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Do you ever spend too much money trying to make everyone even?


brynnfromtheblock

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I have 3 kids, and the oldest of course got the new powerwheel, the new kitchen, new vanity etc when she was little, so we still have those things. I haven't really been buying them for the other 2, because we already have them... Well I realized that the little one has never gotten a cool "big present" for Christmas-,that you would just walk out and your eyes would light up,- so I bought her the Little Mermaid Vanity and talked Grandma into buying a new Dora Power Wheels ATV.. w-ell after I did it I realized the middle one has never gotten anything cool either, and I felt so guilty I bought her the bigger Dora Power Wheel.... (way more than I was going to spend on one present for ------any of them).... well then of course I had spent so much more on her than the other 2 and the Odyssey Globe I bought for my 6yoa looked crappy in comparison and not fun like the little ones gifts so I went and got her the Bratz car... well then I looked at the number of presents and they were way off so I bought more for the short ones to even it up....

 

The logic seemed good at the time, but now I've spent way more than I had planned on....I know a bunch of you out there are going to talk about how good you are budgets and how I should stick with it....... but does anyone else just let it get away from you sometimes?

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Logic? what is logical? I can plan, make it even, and in the last week, everything goes hooky. We counted gifts last night and my baby(8) has less gifts but more spent on him. We have cool gifts from our older kids still at home too. I guess I will be shopping for a few more things for him to open... instead of watching his brother(9). Yeah, I spend way too much making it even!!!
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:secret: I don't have children, but I am sure I would be in this predicament if I did!!!

Your heart is in the right place - unless you have spent the entire college fund for all three of them on these christmas presents - you will feel good inside of yourself when you give them. I hope all three of them will have "eyes that light up"- as you will remember that much more over the years than wether you kept to budget.....Make that splurge pay off and be sure to put some BIG bows on them!!!

:holiday02

I never quite got the concept of 'evening' up myself.... I believe it's a 'parent' thing and not a 'kid' thing. Now I'm 34 and my brother is 30. My mother still attempts to 'even up' instead of letting my brother make his mistakes and 'grow up' - like last year when my grandma was sick - she paid for my brother's plane ticket so he could visit before she expired. I was on my third visit (I only budget for one), so she offered me some travel money too, which I gratefully accepted.

I don't think she would have offered it if my brother hadn't traveled on her dime.....she was 'evening up' :juggle:

I know its not exactly the same thing you are describing - but I would presume this notion of hers may have started with Christmas presents. Beware!

 

:book: The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Charles Dudley Warner (1829 - 1900), 'Eleventh Study,' Backlog Studies, 1873

 

:book: Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

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I always have a plan or budget and I almost always blow it. Most of my kids are older and some of the relatives have stoped buying for them, so I feel I nned to make up the slack so things will be even ( it is not them it is me) Even now if I could find the money I would buy some more things, for example I heard one of them mention a bike the other day for exercise and I thought that would be good to get. I think your three are going to be so excited Christmas morning that any regrets you have of going over budget will disappear.
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I have to admit. I try to make things somewhat even. But I am still a student so I'm not spending too much either way. I'm not gonna lie, I have spent obscene amounts of money on stupid things. (But most of them were for myself)...I remember last year I got my stepbrother a pair of bindings for his new snowboard because I was an employee at the board shop. I soon realized that I only got my sister something small. So I ended up buying her a North Face fleece. Keep in mind, this was when they were really expensive and a bit hard to find. At least they were beyond happy.
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I had a plan for Xmas gifts and a list....ds #1 is 5 years, ds#2 is 15 months. They were getting the same # of presents, not the same dollar amount. I was spending almost twice the amount on the oldest. That Thomas stuff is pricey, even though I got it all on sale!

 

But, it is so much easier to shop for my older son. I know exactly what he likes, plus I know the toys will be passed down to his little brother. I am not having any more babies...so I don't want a ton of baby stuff. Plus, we have lots of baby toys already.

 

I keep seeing things I know my oldest son will love. And I now I feel like I have to buy the baby more items. My husband keeps telling me, "He is a baby; he does not know or care. He is going to love the wrapping paper more than anything." I wish I could just let it go and know it will be alright. I know that 20 years from now my little guy is not going to say, "But you always bought my brother more than me!"

