheap for that (plus, I wanted to incorporate a money saving tip into this post). Turns out, a cap full of hydrogen peroxide down her gullet and minutes later, we got all our treats back! To this day, butterscotch and Matthew a settled stomach do not make. So in your efforts to keep spending down this year, embrace the ghosts of Christmas budgets past. Listen to them and learn what you're getting yourself into. Who knows, you may hear them moaning, "Administer peroxide outdoors." TrackBack
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