Back in October, Listgirl and I had already seen some stores bring out their Christmas decorations. Retailers are desperate and are looking for ways to make more money during the holiday gift season.
But that desperation manifests in other ways. Yesterday I went to the
UTC mall in La Jolla to pick up a gift. I noticed that there were barely any decorations up. Today I picked up lunch at the
Highlands in the posh Del Mar neighborhood and noticed the same thing.
Though some would argue that having palm trees, blue skies and 70-degree (21 C) weather makes every day a holiday.
The extent of the decorations at Del Mar Highlands.
Selling Christmas flowers does not count as decorating.
Whether they went with ridiculously early decorations or none, good news may be on the horizon for retailers. The term
Frugal Fatigue is starting to make the rounds in news outlets.
Apparently some folks are just getting fed up with searching for deals all the time and starting to splurge again. Heh. I never believed that talk about America becoming less consumerist and more savings-oriented. It's going to take more than a bad recession to change such an ingrained way of life.
As always, Listgirl and I
recommend giving experiences rather than stuff whenever possible. Several of our gifts this year will be just that. Of course I can't reveal them now - check back in about a month.
Finally...
I think it's funny that the tree lot near my work is "Wayne's World."
Here's a tip on persevering through the frugal fatigue...
ReplyDeleteMake an appointment at the orthodontist to have kid #2 evaluated for braces. Not the 'if he needs them' evaluation...the 'when do we empty our bank account, again' evaluation.
My frugal mode has kicked in again rather nicely, thank you very much.
Love the post!
I'll trade you your clear blue skies for my gray cloudy ones. We got a bit of snow and the temps dropped to the 20s. Feel free to take pity on me.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing what your gifts are. A few years ago my family decided we wouldn't do gifts (except for my niece) and give to charity instead. What a difference it's made to our holiday. This year I made a photo book for my niece of the day she was born printed from Shutterfly. Something I'm sure she will treasure for years to come. I haven't been able to post it on my blog because I don't want my family to know about it but it's just beautiful and I'm so excited to give it to her. :)
IKEA started with the Christmas decorations in the beginning of October (way to early for me), but the other day when I went to some a little more posh shops, they didn't even had an advent wreath to sell me. Maybe Christmas isn't hip anymore.
ReplyDeleteI found one at the grocery market, so I was happy anyway. =)