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I have 3 kids, and the oldest of course got the new powerwheel, the new kitchen, new vanity etc when she was little, so we still have those things. I haven't really been buying them for the other 2, because we already have them... Well I realized that the little one has never gotten a cool "big present" for Christmas-,that you would just walk out and your eyes would light up,- so I bought her the Little Mermaid Vanity and talked Grandma into buying a new Dora Power Wheels ATV.. w-ell after I did it I realized the middle one has never gotten anything cool either, and I felt so guilty I bought her the bigger Dora Power Wheel.... (way more than I was going to spend on one present for ------any of them).... well then of course I had spent so much more on her than the other 2 and the Odyssey Globe I bought for my 6yoa looked crappy in comparison and not fun like the little ones gifts so I went and got her the Bratz car... well then I looked at the number of presents and they were way off so I bought more for the short ones to even it up....

 

The logic seemed good at the time, but now I've spent way more than I had planned on....I know a bunch of you out there are going to talk about how good you are budgets and how I should stick with it....... but does anyone else just let it get away from you sometimes?

Hey I know how ya feel. We do the same thing. Maybe it's a little different for us because of their age difference. Our oldest just turned 20 (:eek: Wow now I feel OLD) and our 2nd son just turned 10, so our oldest knows the stuff he usually asks for is more expensive and if he get "less to open" he understands. But then again this year our youngest is getting Xbox 360 premium and still have to get his "main" gift. I wasn't really planning on getting the Xbox 360 but I used my Best Buy Bucks from McDonalds and figured what the heck. So I guess if we had a set budget, believe me it's going to be blown as well.

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I don't necessarily spend to much trying to make things even but I just spend to much in general. I just keep seeing things that the kids 'have to have' or would just love. I buy things that are on sale and then stash them throughout the year and then we go Christmas shopping and get more. I have been searching through all my hiding places and I have a crazy amount of things plus I have to pick up our layaway yet. Their eyes will pop out of their heads this year.:holiday02
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Yeah.

And it's going to happen this year. I'm getting my youngest one (10) a computer this year. But not much of anything else. Just a few little things.(yeah right) :rolleyes:

But now I feel guilty, my oldest one is 22, and he and his girlfriend (who is expecting my first grandchild in February) said that they needed a new pot and pan set. So I got them one for $50.00. He said he could use some hoodies, and she has said nothing about anything else.

Soooo......Since there is a new baby coming, and I am spending a lot more on the youngest I am going to get them a camcorder also. Which is going to throw my "budget" way off. Just haven't decided what kind yet. I know that I should just get one of the leftovers from BF, but I would prefer to at least go with a DVD one, but again that is almost $200 more.:(

 

I know that he is a lot older...but I still feel bad about spending so much more on one than the other.

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Age differences does make it hard as they older the child the more expensive the list. My oldest is 12 and youngest is 6. 12 yr old wants all electronics which are costly where as the youngest still wants Barbies and Bratz which are all under $10 on sale. I do however, do one big gift for each. My son knows that he may have one or two presents less, but in my mind I still try to even it out. lol
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My kids always have the exact same # of presents because I make them take turns opening them LOL They may have silly putty and yo yos or the dollar spot items from Target or the Dollar Tree as their filler gifts, but at least they are even!! As they get older, I try to make the money amount more even too, because at 14 and 17, they are, but when they were little, I didn't as much. This year, I'm kind of stuck, although not too bad. I just can't decide what to get her. Lee got his PS3 today, and understands that he won't have a big gift on Christmas and he'd better be happy with his socks and new jeans.
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No. We don't go on price, we go on number of items. Because even at my kids ages, they know when one gets one more than the other. And when it comes to Christmas, I feel we should be equal for now anyway. Once they get older, I may not think about quantity as much though.
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I know exactly what you mean. I managed to go through a bundle just getting my DD8 and DD20months the cutest clothes for xmas. I just kept seeing all this cute stuff that I couldn't resist because it was on a really good sale so I just had to buy it. Before I knew it I had blown through my whole xmas budget and had hardly gotten any toys. So now next week when hubby gets paid (last check b4 xmas) I have to rush out and try to find a few toys to even it all up!
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I'm usually pretty good about making # of presents equal and somehow $ comes out fair. They usually get one big (expensive) present and then smaller ones. But now I'm stuck because I bought the fly pen which throws everything off. I know it was a bargain but once I've added a case and extra paper and some software I'm back up to a second big present for my daughter. So now I have to get a second big present for my son. It doesn't have to cost the same amount but my kids know how much things are - even if I did find a bargain I still need to find another bargain on a big item. I've got less than 3 weeks.

