Madolyn Thinks

I love Christmas and I always find that the build up is the best bit. I love visiting the Christmas markets, drinking mulled wine, pulling out chunky knitwear and watching all of the best Christmas films.

However, one thing that I’m not too keen on during this time of year is the ever-growing expectation based around gift giving. After the wake of Black Friday and the build up to the big day, it seems as though everyone that I speak to has money, and the amount they are going to spend, on their mind. 

Black Friday to me is a bit of an odd one. It originally started in the U.S.A. as a big sale event after Thanks Giving, but over the last five years or so, it seems to have become much more of a ‘thing’ over here in the U.K. as well. It seemed as though my inbox was completely jam-packed with emails from every retailer, tempting me to buy some of their Black Friday deals, and it became a little overwhelming. 

I tried to take quite a methodical and logical approach to the Black Friday sales and only bought things that I actually wanted or needed. So rather than scroll the internet or mooch about the shops, I had a thick about some of the things I wanted to buy, and then looked to see if anywhere had a particularly good deal on.  For example, I needed a new vacuum cleaner and I quite fancied a cordless one. I had a quick look on Amazon and found that they had a third off the one that I wanted on Black Friday.

This approach to Black Friday also got me thinking about Christmas. It’s seems crazy to me to think about how much money everyone spends on gifts for people. I know that I personally don’t really need anything and so my family and I have decided that we will buy some tickets to see a comedy show together. That way we all get something we’ll enjoy, without spending a load of money on things that we don’t really need or want. 

I read a really nice quote the other week in reference to Christmas gifts…

“Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read…"

I do have a couple of gifts that I would like to buy this year, but I think that I will try to stick to this little phrase whilst I shop.