beyond all the xmas presents, i've got a few significant birthdays in december/early january. then there's all the socializing. to date, i've got two potlucks i need to prepare dishes for, one work lunch and the vandigicam photo swap. in addition, there will be at least three more work lunches, a possible third potluck and my dad's 75th birthday dinner.
i just roughed out a quick list of approximate costs and we're looking at well over $200! not including the presents i've already purchased and craft supplies i have yet to buy or expenses traveling to/from the island. when your budget runs as tight as mine, $200 is a lot of money.
no wonder i had an anxiety attack yesterday.
i'm not really complaining, either. i don't begrudge the additional costs related to the season; but, i think having all these expenses lumped together during one month of the year is annoying. i'm just lucky and grateful that i can afford to do an all-cash christmas and not have to borrow money to pay for any of it. there's a lot of people out there who don't have the luxury of saying the same, especially with the way things are in the world today.
i can only hope that once i get stuff photographed and up on my etsy store, i'll be selling like crazy and not worrying about where i can cut costs to pay for all the winter wonder.
see? i'm still an optimist at heart!
Hola chica!
Speaking of crafting, do you want to get together for a craft night one week in the next while? It's like dinner out, only with no cost and more fun. I have wine! I could even make dinner if you aren't demanding (snicker) - spaghetti for example is decidedly delicious and I have all the stuff.
Let me know! I always have crafty things I could do and have lots of space here in Gastown. I could invite the troops, too, and we can call it crafty-blogging-gals-do-craft-night-and-dinner or some such thing.
And dude, free! Free is decidedly good :)
Chat soon
I can sympathize with the December money crunch. We could always skip the potluck portion of next week. Just throwing it out there.
oh, there's no need to cancel anything. i was only musing.
and, miranda, hells yes i'm up for spaghetti and crafting! bring it on!