 

Frustration I tell ya. Our kids have no idea do they? Don't get me wrong mine are appreciative, I just like the looks on their faces.

 

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.

Charles Dudley Warner (1829 - 1900), 'Eleventh Study,' Backlog Studies, 1873

 

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Good Quotes!

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Oh boy do I EVER worry about this! LOL! I worry about getting the same amount of presents, spending the same amount of $... I even worry about if their "piles" of toys look even!! CRAZY!

 

I just bought Alexis the new "Dora Pony Place"... she loves Dora and LOVES ponies so this is PERFECT! BUT NOW she has 1 more gift then the other 2... and it was $40 (I had to add on the Diego pack, too)! SO, I went and found the other 2 another $40 gift (which worked out good for Austin because I wanted to get him the Thomas Aquadoodle so bad)! But still - one more gift turned into 3 more gifts and $120! LOL!

 

AND... I'm done shopping! I say this... and then... I find something else one of them just "has to have" and that means all 3 must have something else!

 

It's just enough to about make ya crazy! Haha!

 

~ Erin (23y/o SAHM to 3 cuties ages 3 and under)

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I think I have decided to foget the budget!! I am having to much fun finding things that my kids will like and to be honest this is the only time of year I splurge on them. It has been a hard year but we finally got the first disability check so we can breathe again. The bills are paid so I am going to pick up a few more things!!
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I have 3 kids, and the oldest of course got the new powerwheel, the new kitchen, new vanity etc when she was little, so we still have those things. I haven't really been buying them for the other 2, because we already have them... Well I realized that the little one has never gotten a cool "big present" for Christmas-,that you would just walk out and your eyes would light up,- so I bought her the Little Mermaid Vanity and talked Grandma into buying a new Dora Power Wheels ATV.. w-ell after I did it I realized the middle one has never gotten anything cool either, and I felt so guilty I bought her the bigger Dora Power Wheel.... (way more than I was going to spend on one present for ------any of them).... well then of course I had spent so much more on her than the other 2 and the Odyssey Globe I bought for my 6yoa looked crappy in comparison and not fun like the little ones gifts so I went and got her the Bratz car... well then I looked at the number of presents and they were way off so I bought more for the short ones to even it up....

 

The logic seemed good at the time, but now I've spent way more than I had planned on....I know a bunch of you out there are going to talk about how good you are budgets and how I should stick with it....... but does anyone else just let it get away from you sometimes?

 

I did that this year. I was done with my kids early (October) and everytime I turn around I see something that I have to buy for them. I keep stopping myself from buying. It was 5 presents per child and I brought an extra one for my middle child, so I had to buy another for the others. I always make sure that they have the same number of gifts and try to spend the same amount of money on each child. That did not happen this year but as long as the have the same number I am ok.:fluffy:

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I don't have your problem, yet, since we only have one child, but I know where you are coming from. Last year I got a very nice set of golf clubs and my wife didn't really get all that much (Gilmore Girls DVDs, scrapbooking stuff, and I'm sure a few other small things). This year, she's getting spoiled and it's cost a lot more than I had planned. Oh well, she deserves it. :yup:
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I am going through this exact same thing. I wish I could give some good advice but I'm having the same trouble. DS #1 is getting expensive small gifts, DS, DS games, digital camera, his one big (as far as present size) gift is a roboraptor. DS #2 and DS #3 wants a lot of the same things so they are getting a few big items together and some individual big items and smaller stuff. My goal tonight is to go in my garage tonite and stack up all of their gifts and compare.

 

Right now I feel like I've spent more money on my oldest but I think the younger two have more to open. I'm trying to even it up but if I buy my one something I feel like I have to even it out with the others.

 

Not done with all the shopping yet either, still have some small stuff to get and one big thing, a kitchen for the little ones. (Hopefully one that isn't pink :) )

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